Guyana’s Olympic medal drought continues but thanks in part to Troy Doris, who made the final of the men’s triple jump at the Rio Olympic Games, in Brazil on Tuesday, there is perhaps a glimmer of hope looking ahead to Tokyo 2020.
The US-born Doris, who rose to prominence after leaping 17.18m (national record) on May 14 in Florida, placed seventh among the finalists after he hopped, skipped and jumped 16.90m.
The event was won by defending champion Christian Taylor of the United States who retained his Olympic title with a jump of 17.86 metres at his first attempt. Another American Will Claye leapt 17.76 metres to take silver while China’s Dong Bin went home with bronze after jumping 17.58 metres on his first attempt.
Despite finishing without a medal and failing to leap frog his personal best, the 27-year-old told Stabroek Sport yesterday that: “It was a good experience, I’m definitely not done competing. This meet was the most analytical for me so now I learned how to manage my thoughts and where to focus my energy.”
Quizzed on representing the Golden Arrowhead in Tokyo at the next Olympics, Doris who was ranked third earlier in the year, replied: “For sure but I want to focus on every major competition one year at a time and enjoy the moment of this games fully.”
When asked why he unable to mirror or surpass his performance three months ago, Doris said: “It’s tough to produces your personal best every time. I know I’m capable of jumping that but no jumper can plan a day to jump their best. So I don’t let that thought get to me. It was a fun competition, I wasn’t nervous but very much focused internally.”
Despite proclaiming his lack of nerves, Doris could not put a finger on why he committed three foul jumps in the final.
“The competition was the biggest competition that I had all year, it wasn’t anything that was getting to me as far as nerves or anything but I think I was just focused on execution. I felt great.”
Doris added “It just happens. You want to be as consistent as possible but it’s tough to be 100% accurate coming down the runway. I had fouls from 2cm over the board to 7cm, so there were minuscule inconsistencies.” What is certain though, is that Doris, who was in Guyana enjoying the Golden Jubilee Independence celebrations has intentions of being a catalyst.
“When I initially wanted to represent Guyana that was my priority. Me trying to get a medal is beautiful, of course it would have been great to get a medal but how well can I try to exploit the talent in a good way in Guyana?
“So like I said I want to be a catalyst to try to get more Guyanese involved in field events.”
