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Oh gorm allyuh… I can’t take the pain no more. If Jesus is a Trini, then he must be wearing a “Team Thema” jersey yes!
For the first time in 24 years, Trinidad and Tobago is facing up the possibility of leaving an Olympics Games without a medal to show.
At that last barren tournament, the Barcelona 1992 Olympics, Ian Morris looked to have finished a creditable third in the 400 metre final behind American Quincy Watts’s Olympic record dash of 43.50, only to be beaten to bronze by a dip on the line by Kenya’s Samson Kitur.
Morris, Trinis lamented, was probably minding somebody else’s business at the time.
But not even picong can rescue a day in which the two island republic lost, not one or two, but three chances to medal within a three hour stretch!
The only way tonight could get any worse is if Kristyan Gokool pulled up at your front door looking for a wingman for a spin in Siparia.
Mr Live Wire considered kicking the dog but didn’t even have the heart for it. With the way our luck is going, he would have ended up in the hospital with a dog bite and Anna Ramdass woulda write and tell people iz throat cancer!
Yes people, in one single night Trinidad and Tobago’s 4×100 metre women’s team failed to medal while the men’s 4×100 and 4×400 teams were disqualified for lane violations. The Britain and India, incidentally, were also disqualified in their 4×400 metre heats while the USA men were stripped of their bronze medal in the 4×100 men with Canada benefitting from their error.
(Copyright Johannes Eisele/AFP 2016/Wired868)
The 4×400 team had finished third and would have advanced to the final, whereas the 4×100 men were never in the medal hunt. Lalonde Gordon, a bronze medalist at the London 2012 Olympics, was adjudged to be the guilty party for the 4×400 team while Emmanuel Callendar stepped on the line for the 4×100 men.
An appeal by the Trinidad and Tobago contingent for the former violation, according to the Trinidad Express, was thrown out.
Whatever. Even US swimmer Ryan Lochte could see that they robbed we!
Wired868 is contractually obligated to mention that Usain Bolt led Jamaica to first place in the 4×100 final for his record ninth gold medal. Yeah yeah. Greatest sprinter ever. Good for you.
But it’s hard to congratulate your neighbour on his beautiful new sports car when you can’t even get your “roll on roll off” to start.
So only the United States women allowed to invoke the “tips, play over” rule?! And where was Ian Hypolite and his silver tongue when we needed to charm the socks off the IOC? He was liming in the ESPN studio with Shaka Hislop nah?! Steups.
(Copyright AFP 2016/Wired868)
Keshorn boi, you better pelt that iron like Zandolee tomorrow! Over one million Trinbagonians depending on you to be the Sugar Daddy of the nation.
No pressure.
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Everywhere I look I see executives prospering while the people creating the content/brand/products that generate revenue suffer.
I am reluctant to get involved with this topic, but I see quite a few comments, which I feel resulted from dissatisfaction with the performance of our team. First, we ought to make ourselves familiar with each of the following positions of Officials, as there could be unfair comments meted out due to pure ignorance of their responsibilities. Starting with the Chef, as head of the Delegation, he has overall responsibility, and should ensure that the welfare of the contingent is acceptable etc. then we have Managers of teams, Doctors, Physios, Coaches, Trainers, Athletes including team sports, Captains of teams and a host of other positions which all play important roles during the period of the games. But back to the dissatisfaction of the performance of our team. Most of us are not fully aware of what out athletes just underwent in Rio. Let us look at a few stats…over 200 countries, I believe 206 countries participated, approximately 11,000 athletes vying for medals, 120 countries went back home WITHOUT A MEDAL, 10 countries went home with a single Bronze medal, including Trinidad and Tobago, 4 countries with multiple Bronze, 5 countries with Silver only, 5 with Silver and Bronze only, 2 with Silver only, then we start with Gold only 6, then the air becomes rare. So when we reflect on success at the games, while some of us may consider our performance poor..Jamaica which I believe we are being compared with, finished 16th in the standings with 6 gold 3 Silver and 2 Bronze…take a look at their program and success at the Carifta Games…..another day and another topic, but please look at the foregoing stats and welcome our athletes with open arms and look forward to emerging talents for 2020…BTW….T&T finished tied for 78th with countries like Portugal, Finland, Austria, Nigeria…put that in perspective.
And they all get away with the foolishness, accountability is non existent, everybody help their friends out…..see why TTGF getting away with murder….. Smh. Meanwhile our brand suffers because the ppl who make the brand are suffering….
Bout oh his being there “was food for the brand”….Brian Lewis on i95 yesterday. But what about the team sir? Isn’t the team why we were there in this first place? We jokey oui.
Remember what Keshorn said! There was no unity and the problem was not the athletes. Yet, TTOC coming with all the marketing talk and not providing solutions….. Btw, I will ask again, where is clause 13. Shall we say this is a reflection of them…smh
Precisely! And the guy that wrote this has been their Chef since 1996. So he knows eh!
http://www.guardian.co.tt/sport/2016-08-22/chef-de-mission%E2%80%99s-role-%E2%80%98he-must-be-available-all-times%E2%80%99
“The buck stops with the chef de mission.”
Does the buck ever stop with anyone in a position of authority here?
Look at that list. Look at it. Is it any wonder that Jamaica’s delegation performs the way it does and T&T’s delegation struggles? That kind of organizational efficiency doesn’t begin at (or in the run up to) the Olympics. Nor does organizational inefficiency spring up overnight.
