Raucous in Rio: Jehue joins first round KOs and Live Wire’s Colfire policy

Trinidad and Tobago’s self-titled “Young Prince”, Jehue Gordon, was the latest athlete who failed to live up to the pre-tournament hype today—albeit hype that was not of his own making—as the 24-year-old former World champion and Junior World champion failed to get past the first round of the 400 metre hurdle event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Shorn of shades and swagger, Jehue looked more like Commissioner Gordon—minus Batman—than Flash Gordon, as he finished last in his heat with a time of 49.98 seconds, which was slower than the Olympic qualifying standard to get to Rio in the first place.

Photo: Trinidad and Tobago's Jehue Gordon (second from right) challenges competitors (from left) Keisuke Nozawa (Japan), Jaheel Hyde (Jamaica), Thomas Barr (Ireland) and Sergio Fernandez in the 400 metre hurdle heats at the Rio 2016 Olympics on 15 August 2016. (Copyright Sean Morrison/Wired868)
Photo: Trinidad and Tobago’s Jehue Gordon (second from right) challenges competitors (from left) Keisuke Nozawa (Japan), Jaheel Hyde (Jamaica), Thomas Barr (Ireland) and Sergio Fernandez in the 400 metre hurdle heats at the Rio 2016 Olympics on 15 August 2016.
(Copyright Sean Morrison/Wired868)

Bizarrely, it was Jehue’s fastest race in 2016, as he actually made the qualifying time last year and had not come close to the Olympic standard since, thanks, in large part, to an abdominal operation in late 2015 that rocked him to the core in more ways than one.

The gifted hurdler is one of several Trinidad and Tobago athletes who suffered serious injuries or hassle over the past four years—including Keshorn Walcott, Njisane Phillip, Richard Thompson, Andrew Lewis and George Bovell III—and just could not produce their best when it mattered.

Tell Mr Live Wire the truth guys: Did Anil Roberts interfere with allyuh? Just point out on a doll and explain exactly what happened, Georgie?

I mean, yes, Usain Bolt is the type of extraordinary being that only strikes once in a lifetime, Simone Biles is flipping awesome, Wayne Van Niekerk probably refuels with premium gas and Michael Phelps invented time travel and used it to seek out potential rivals like Samuel L Jackson in “Unbreakable”.

Photo: United States swim star Michael Phelps meets Singapore's Joseph Schooling as a child (left) and then in the pool for the 100 metre butterfly final on 13 August 2016, which Schooling won. Proof that Pharrell Williams isn't the only vampire on the loose.
Photo: United States swim star Michael Phelps meets Singapore’s Joseph Schooling as a child (left) and then in the pool for the 100 metre butterfly final on 13 August 2016, which Schooling won.
Proof that Pharrell Williams isn’t the only vampire on the loose.

All well and good. But when do Trinis get to run outside shouting for joy and hi-fiving strangers after an historic finish by someone in red, white and black gear?

Live Wire gave that a go last night, just for practice, and almost ended up in part two of a Bunji/Fay Ann made-for-Instagram beat-down.

Trinis have gotten so desperate for something to rally behind that, in the middle of the Olympics, they forget about “10 gold by 2024” and say they will settle for Colfire letting employee Maurice Ramirez keep his curls instead. And fuss we blight, Colfire suspend Ramirez one time for violating the golden of Fight-Down Club, which is: You do not talk about Fight-Down Club.

Mr Live Wire cannot confirm whether, in their spare time, Colfire’s executive directors man the doors at Aria, advise the Trinidad and Tobago Gymnastics Federation (TTGF) on its selection policies and write speeches for Sat Maharaj.

Photo: Colfire issued Maurice Ramirez a warning letter which described his hair as “unprofessional” and a violation of company policy which states that: “Hair should be kept clean, neat and well-groomed.” Ramirez was worked that: “failure to comply will result in further disciplinary action being taken, up to and including termination of services.”
Photo: Colfire HR manager Rhonda Oblington-Joseph issued Maurice Ramirez a warning letter which described his hair as “unprofessional” and a violation of company policy which states that: “Hair should be kept clean, neat and well-groomed.”
Ramirez was worked that: “failure to comply will result in further disciplinary action being taken, up to and including termination of services.”

Meanwhile in Rio, Trinidad and Tobago sport fans were willingly pulling out their own hair.

From the 25 athletes who competed so far, just eight—Machel Cedenio, Michelle-Lee Ahye, Cleopatra Borel, Felice Chow, Semoy Hackett, Lalonde Gordon, Janeil Bellille and Phillip—got past the first round of competition and only three made it to their respective finals with no medals to show for any.

