Austin Sealy Says Keep Pressing On
Submitted by Bush Tea
Austin Sealy
From the Nation -August 17, Sir Austin calls to keep pressing on…. International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Sir Austin Sealy hopes that Barbados will not be disheartened by the modest performances at the Rio 2016 Olympics. Speaking last night on telephone link-up from the Copacabana Beach in Rio, Sir Austin told the MIDWEEK NATION that no stone should be left unturned in ensuring that Barbados make an improved showing in the future. “I know that there will be some disappointment with none of the athletes advancing and making an impact, but that is the way the cookie crumbles. We have got to keep trying and working hard and understanding what is required to do well at the Olympics,” he said.
This is the kind of convoluted thinking that explains the quagmire that Barbados has become. Here we have a recent knight – honoured for his now forty or so years of leadership in local sport, explaining the abject failure of local talent to shine in ANY WAY comparable to other Caribbean islands…calling for more of the same.
Did Sealy call for CHANGE?
Did he call for a NEW approach?
Did he critically assess the old approaches that CLEARLY does not work?
Did Sealy suggest that the current long-term leadership gracefully RESIGN?
None of the above. His advice is for us to continue ‘pressing on’…
What the hell!
But we all know why Sealy and his associates want to keep ‘pressing on’ with their luxurious lifestyles. We know how they personally thrive on the ‘fatted’ sports-calf – even as our athletes lack the most basic of requirements.
It is no wonder the DLP clings to power – even in the face of their own clear knowledge of their incompetence. It is no wonder that, even as their EVERY project fails; as their highly prized FOREX falls; as their every scam is exposed to public scrutiny and ridicule, …our leaders ‘press on…’
It is one thing for DEM to keep on doing the same thing and expect different results…but it is another thing altogether for US to be allowing clear jackasses to keep on riding US, as people ….. and expecting to EVER win.
Barbados Underground 
Several of the contributors to this post seem to be under the illusion that the reason why our athletes are under performing is due entirely to the lack of government support for our sporting “elite”and our sport’s infrastructure. I totally disagree with this argument.
We can all agree that the minimum requisite for a sportsman/woman to have in their make-up is to be endowed with a degree of “raw” talent. How can we expect our athletes to become great achievers when they so clearly lack this basic but necessary raw material?
What of those fifthteen percent of our athletes who may have the potential to convert that raw talent into a honed and a refined talent? Our poor conversion rates are due entirely to the psychological deficiencies of our so-called “elite” sportsmen/women.
They do not possess the mental fortitude to succeed, they do not understand what
sacrifices they have to make in their lives in order to reach their maximum potential within their endeavoured sport. They have set their bar so low that mediocrity has always been the norm of our sporting achievements and ambitions.
If we want to succeed in sports we need to take a good look at our Jamaican neighbours. One only needs to look at the broad range of sports that Jamaica has adopted over the last twenty years to realise that these people are serious about their sports. When a Jamaican takes up a sport, irrespective of the sport they put in the maximum effort. Those guys do not joke.
The failure of our athletes is largely justified. They were born and conceived in a nation which has scant regard for sporting achievement. We have an education system which has failed to embrace a sporting culture which would ultimately benefit the health and well-being of our society.
To be successful sportsman/women one must be hungry; there is no place for mediocrity.
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Exclaimer. ..the athletes who possess the raw talent…..are not selected from primary school level, they exist but are not courted or recruited….the system for scouting talented athletes from so young an age do not exist in Barbados.
It’s found in Europe and North America, Latin, Central and South America and Asia, it’s found in Jamaica….but not in Barbados.,,, the talent has to be nurtured and harnessed.
De Grasse of Canada was scouted at a meet, the right person was there at the right time, spotted his potential and gave him a card….very good coaches and scouts have a knack for spotting exceptional talent.
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@Exclaimer
Have you ever been to Jamaica during Champs?
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De Grasse is of Trinidadian and Barbadian descent.
His mother Beverley De Grasse was a high school sprinter in her native Trinidad and Tobago
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Exclaimer and Well, Well, no intent to get into a stupid argument with either of you but some of what you say is wrong. You are both dissing quite erroneously a large cross section of dedicated coaches who over the years have spotted lots of talented folks and placed them on a path to use their athletic talent to improve their lot in life.
To suggest that “Our poor conversion rates are due ENTIRELY (my emphasis) to the psychological deficiencies of our so-called “elite” sportsmen/women” or “the system for scouting talented athletes from so young an age do not exist in Barbados” does not conform to the realities on the island that my limited experience offered.
To accept what you are saying it means that people like Jerston Clarke and Frank Blackman (Blackie) and Deighton Maynard and their peers and the younger set of the Orlando Greens (HC), Harcourt Wasons (Com) and then the much younger set who are out there now were either jokers or blatantly incompetent. And to suggest that would be balderdash. You are also saying that all those ‘stars’ who went before Oba were mentally incapable. Nonsense.
