GOING?FOR?GOLD?in the memory of late Prime Minister David Thompson. That’s the promise from reigning World 110-metre hurdles champion Ryan Brathwaite.
The Hillaby, St Andrew sprint hurdler said yesterday he would be going after a gold medal at the London Olympics in 2012 and would be dedicating the triumph to Thompson.
Brathwaite flew in from his training base in Oklahoma, the United States, specially for yesterday’s funeral service at Kensington Oval, the same venue where Thompson conferred youth ambassadorial status on him last year.
The fleet-footed six-footer covered himself in glory in Berlin, Germany, winning Barbados’ first gold medal at a global athletics meet and wants to reach the medal podium.
“I am back in training and training very hard. I’m just trying to improve and I want to give a big one just for him,” Brathwaite said. “I want two more gold medals and then whatever happens,” he added.
Brathwaite, who was also presented with several gifts from Government and the private sector, including a Nissain X-trail and a plot of land, said Thompson had given him “great advice.”
“He told me to continue to work hard and show the world who I am. He also said to continue with my dreams and goals and try to accomplish them and keep promoting Barbados is an international athlete.
“Life is just something that goes by day by day. You don’t know what can happen. What happened a couple days ago was a sad, speechless moment.”
Apart from Brathwaite and other Olympians, several past and present Test cricketers, led by National Hero Sir Garfield Sobers and Sir Everton Weekes were in attendance.
Former West Indies’ captain and star batsman Brian Lara was part of the official Trinidad and Tobago delegation, while revered sports psychologist, Barbadian Dr Rudi Webster, came in from Grenada.
Fast bowling legend Joel Garner was the West Indies Cricket Board’s official representative, filling in for president Julian Hunte.
Board members from both the Barbados Cricket Association and the National Sports Council were also among the hundreds of mourners for the morning service at “The Mecca”.
