THE winner of Trinidad and Tobago’s only medal at the just-concluded Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Keshorn Walcott, has chalked up the country’s poor performance to a lack of unity.According to Walcott, who was featuring in his second Olympics, having shocked the world with a gold medal in London 2012, the camaraderie and team spirit were low in 2016.
“We did not do so well as a team this year because honestly, for my part, we were not a team. We did not come together as a unit as in 2012. I was young in 2012 and I was one of the younger ones and I saw the gelling of the team, but here it was not like that,” said Walcott.
The two-Olympic medallist believes the lack of unity, in large part, was not the athletes’ fault, but rather the delegation sent to provide support.
“I would not say it was the athletes, I would have to say it was the heads. You need to be able to understand that for a team to be able to perform properly you need to bring them together,” he said.
“It is the environment. When you as a team do not feel everybody is together (it) is like everybody is just concentrating on their own,” he added.
Walcott was quick to add that he did not want to dwell on those things, but preferred to look at the goals he had in front of him, and wanted other athletes to do the same.