OLYMPICS IN DE AIR and I feeling excitable.
I uses to look forward to the Olympics from de time I was a child.
I could remember fishcakes getting fry and ting so de whole family could sit down together and try to judge de people doing the fancy dives from high, high, high.
Then dem had de flip bout people that uses to flip from one bar to de next from different levels and ting, yuh know de gymnasts. I always thought dem had super powers because I never saw one drop and land bad.
Speaking of landing bad, wunnuh see de Philippine diver Pahoyo? If you haven’t go and google it now because his performance is something that will forever be remembered.
De man set up pretty pretty on the diving board, took off, did about three flips and then bladam! He hit like a wet duck in a dry pond. If you doubt me, ask me. What I did like though is that he still had his confidence and he gave it another try that is true Olympic spirit.
As I got older I wondered why it is that Barbados never had teams in some of the other disciplines in the Olympics but now I think I know why. Let us just take a look at one event, synchronised swimming. Imagine seven of our finest Barbadian women doing a synchronised routine.
Synchronising routine
The music starts off nice as they enter the water, yuh know de traditional music, but den part way through the routine all of a sudden yuh hear “tek off something and pelt it way”. Well you could only now imagine that the synchronising routine would have in nuff wuk-ups, jooks and stabs and trembles. Then the next song is, “guh pun yuh eyelid”; everybody head down and from de waist to the feet out of the water and bumpers moving. After that the Olympics would never be the same.
What I realise too is that they have beach volleyball as a sport and that is unfair. Why can’t they put beach cricket as a sport? I know fuh sure we would win that! Picture it, Sicily 1985. Wait, my apologies, that was a Golden Girls flashback. Moving on, the match would have to take place at the beach and you would have six players.
One is a bowler, one is a wicketkeeper and the two on the sand and two in the water fielding what say you?
This year Olympics seem a lil extra special and I don’t know why. It could be because it is our 50th year of Independence, so the team that is in Rio will go down in history, or, Akela Jones. Wunnuh see she in de opening ceremony? Look, de girl was full of energy, she shake at some ah everybody and everything, she stream part of the entrance on Facebook Live as she embraced her teammates.
Bright smile
Akela had a smile on her face that was so bright that it was contagious. Look, if wunnuh happen to read dis from Rio, do your best and know that win or lose we are proud of each and every one of you.
I am Toni-Ann “Acka” Johnson. Love, peace and Mazola Corn Oil.
Toni-Ann Johnson is an actress versed in the area of comedy. Email [email protected].