By KEVIN SUNICH Saturday, August 11 2012

DESPITE not being able to claim numerous medals, the Trinidad and Tobago 2012 Olympic athletes continue to be praised for their efforts.

The latest to express this sentiment is former World Indoor 400m silver medallist and two-time Olympian Ian Morris. “I have one word to describe this years’ performance and that is excellent. It is the first Olympic Games that I could remember that we have had so many athletes reaching the finals of their individual events”, said Morris.

So far out of seven individual finalists Lalonde Gordon has been the only one to claim a medal with bronze in the Men’s 400m. Then he returned with the 4x 400m relay team along side Deon Lendore, Jarrin Solomon and Ade Alleyne-Forte to claim another bronze for TT.

However there is still some hope for TT to do better in the medal count as the Men’s 4x100m relay team will compete in today’s final along with 19-year old World No 1 ranked junior Keshorn Walcott who will contest the final of the javelin today as well.

Yesterday in the 4x400 metres final Bahamas claimed an historic win ahead of the USA in a time of 2:56.70. The American quartet secured the silver in 2:57.05 while TT got their second medal of the Olympics in a time of 2:59.40.

TT’s 4x100m relay team of Richard Thompson, Marc Burns, Emmanuel Callender and Keston Bledman will also go after gold after they finished third in the heat yesterday.

Youth sensation Keshorn Walcott who secured the number one position among the juniors in the world at the Carifta Games in April carries high hopes of a medal today.

The boy from Toco advanced to the final on his last throw on Thursday with a distance of 81.75 metres. And yesterday Morris, a former quarter miler for TT, said the Olympic Games are not all about the medals although the TT public would love to see their athletes on the medal podium. “We cannot just look at the fact that they did not win medals. The bigger picture is that they made it to the finals, and that in itself is a big accomplishment for us as a small nation.

“Yes we would have liked for a few more of those finalists to produce some medals, but we have to be proud of what they have done for our country.

“They have all done creditably well and I am proud to be a Trinbagonian right now”, said Morris.

The TT Sports Hall of Fame 2004 inductee said the future looks bright for our country. “This shows that something is being positive way right now. We just have to push some more and get the athletes to come out and represent their country in the various disciplines.

The fourth place finisher at the 1992 Olympics called for the TT public to be more supportive of their athletes despite their performances. “We need to go all out for our athletes and we must be 100 percent behind them. The Jamaicans don’t hold back when it comes to their athletes and they give them maximum support. That is what we need, and it will go a far way” Morris said.

He however, feels that corporate TT must also play a bigger role and not just rely on the government to bring our athletes to the forefront.

So far TT have kept the trend of claiming at least one medal at every Olympics since the 1996 Atlanta Games, where four-time Olympic medallist Ato Boldon claimed bronze in the 100 and 200 metres.