Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Keshorn Walcott has mixed feelings about his season that ended last week.
Walcott arrived at Piarco International Airport yesterday morning after completing a lengthy campaign abroad which included a successful Olympic Games as well as participation in the Diamond League earlier last week.
The Toco native who specialises in the javelin, arrived at 5.30 a.m. and was the special guest of both the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC) and the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago (Sportt) at the VIP Lounge of the airport, where he expressed his satisfaction at finally being on familiar ground again.
“I’m very happy to be back home,” he said. “It’s been a long time for me. I’ve left home since the beginning of July, so it’s been a long trip.”
As expected, Walcott was also happy with the experience in Rio, despite admitting that he wasn’t keen on his season overall. “I’m very satisfied; I’m not satisfied with my year, but I’m satisfied with my Olympic results,” he told the media.
Speaking specifically of the Rio campaign, he said, “I expected gold from myself because I always set my expectations high. It’s something me and my coach knew was going to be hard to get, so we went in there with our hopes high and we went in there hoping that God blessed us with something and he did—he blessed me with a bronze medal and now I’m a two-time medallist.”
Walcott told the Express that the secret to his success was staying injury-free.
“My plan is the same as every year,” he said. “As you can see, once I’m healthy I can get results. The past few years I’ve been up and down with health and this year I’ve been healthy so I was able to get some good results in the ending of my competition.”
The two-time Olympic medallist concluded by assuring the media that the criticisms that came from the public during the Games did not phase him or his preparation.
“During the bigger competitions you’re going to have the biggest critics coming out of nowhere, think they’re professionals,” he said.
“It’s normal, you’re going to get that whether you win, lose, or draw. I never take them on because I know what I am capable of doing and my coach knows what I am capable of doing, and the people around me know what we are doing, so it doesn’t matter.”