Walcott mines gold in javelin for T&T

LONDON, (CMC):

Trinidadian teenager Keshorn Walcott pulled off a stunning upset in the men's javelin, as the Trinidad and Tobago athlete celebrated gold on the final day of track and field at the London Olympics yesterday.

Walcott outshone far more experienced rivals with a tremendous throw of 84.58 metres.

For Trinidad and Tobago, it was only their second ever Olympic gold medal behind the legendary Hasely Crawford who captured the 100m at the 1976 Montreal Games.

The twin-island also managed bronze in the men's sprint relay, albeit it in fortuitous circumstances after third past the line Canada were disqualified.

Walcott, meanwhile, became the first athlete in 60 years from the Western Hemisphere (Americas) to win gold in an Olympic javelin event and the first in 40 years to win a medal.

second attempt was enough

His winning mark came as early as his second attempt, having opened with 83.51m. He threw 80.64m on his fourth attempt before fouling the third and fifth throws and passing the last one.

"Going into the Olympics my goal was to get a personal best, I wasn't thinking about winning, I just wanted to get in and enjoy myself," said the 19-year-old who also dominated the World Junior Games in Barcelona last month.

"[It has] not caught up to me yet so I have not yet realised what I have done."

He continued: "I'm even surprised I made the final. I just went out there to relax and enjoy it, and it worked for me."

Ukraine's Oleksandr Pyatnytsya took silver with a throw of 84.51 while Finland's Antti Ruuskanen captured bronze with 84.12.

At the end of track and field segment with only the men's marathon today, the Caribbean has 17 medals overall - six gold, four silver and seven bronze - the best ever medal haul at an Olympiad. Jamaica has 12 medals - four gold, four silver and four bronze, Trinidad and Tobago come next with four medals - a gold and three bronze and Bahamas has one gold.