But the fat lady is not clearing her throat just yet.

Ahye and Hackett have second bites at the cherry in the 200 metre event while there is reason for genuine optimism in the men’s 4×400 and 4×100 metre events as well as the women’s 4×100 metre relay.

And that is before the big man in the business, General Walcott, pelts his iron in the javelin competition, where, lest we forget, he has an Olympic gold medal to defend.

Jehue, bless him, did not have enough in the tank this morning.

Photo: Trinidad and Tobago 40 metre hurdler Jehue Gordon lies on the track during the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Hamden, Scotland. (Copyright AFP 2016)
Photo: Trinidad and Tobago 40 metre hurdler Jehue Gordon lies on the track during the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Hamden, Scotland.
(Copyright AFP 2016)

In a pre-Olympic interview with Wired868, Jehue explained the rigours of the 400 metre hurdle event on the body and suggested that, as a result, champions can rise and fall in his sport quicker than would-be rulers in the Game of Thrones.

So said, so done. The 2015 World Championship winner, Nicholas Bett, ran into his final hurdle—like a drunk man looking for his zipper—and was disqualified while Worlds bronze medalist Jeffrey Gibson also finished last in his heat and silver medalist Denis Kudryavtsev was among the list of banned Russian athletes.

Say what you like about Felix Sanchez’s work behind the microphone for ESPN—and quite a few have!—but the iconic former Dominican Republic hurdler sure looks to be having more fun than his colleagues in Rio.

With less than a week left, it is now or never for Trinidad and Tobago’s remaining athletes, as we try to maintain our image in the Olympic arena.

And, no, we don’t mean Ahye should get a haircut.

This Col-gate business just leaves a bad aftertaste, ent?

Photo: So even if I'm not elected, what's the worst that can happen? A CSR wuk at Colfire?! (Copyright Getty)
Photo: So even if I’m not elected, what’s the worst that can happen to me with my tremendous hair?
A CSR wuk at Colfire?!
(Copyright Getty)
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About Mr. Live Wire

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.

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88 comments

  1. “Live Wire gave that a go last night, just for practice, and almost ended up in part two of a Bunji/Fay Ann made-for-Instagram beat-down.”

    =D =D =D =D =D

  2. Who creates and feed the hype …

  3. If we look at the athletes’ performances and rankings over the last 1-2 years I can’t see how their Rio performance is so surprising. Bovell has not been a top 15 athlete for some time. The male sprinters have struggled to run sub 10 consistently…I think the genuine surprises were Njisane, Lalonde and Baptiste..Expected Baptiste in the finals Njisane at minimum in quarters and Lalonde at minimum in semis.

  4. Yup. That’s why I know that’s it for him. Boy we really need a new crop of athletes. We better start sending our kids to school in Jamaica yes.

  5. Sorrillo’s personal best is 20.16 though. And he is 30. So we have to taper expectations a bit.

  6. Them athletes need to find something trini good at an stop wasting tax payers money .like they drank puncheon before the race an falling like nigel paul who decide to take a nap in the ring

  7. I can confirm that there was no injury or any problem like that with Njisane. But I’m not trying to do any interviews while they are in Brazil. I would probably speak to one or two athletes after.
    Rondel Sorrillo is T&T’s 200 metre champion at present. So it is only fitting that he gets past the group stage. Fingers crossed he gets further still.

  8. I agree with the mental and emotional preparation bit which the sporting bodies should also take responsibility for. I think also we not privy to the details of who going there just for the experience and who going there to medal and who going there in preparation for Tokyo. We as fans really have to manage our expectations as well. For instance after seeing all the dismal performances at the heat level I was pleasantly surprised to see Rondell run so hard to make the qualifying time. I still don’t expect him to make it out of the semi’s but it was nice to see him “not give up”. Njisane’s performance is still a bitter pill to swallow because he looked like he had what it took. Physically he looked ready. He sprinted like a beast in the time trial and then when the time came to add the emotional and mental dimension he seemed to just give up.

  9. I don’t think Trini athletes lack bad mind. They get plenty food for that. There are plenty administrators who make sure of it. 😉

  10. It is proper preparation which must be physical, spiritual, emotional and mental and to my mind the mental preparation is critical. It is what we call “bad mind”.

  11. Yes, a 90 metre throw from Keshorn is a medal for sure. Dunno what the weather conditions will be like for him.
    Virtually all the athletes I spoke to with the possible exception of Cleopatra complained about disruptions to their preparation. Serious ones. The various sporting bodies must ask whether that is bad luck or stuff that could have been avoided with preparation.

