Athletics
RYAN BRATHWAITE
Ryan
was on top of the World
ast year at the London Olympics Barbados hurdler Ryan Brathwaite ran a superb 5th in the 110 Metres Hurdles Final. He wasn’t in the medals, but for an athlete who has fought injuries and adversity for several seasons it was a magnificent return to form in this fiercely competitive event. The London Olympics was dominated by outstanding performances from Caribbean athletes, especially in the running events. The success of Usain Bolt, Kirani James, Yohan Blake, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Veronica Campbell-Brown et al, inadvertently placed more pressure on other Caribbean athletes. Going into the hurdles event Ryan Brathwaite carried a huge burden of expectation from Barbados well-wishers. His build-up to the Olympics was anything but encouraging, and although the athlete maintained he was in good condition there were still doubts. However, Ryan cast aside the doubters with two rousing performance in the opening heat and semi-final including a season’s best time. And when he qualified for the final many people felt he was already on the podium. But this was a high-class field with several brilliant hurdlers peaking at the right time and this proved the case when Aries Merrick and Jason Richardson romped home with a 1-2 for United States. The winning time of 12.94 was better than anything Ryan had ever produced and highlighted the talent of Merrick. Ryan was naturally disappointed, but it says much for his character that he got into the top five in the word and missed out by a hundredth of a second to make the top four. And that’s what life at the top of world
L 134
athletics is all about-hundredths of a second. While the London Olympics was a huge platform for the Barbados hurdler it was not his greatest movement on the track. That took place in Berlin in 2009 at the World Championships when 21-year old Brathwaite stunned the athletics world and the big pre-race favourites from Unites States Terrence Trammel and David Payne with a photo finish victory. It took a long time for the cameras to identify the winner, but when the electronic scoreboard revealed the young Bajan had pipped his big rivals by one hundredth of a second Barbados went wild. Barbados had a world champion in athletics. It was a wonderful achievement. Ryan Brathwaite first came to prominence in the 2005 World Youth Championships in Morocco and then reached the semi-finals of the 2007 World Championships and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He also moved to the United States and this greatly improved his training and competitiveness to turn him into a world-beater. The Berlin victory increased his international status, but in the fiercely-competitive world of athletics there are no guarantees. Avoiding injury is the major challenge and it is ironic that none of the other seven finalists in 2009 were in the 2012 Olympics Final. Brathwaite was deservedly lauded in his homeland after 2009 and in 2012. He may have missed out on a medal in London, but he produced his season’s best form and did his country proud. You can’t ask for anything better than that.