I recall serious ‘scouting’ at under 12 and other age group football way back in the day when that T&T dude (Marquez if I recall correctly) ran a soccer program at the YMCA. Over the years hockey players have been scouted at the annual tournament Banks sponsored (then the sponsors) and recruited to colleges. Of course athletes were scouted since the 70s. We have had cyclists on the world scene also.
Yes this is all very piddling and does not show a path to Olympic or World championship achievement so we can definitely agree that a serious comprehensive ongoing effort is needed so that Bdos can produce more quality athletes and sportsmen.
However, to suggest that it’s due to psychological deficiencies or to exhort that no scouting is done is just absolutely WRONG.
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WTF is minister Stephen Lashley doing in Rio? His hotel and travel fare could have been better utilized by donating to a needy family.
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Pedant…was Frank Blackman not a football coach….I dont know of any foottball team going to the olympics…particularly in the 70s when Frank coached youngsters….we are speaking about selecting that special talent for olymoic qualifications….in 2016 and in the last 10 years.
“To suggest that “Our poor conversion rates are due ENTIRELY (my emphasis) to the psychological deficiencies of our so-called “elite” sportsmen/women” or “the system for scouting talented athletes from so young an age do not exist in Barbados” does not conform to the realities on the island that my limited experience offered.”
So Pedant, by your above comment you are well aware that there are deficiencies in the selection and training process used for athletes, so you should be not only able to enlighten us about the causes of these inefficiencies, but also supply solutions…instead of becoming all defensive about people who no longer coach anyone since they are most of them long deceased and were not responsible for today’s problems..stop living in the past and deal with present day realities.
BTW…ya forgot one of the greatest coaches from Carrington Village…Clarke, now decased and since ya know them so well ya should be able to supply his first name.
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*deceased
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I was merely adding a perspective, As noted I will not engage in irrational argumentation. You offered a perspective which I find to be factual inaccurate and fundamentally impractical. The reference to a past was to reflect that the process you and Exclaimer condemned as non-existent now was in fact very alive years ago. It is therefore irrational in my view to suggest that it is now completely in abeyance. I was not being defensive. I was refuting impracticality.
All of those former coaches begat younger coaches who learned newer methods and practices so the point should be clear. If the older coaches did it back then, I expect that the younger coaches did it too – and better. It’s amazing (laughable) that you would consider that reference as living in the past.
One Olympic medal in 50 years clearly confirms that deficiencies exist. That is not in dispute.
Just as obviously there is frustration and current difficulties and as shown by the simple example of the Minister’s unnecessary trip to Brazil, frustration with improper use of scarce funds.
Yet none of that gets us to the statements made by the two of you.
Incidentally I mentioned coaches across different disciplines to show that various folks operated to seek out talented youngsters. Whether Blackman was a football coach or not is irrelevant…but the Blackman to whom I referred certainly also coached athletics.
I dun wid you and that. Forget all I said and revert that you were right to say: “the system for scouting talented athletes from so young an age [does] not exist in Barbados”. LOLL
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On last thing Well,Well…and this IS being defensive. oh lawd!
India with its 1.2 Billion people has won less than 30 Olympic medals since their first visit to a Games in 1900 and then from 1920 at every Games thereafter. And their brilliant hockey tradition that I recall as a boy seemed to place them somewhere on an Olympic podium is definitely no longer a certain medal since these last several years.
You can do the population calculation to compare them to Bim and our paltry one medal but they should have a moboton more, I suspect. So I suggest they definitely must have deep psychological problems and grave deficiencies in scouting talent to be so terrible in producing first class Olympic athletes.
Consider that China also has over one billion people… just a few hundred million more than India, And with less years at the Games because of boycotts and so on…yet they have 16 times more medals.
And another tidbit…I read some where that more than 44 Chinese born Table Tennis players were in Rio. FORTY FOUR. Only six of course played for China.
Just saying! We are not the only ones with deficiencies. LOLL
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“Incidentally I mentioned coaches across different disciplines to show that various folks operated to seek out talented youngsters. Whether Blackman was a football coach or not is irrelevant…but the Blackman to whom I referred certainly also coached athletics.”
Correct is right- Frank Blackman was involved only in athletics. Matter of fact he was the premier but unsupported athletics coach in the sixties and did it more out of love for interest in the sport.
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“Hants August 19, 2016 at 7:42 PM #
De Grasse is of Trinidadian and Barbadian descent.