  12. Well I for one have new respect for Felix Sanchez yes. No wonder the man cried when he received his last gold medal. That hurdles race is real tears! Aside from the injury plagued athletes though I really believe there is a fine line that the TTOC has to walk between hyping up the country and setting reasonable expectations of our athletes. Even if we ignore the 10G24 thrust, based on sheer talent and past success I think many people expected (expecting) medals from Njisane, Machel, Michelle and Keshorn. There’s always hope with the relay teams because those races could go anyway and we could benefit from other team’s mistakes. But we could make mistakes too as we saw with our women’s team. So I never get my hopes up for relays. I just watch and pray. My only realistic hope now is Keshorn. I’m praying he has a good day and the pressure of carrying the hopes of the entire country doesn’t get to him. He knows he has thrown 90M before . Let’s hope he can do it again.

  13. I am coming around to the view that the TTO athletes didn’t figure out that all competing athletes bring their A game to an Olympic meet and they should not rest on their past laurels!

  14. where is the development here? when will the media do more to promote? when will we do more to identify talent early and harness to full potential? when will we stop being wishy washy about sport?

  15. ..High expectations? Grenada had two men in the 400 final. TWO. Our expectations are too LOW..

    • Are we being overly simplistic though? Most of the top athletes are developed in US colleges and by US coaches. Luckily, they don’t rely solely on Caribbean resources. The field is far more level as a result, in my opinion. I do agree that our expectations are lower than they should be.

  16. I think it’s showing now how serious we were about sport administration, people’s been lying to us it’s clear now.

  17. why we don’t extend our pool of athletes …why we don’t import foreign coaches….why we don’t venture into other sporting disciplines…why why why?????

  18. I agree that it is far from over for Team T & T and nowadays there is still hope long after the closing ceremony.

  19. Does this count as addressing the Colfire issue? Lol.

  20. Boi oh boi!! Lasana you gave me something to smile about with all the “dick” shit going on. Ah swear we blight from then. But this fat lady eh ready to sing yet.

  21. Lasana Liburd, what is the reason for the decline from 4 years ago ?

    • Part of it is a change of the guard. Many of our stars are now over 30 and winding down. Limited resources mean we tend to help just a few athletes at a time, so this will always happen.
      We also had some bad luck with injuries. And clearly poor preparation and support in some cass.

    • That’s why you got to applaud Jamaica on the program they hve in school sobshen guards are changing others athletes are already in the pipeline to step up …

  22. Thing getting out of hand as COLFIRE issued a letter to Usain Bolt yesterday also complaining about his “unprofessional hairstyle”.
    #truestory

  23. I don’t see 10 medals by 2020 since we haven’t bled any of the young people. The TTOC doesn’t have a proper game plan. Therefore it not visible. We complain about the government not helping. Why should give taxpayers money to rank amateurs. Firstly how many of the so-called associations have a strategic plan? How many have a training program for their coaches in which they internationally certified. How many of them are sending out to train. Take for example Alvin Cornel doing coaching clinic all over the Caribbean and he can’t do it here in T&T. What’s is the road map to 2020. Does it involve the primary and secondary schools? What’s the next step? Maybe we need to close off the stadiums and let our people run and training on grass like the Jamaicans. Where is the coaching clinic by Mr. Mills. My advice to the association is stop asking Government for money and get your act together. Seriously

  24. “You do not talk about Fight-Down Club.” ? ~ you really like your job don’tcha

  25. Top shelf another nice one… we need a good laugh! Too much disappointment going on in Rio. But you know what, you are right, the hype has many with too high of expectations so the sub-par performances for many are too hard to swallow. Regardless let’s be optimistic… according to Peter Samuel, CLAP, CLAP, CLAP… Let’s go T&T Let’s go! And ah singing … ♫ ♫T&T bam, bam, we need a GOLD, bam, bam…♫ ♫ T&T bam bam, we need a GOLD!

  26. Firing on all pistons. …..as usual.

  27. They’ve gotten so desperate that they’re talking about De Grasse’s trini heritage

  28. Liburd, Yuh lettin dong de media. I eh readin nutten negative in the Express or the Guardian and I eh readin nutten positive here on Wired. Only the trute about how we wase we money to send so much ah dese has-beens – ah doh mind the wannabes – to Rio.

    It must now be clear to all that we should have invested some of it in international practice matches for the Under-15 girls.

    And a muzzle for their coach.

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