Raucous in Rio: Keshorn cracks his bois, Elaine doubles up and Neymar flutters hearts

This bois man doh fraid… This bois man doh fraid nobody.

He want to bring back gold for T&T!

Toco man-child Keshorn Walcott stepped into the gayelle of the men’s javelin competition tonight at the 2016 Olympic Games. And, with one mighty throw in Rio de Janeiro, the 23-year-old made Trinidad and Tobago sit up straight.

Bois!

Maybe the two island republic’s contingent of athletes won’t come home empty handed from South America after all.

Walcott has not won anything yet. Mr Live Wire cannot stress that enough. But his throw of 88.68 metres tonight was more than four metres further than the effort that gained him Olympic gold at the London 2012 tournament. And it was nearly three metres more than any other thrower managed in the preliminary round.

If Keshorn can reproduce that form on Saturday night, he will get on the podium. And maybe even claim his second gold medal and the first of any colour for Trinidad and Tobago in Rio.

Before Keshorn’s mark had registered with local viewers, the two island republic had again cast envious eyes northward up the Caribbean chain, as Elaine Thompson became the first woman to do the 100 and 200 metre double at an Olympic Games since controversial United States sprinter Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988.

There is something utterly bewitching about Elaine’s enthusiasm, grace and competitive spirit. As Netherlands sprinter and defending Worlds champion Dafne Schippers crept up on the Jamaican at around the 150 metre mark, who wasn’t shouting warnings at the screen?

No, Jon Snow! Look out! Ramsay Bolt is trying to trick you!

Ahmm. Wrong show. But you get the idea.

In the men’s 200 metre semifinals, Jamaica’s Usain Bolt was unstoppable again. And he definitely seems to have a new sidekick these days with Canada’s Andre De Grasse—he has a Trini mom and there are more than a few locals who would happily swap him with a certain gymnast—clearly determined to finish his sentences.

De Grasse and Bolt, the 100 metre bronze and gold medalist respectively, were as casually chummy with each other as they crossed the finish line that they may as well have been having a water gun fight.

Presumably Bolt’s compatriot and former number two, Yohan Blake—who was fourth in the 100 metre final and eliminated in the 200 metre semifinals—must cry himself to sleep at night.

There should be no tears for Michelle-Lee Ahye, who was sixth in the women’s 200 metre final, or Rondel Sorrillo who was eliminated at the semifinal stage of the men’s event.

Both bent their backs and pushed themselves straight to the finish line. They were not good enough to medal. But what more can we ask of them but to give their everything for a nation that would probably continue to be lukewarm in return?

As Rudyard Kipling said:

“If you can (…) being hated, don’t give way to hating…

“If you can dream and not make dreams your master….”

There will be no damn poetry on Saturday night though, when action at the Rio Olympics will bring the whole of Brazil to a standstill.

Overdramatic a tad? Nope. Because that is when Brazil’s National Football Team, led by the gifted Neymar, face Germany in the Olympic final at the Maracana Stadium. That same venue where the Germany Senior Team crushed the “Samba Boys” 7-1, just two years ago, in the most unforgettable World Cup semifinal of all-time.

It was the second time that Brazil failed to secure the World Cup at home. The Samba Boys have never won the Olympic title before—not at home or abroad, in men’s or women’s competition.

Brazil’s men’s football has three Olympic silver medals and two bronze while their women have two silver. Try quoting Kipling to their supporters if Neymar is holding anything but a gold medal this weekend.

With any luck, Trinidad and Tobago will already have a medal or two by then, as the men’s and women’s 4×100 metre relays are scheduled for Friday night while the Red, Black and White should be in the hunt again at the men’s 4×400 relay final on Saturday night.

But, if the land of the stickman is to have a golden moment in Rio, it will have to be delivered by reigning Olympic javelin champion, Keshorn Walcott.

That bois man ent fraid… That bois man ent fraid nobody!

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