I have been bombarded with questions about Ryan Brathwaite for the entire year.
You would think I was his main buddy from Church Gap in Hillaby where he calls home or that I was his personal trainer or even his coach.
I had to let people know I was in the dark like them if they wanted to know what has been responsible for his drastic decline in form since he won the World title in Berlin in 2009.
They probably felt I had an inside scoop on the notable depreciation of his hurdling skills while his main rivals were still on top of their game.
Most of the questions followed a similar pattern.
Do you think winning the championship went to his head?
Do you think he was given too much too soon?
Do you think he forgot where he came from?
Do you think he needs a change of coach or he still needs his mentor Alwyn Babb with him at every turn?
This went on right up to the current championships in Daegu, South Korea.
Not surprisingly, people drew their own conclusions, many of which were not favourable to Brathwaite who was treated like a national hero when he captured the world title.
One of my colleagues was even eager to bet that he would never get back to the level of 2009.
I had to remind him that Brathwaite was still a very young man and he must possess remedial features that can restore him to former glory and make him a great athlete.
My strongest arguments were to no avail, as my colleague insisted that the hurdler was washed up and that in the first place he was lucky to win in Berlin because some of the key players weren’t in the final.
Honestly, that kind of reckless and malicious rethoric was symbolic of what was being mouthed across the board.
I concluded they were sounding off and venting their frustration about a man who they perceived was on the verge of surrendering his crown without an honourable response.
All hell must have broken loose in the corners of their narrow minds when he was eliminated in the first round in Daegu.
“I told you so” must have been their harmonised and universal chorus after his exit, which was widely predicted anyhow.
I can’t say my analysis of how he might have performed differed significantly from his detractors because the evidence was there all season.
When you go from a 13.14-seconds hurdle to a number as high as 13.67 the alarm bells would go off. None of us was deaf! We would have been living in denial if we were not alarmed.
Where I parted company with the average person is that I didn’t start to think the worse of Brathwaite. I was eager to find out how we could rally with him and help him to regain his form.
But I wasn’t surprised with all the negative chat I was hearing because some people turned on Olympic bronze medallist Obadele Thompson the same way after sustained injuries caused his form to dip after Sydney.
This approach is part of our culture and it only goes to prove that we have very short memories and we are only here to jump on bandwagons.
I agree that Brathwaite has gone off track, but we must be more caring in helping him get back on track.
We could read the Riot Act if we want because there is nothing wrong in having a family quarrel if it will save a life, but let us not throw that member to the wolves especially when he was inspiring us not so long ago.
In Brathwaite’s time of need we should reciprocate and return some of the inspiration he gave us two years ago.
I honestly still can’t answer the questions why he has slipped so drastically – unless I go with some of the rumours – but I do know that we should stand beside him once he is open to our moral assistance in rising again.
I do know, even if you call me naïve, that Brathwaite can make us proud again at the London Olympics. He has time to reinvent himself. Just you wait and see.
