AFTER three fouls and a good effort, national men’s triple jump record-holder Troy Doris wrapped up Guyana’s performance at this year’s Rio Olympics when his best efforts saw him clear 16.90m in the men’s triple jump final, yesterday, leaving him to finish seventh out of 39 participants in the event.Speaking with Chronicle Sport, online, following his performance yesterday morning the 27-year-old was upbeat about his finish in the final, and now looks forward to his future as an athlete.
He said: “I felt really good about the performance. I keep telling myself I can’t be upset at the outcome because I need to put what happened into a different perspective.
“It wasn’t just a track meet it was the Olympics. I wasn’t nervous but just focused on trying to execute perfectly and sometimes it got the best of me. I’m happy with 7th. Still going to train and prepare for the last few Diamond League events.”
The Iowa University student was competing against the 11 other athletes who made it into yesterday’s final, which was, unsurprisingly, won by USA’s Christian Taylor with a jump of 17.86m. USA also copped silver with Will Claye taking second place in 17.76m, for a repeat from the 2012 Olympics.
Doris’ performance yesterday was a marked improvement from the 16.81m that he leaped to in Monday’s preliminaries to make it into the final. In the preliminaries he finished sixth. Doris has a personal-best jump of 17.18m, in an event where the Olympic record stands at 18.09m and the world record is 18.29m. That 17.18m jump, which is also Guyana’s national record, has Doris currently ranked seventh in the world.
The mark is also Doris’ season-best after he made the jump earlier in May.
Doris’ performance ended Guyana’s part in the Rio Olympics, as Doris was the last athlete to compete. Doris was without a question the best athlete on the six-man Guyana team line-up which also included athletes Winston George, Brenessa Thompson, Aaliyah Abrams and swimmers Hannibal Gaskin and Jamila Sanmoogan.
None of the other participants made it into the final of their event, or even passed their first round, save for Thompson who gained an automatic promotion to the second round of the women’s 100m heats after she qualified with an ‘A’ standard in the event.
Doris made history on Monday when he made it into the final. Many were glued to their televisions, while social media was also buzzing with the news, as Doris reignited hopes of a possible medal moment, something that Guyanese could not dare do in the past years given the level of athletes we would usually send to the illustrious Games.
Guyana continues to stand with a singular bronze medal won at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games by boxer Michael Parris. That is the reason Doris performance was so celebrated, given that even though he did not win a medal, he was the closest we have come in over 30 years. Many other stakeholders were also proud of Doris’ performance at the Games
“I am elated as this is the first time that Guyana have competed in triple jump in the Olympics or in any major international competition, and have gone to the finals.” noted president of the Guyana Olympic Association, K. A. Juman-Yassin, who is also in Brazil with the athletes.
Guyanese Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Aliann Pompey, who now works as overseas ambassador for the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), also weighed in on how she felt about the performance. Pompey is also currently in Brazil and took in the Guyanese performances up close and personal.
“We were on the edge of our seats with each jump – willing him on. One of those barely fouls would’ve been a huge jump and I’m sure he is upset by that, but it’s a great finish and over the next few years, he’ll be a serious contender.
That’s exciting! I am happy for him. As a competitor I know he wanted to do better. At this point, I don’t think anyone can be as hard on him as he would be on himself. We’ve never had a 7th place finisher at the Olympic Games. My best finish was 11th in Beijing,” Pompey said.