Yup! I heard it this morning. More confirmation in my head that TTOC is generally on heavy shit. ??
Excerpt from former Jamaica chef de mission who did five Olympic Games:
“• No chef de mission serious about the team’s ultimate success will choose to leave the village for long, even to attend official meetings outside. There is a myth that the officials have a great time watching the events. Far from it. General officials, like the medical personnel, are limited to a certain number of sport disciplines and are only accredited to those venues. ”
http://www.guardian.co.tt/sport/2016-08-22/chef-de-mission’s-role-‘he-must-be-available-all-times’
Matthew, I don’t know what the chef de mission does under TTOC’s organization chart.
But based on Canada’s requirements, there is no way he could have fulfilled these two in particular:
7. Participates as a member of the Issues Management Team dealing with any major issues or crisis situations during the Games;
8. Assists in providing relevant and timely information to team members and Mission Team prior to and during the Games;
Thanks for the info Lasana. It would be interesting to hear from both the goodly Dr and the TTOC.
I don’t think their position has changed Matthew.
What’s d role of the Chef de Mission? How could Dr.Hypolite have performed both roles effectively without compromising one/both?
Well well… In the last century we had calypso competitions to deliver all this social picong, and now just one livewire post go do eet… Smhrofl
While I thoroughly enjoyed the doc’s commentary and he did add value to our ESPN experience I would like the assurance that the management the team needed in Rio was not compromised because his time was split. I would hate to think his absence affected the team’s overall performance. If the TTOC mission staff is like a well-oiled machine then it’s all well and good. My husband always goes as Team Manager to international tournaments with his karate team and I know it’s a lot of work. But I assume like Hypolite says the mission is not a “one man” show
If he has good delegation skills and enough personnel, I think it’s possible
Indeed.
And, I’m not saying that he wouldn’t have been the best person for the job if he’d been available to do it full time. The man clearly knows his business.
But he wasn’t available and our team struggled. There’s no way to pin that directly on him (and I don’t think it would be fair to do so, given the well-documented institutional failures that existed long before our squad hit Rio), but by handing the position to someone with a split focus the TTOC opened themselves up to that question.
And he did as well, by taking the job. He’s not bothered, though, because as Lasana said, he probably got a new job out of it and let’s be real, there aren’t any consequences to be concerned about here.
The vast majority of the population will immediately forget the names of every Olympic hopeful and the set of struggles they’re going to face to pursue their respective sports until 2020.
But ofc. But I mean IOC funding giving away right. So send somebody who can only be part time cuz he got himself a great side gig. Lol.
I wouldn’t be surprised if his job description didn’t strictly include those specifically because his prior gig wouldn’t facilitate them. He and all said it’s not a singular gig and elsewhere the argument has been made that he had the right to delegate.
But then, that raises the question of whether it was necessary/sensible to hire someone with limited availability who could then delegate his responsibilities (because I imagine SOMEONE had to do #s 7 and 8, right?).
Very well.
Well Abeo, I don’t know what the job description is for the TTOC’s chef de mission.
But based on Canada’s requirements, there is no way he could have fulfilled these two in particular:
7. Participates as a member of the Issues Management Team dealing with any major issues or crisis situations during the Games;
8. Assists in providing relevant and timely information to team members and Mission Team prior to and during the Games;
Hear nah!!!
The TTOC is batting 1000 in decision-making right now, but just because you’re allowed to do something doesn’t mean you should. He gets to hold ah burn too.
Pls also refer to particularly 7, 8 and 9. How exactly was he doing that at a moment’s notice while spending hours on air. Again I will say, meen washing mih mouth on the man’s hustle, but with regard to our athletes and their affairs as priority, TTOC needs to miss me with their bullshit.
canadas explanation of chef de mission: http://olympic.ca/press/rio-chef-de-mission-backgrounder/
Ofc it’s their fault and pls hold….??
I honestly don’t know what the full scope of his duties are as chef de mission. I think the TTOC should explain that. And it is valid that people are asking questions.
Maybe the TTOC’s explanation would calm everyone.
From Hypolite’s explanation, it seems that the TTOC was made aware of his ESPN job. So it is their fault if anything.
Power to him. At least he got something out of it. Isn’t that really what it’s all about.
Well, I think the TTOC might have lost his services anyway. He was excellent in the ESPN studio. I’d be very surprised if they didn’t snap him up to do athletics on a full-time basis.
Hear nah!!!! Instead he gives tones to the tune of “if we did win allyuh wouldn’t have nothing to say”. And you know what, he is right. That is the 95% trini response. Rest of us be damned, we look for that.
Ent?! Or that they fail to medal and you saying is ok…. Criticism makes you stronger….. Not today nah
But this how we prefer it. Everyone gets a little fiefdom over which they preside unchallenged and for which they are not held accountable.
Imagine if the US squad failed to medal and their Chef de Mission was sitting in front of a camera while that happened. Would he not have to explain if that was the best place to be while his team struggled?
We have the leader of the team who spent the majority of the time at another job while he was there and find nobody should say anything about it and has the organization who is supposed to be representing all of our athletes interests, not the career aspirations of one man, finding hilarious ways to cover and justify it. If that isn’t a microcosm of all that is wrong with sport, arts, culture, politics and everything in this place I don’t what is. This place is so exhausting.
Cause that stuff requires work (ie research and planning and the like) and fiscal responsibility and we ain’t about that.