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Well, if we are being honest, Marisa Dick’s Rio 2016 Olympic berth looked pretty slippery, even before she got up on the uneven bars today.
Dick’s Olympic tryst, which was history in the making for Trinidad and Tobago gymnastics, was short and bittersweet.
(Courtesy Sean Morrison/Wired868)
She executed the “Dick mount” en route to 13.066 points on the beam while there was a solid showing on the vault, as she got flipping 13.900—bear in mind that 13 to 16 are considered good scores.
But Dick managed just 12.533 on the floor and slipped off the bars before producing a sloppy finish for 11.333.
Her total score of 50.832 was less than Jamaica debutante Toni-Ann Williams’ 50.966. And Dick and her compatriot, Thema Williams, beat Toni convincingly at the Glasgow 2015 World Gymnastics event.
Of course, Trinidad and Tobago sport fans were generally unhappy that Dick was in Rio in the first place, after the Canada-born teenager and her mother Hannifer classlessly petitioned the Trinidad and Tobago Gymnastics Federation (TTGF) to send her to the Olympics at the expense of the properly qualified Thema, who they claimed was injured.
As if a dodgy tendering process is not quintessentially Trini!
Still, Mr Live Wire must admit to having mixed emotions today. It was sort of like seeing that annoying work colleague tumble and fall comically in the office… Only to realise that the numbnuts knocked over your lunch while they were at it!
There was one oddity from Dick’s scores today that stood out for not quite standing out though.
(Courtesy Sean Morrison/Wired868)
A peruse of Dick’s major international appearances showed that she managed 49.232 points at the 2013 World Championships, 51.499 at the 2016 World Championships—supposedly with a bruised rib—51.365 at the April 2016 Rio Test Event (with jet lag) and then 50.966 at the August 2016 Olympic finals when there was no excuse left.
So exactly when has Dick demonstrated the tremendous form that TTGF president David Marquez felt justified getting her to the Olympics at any cost?
Isn’t it ironic that Dick’s best score at a major competition so far apparently came when she was carrying an injury? Or that Jamaica’s Toni-Ann beat her with a sore knee that was heavily bandaged?
Fellow Trinidad and Tobago athlete and former Olympic bronze medalist, George Bovell III, went, as the kids say, “balls in” on Twitter:
“Robbing others of the fruits if their honest work makes you a cheater, not just failing a drug test. You will have to live with yourself!”
“It’s laughable when cheaters who escape detection by covering up their dirty deeds actually think that they are good athletes.”
Bovell the Third subsequently suggested that his tweet was in reference to a dodgy swimmer but it almost certainly fell in more than one athlete’s garden in Rio yesterday evening.
Thema also made a rare show of emotion as she tweeted “Poetic Justice” soon after Dick’s performance but quickly deleted the post from her social media account.
In truth, Thema only had to post her score of 52.466 at Glasgow. Because her rival has never gotten close to that performance at a major tournament.
But, exhale, that’s out of the way and Trinidad and Tobago can put juvenile puns aside and really drape itself in the Olympic spirit now. And by that Live Wire does not mean you should catch Zika.
Felice Chow’s Single Sculls Repechage event was postponed today, so she rows from 8.40 am tomorrow while Andrew Lewis competes in the Laser Men’s sailing contest at just after 1 pm.
Chow-down and Laser Lewis! Let’s go T&T!
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Mr. Live Wire is an avid news reader who translates media reports for persons who can handle the truth. And satire. Unlike Jack Nicholson, he rarely yells.
Thema heartbroken too. I wonder if she even thought about that. What a sociopath (my opinion only).
http://teamtto.org/index.php/rio-2016-top/6293-marisa-heartbroken-over-hate-from-home
I concur with your opinion Soyini
Narcissistic.
So while Thema was being sabotaged Dick wants us to believe she had no idea that was happening even though she always has her internet in hand, and now the poor 19 year old thing has to stay off the internet in order to avoid feeling bad because the information available to her is unavoidable? Interesting.
And as I recall in this cnc3 interview said she doesn’t need TT’s public support.
Around 15 mins in: http://www.cnc3.co.tt/sports/marisa-dick-speaks-cnc3-sport-full-interview
Team Dick needs a new marketing ploy. This victimization attempt after the fact isn’t going to fly.
LMAO.
If you don’t want to get crapped on , don’t be a crappy human being.
Good point. Before the Olympics she said she didn’t need T&T’s support. Then it was “nice if she got it”. But if not… (Screw allyuh!) Lol
I am at a loss here…Canada didn’t support her? She certainly does not call T&T home…does she?
Indeed we are all heartbroken for Thema and rightly so, because we have to set a better example for the young ones if we ever hope to inspire them to reach higher… faster …stronger…which is why I hope Thema gets swift and just judgement (in other words, lots of cash compensation) but these cases take so long to progress…. *sigh*
Well at least she’s got a career in porn to look ahead to. That mount of hers could make her millions. Lol !!!!!!!!
Can’t recall she putting herself there did’nt the international body have something to do with her selection why blame her don’t think she deserves this type of criticism, why are we like this
Now the gymnastics events are Dick-less. Seeee one more pun *bows and exits stage left*