(Trinidad Express) Trinidad and Tobago’s second Olympic gold medallist Keshorn Walcott, 19, will be honoured with a national holiday and a motorcade to his home town in Toco today. Walcott won gold in the javelin throw on Saturday in London, England.
In an address to the nation last night, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said she requested acting President Timothy Hamel-Smith grant today as a national holiday in honour of all the athletic performances at the Olympic Games in London over the past two weeks, but especially to honour Walcott’s gold medal.
“I have received so many calls from so many quarters, asking in what way shall we commemorate this occasion to express the immense joy of every citizen of this great nation,” she said.
“Our Olympic athletes not only validated our belief and faith in their superior sporting talent, but once again proved to the world that Trinidad and Tobago is a force to be reckoned with, winning one gold and three bronze medals,” she said.
“A new generation of citizens are privileged to feel what we felt all those years ago,” she said, recalling that it was 36 years ago that athlete Hasely Crawford brought home the country’s first Olympic gold medal.
“Small though we are, far away though we may be, we are a people of passion,” she said.
Walcott’s motorcade will begin after a reception ceremony at Piarco International Airport. The Prime Minister invited the nation to take their holiday to greet Walcott at the airport or along the path of his motorcade.
His flight touches down at 9.45 a.m. and then the motorcade continues along the Eastern Main Road to Arima, through to Sangre Grande and onto Toco Composite School, where he will also be honoured with another “special announcement” to mark his achievement.
With regard to the clean-up efforts in the northern part of the island, Persad-Bissessar said she and the relevant Ministers will continue their tours today. Persad-Bissessar described the dichotomy of the two events on Saturday—Walcott’s gold and the landslips that left two dead—as the best of times and the worst of times.
