Dear Editor,
‘Niall Roberts crashes out after placing fourth’ happens to be the strapline of your sports report on that Guyanese swimmer’s performance at the London Olympics.
While that heading represents a statistical fact, it ignores many considerations about the efforts of this young man, hence conveying a discomfitting brusqueness.
Niall, to my knowledge, has honed his career primarily in Guyana, where his training and conditioning would have been extended to the expertise of mostly local coaches as well as the standard of the facilities present here. With all deference to his personnel, Niall was not able to access the technologically advanced domes and the most decorated coaches (at least consistently), as some of his competitors may have done, but like so many other Guyanese before him, in various disciplines, he took advantage of what was available. At least I think so.
The phrase ‘crashes out‘ conveys a certain elevated expectation of Niall, which is understandable given his exploits locally and regionally. It is admirable even because we always want to hold top performers to excellence, as we do with the Gayles, Bolts and Phelps‘s. Yet every so often, the Gayles succumb to first-ball ducks and the Bolts, to false starts and defeat by the Blakes. As for the Phelps’s, well, even after a treasure trove of gold and lightning performances for years, there can come a moment when the Lochtes surge ahead. A moment where even herculean Phelps, given the best conditioning, coaches and investments, can slip into fourth place. Where the cosmic order can shift and an underdog can prevail. Evidently, I am not comparing Niall to these athletes, but pointing out that if the greatest can falter, then Niall is permitted a fourth. A fourth, which in my view is commendable, if not golden.
Why then do we choose to issue this indictment of a young athlete who bore not just the responsibility and pride of Guyana, but also the entire region? Why aren’t we at least inclined to a modicum of support and encouragement of our own, so that maybe at the next Olympics, Niall can be another Ryan Lochte, another unknown, stunning the world with an epic performance. I ponder what the heading could be then.
I am not the biggest supporter of mediocrity, but I have lived long enough to understand that sometimes the smallest words of encouragement and gratitude can birth the greatest achievements in history.
Would it, therefore, have been so journalistically inappropriate to have a strapline which read: ‘Niall Roberts places fourth’?
Yours faithfully,
Romain Khan