His mother Beverley De Grasse was a high school sprinter in her native Trinidad and Tobago”
And what’s the point? so was the black Bradman George Headley of Barbadian descent-
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Glen Mills: the man behind Usain Bolt’s record-shattering career
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Barbados had the greatest in sir garfield sobers , Jamaica have their great in Usain Bolt what does these two men have in common
These men were born great ,their are mortals beings whose accomplishments are not man made they were set and developed before birth by a higher calling
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@ Dribbler
It hurts when you place Bushie in the invidious position of having to agree with you in principle…. 🙂
The difference between China and India is a national policy of talent identification at primary school level, and thereafter a focused and methodological march towards Olympic medal success. If the rules allowed, ALL table tennis players at the Olympics would probably be Chinese.
You should note that this approach has also crept into Chinese INDUSTRY, and they are now the WORLD leaders in production, manufacturing, technology, and science.
Soon they will establish the same dominance in military and political might.
The ability to identify, nurture, and harness natural talent towards an identified goal is probably the single most impactful component of success. Sport acts as a pilot project and a launch platform for national success if this is properly understood.
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Pedant….after finding yourself boxed in by yourself, you still did not tell me WHO is responsible for the inefficiencies in NOT selecting the most talented athletes with olympic potential from PEIMARY SCHOOL.
I hope you can understand that the MORE athletes you send to the olympics, the better your chances are at medaling…..dont care how large ya population India, China, Africa, the smallest island Jamaica, could have the better, faster, most talented athletes because it starts with the POINT OF SELECTION.
Why ya think they send so many, out of 60 athletes 2 or 3 might medals…have you not noticed the large and varied selection Canada sent this year…..notice they will send more to Japan next olympics….cause they are well aware, given this year’s successes, they have to up their game to maintain their current standing and achieve more medaling..
I hope you do, does understand that…lol
pourquoi êtes-vous si simple d’esprit , je sais Canada ne nit le faire
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Bushman…ya beating ya head against a pedant wall…he may understand somem but the overall big picture escapes him…..athletes do not select themselves for the olympics, someone scouts them out, someone else coaches and directs their energies accordingly……Pedant is trying to insert deceased men like Frank and Clarke into something in which they did not have a hand since Barbados could not have been representing in the olympics for more than 16 to 20 years….l8ng after these coaches had either passed on or grown too old to coach.
The greedy US…they know Gatlin screwed up last night…..sends hundreds of athletes…so they can acquire 105 medals as they have done so far, which is practical and admirable, except for when they are being greedy cause they know Gatlin should stay disqualified.
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Blackman did not seek out any athletes for the olympic games, that came after his time….long after why is that so hard to understsnd…..for olympic representation, you seek out those BORN with the RAW talent embedded in their DNA…they are IDENTIFIABLE from PRIMARY SCHOOL…they just need to be FOUND….they exist in Barbados…as with every Caribbean island.
The most important thing in the olympics is the taking part…but….there are those exceptional athletes who were born for the olympics…they just need to be found.
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Pedant…I hope you get it now.
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Google+ Calendar Web more Bin Delete forever [Barbados Underground] Comment: “Austin Sealy Says Keep Pressing On” Bin B Barbados Underground
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I am too old to get to 2020 Olympics as an athlete, but I going as an official.
We need at least two officials per athlete.
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The Minister delivered “Certificates of Participation”, I guess the athletes will wave those on their return to Bim, this is a Monty Python sketch waiting to happen. Lawd mek peace, I hay laughing my arse off wtf “Certificates of Participation” laughter is not de best medicine cause I gwine
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Ya need to find those exceptional athletes, apart from De Grasse who was lucky to be found before he aged out…
…the dude running for Japan who came second to Bolt….father black Jamaican, mother Japanese, he was raised in Jamaica, his horsepower harnesed in Jamaica and Japan has now unleashed that horsepower on the world using their renowned precision.
Instead of just talking, Sealy and the coaches should be scouring the primary and high schools from now…and give these potential olympians they opportunities they deserve….they are there, they EXIST…find them.
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@Bushie, nah problem we can share a drink on this and then cuss each other another time. But yeah China will dominate. They already do in many areas so you mean ‘soon’ they will replace US as the dominant world economy. Period.
With that in mind I am amazed at the ‘key brand name’ assets the US, Australia and Britain et al are selling to them BUT of course when Apple gets a large chunk of their revenue from China (despite all the cloning) it becomes even more pellucid still that the West needs China to fuel their continued growth.
No wonder President Trump in their faces so aggressively. Either as President of the US or President of Trump Inc. he will be negotiating big deals with the Chinese in 2018. Believe me on that. LOLL.
@Well. well. Incidentally, this same Bushman gave an expressive overview on an early post on what is needed to improve the inefficiencies. Not for my to pontificate here on that anyhow. There are very sensible people who know exactly how and why they are screwing-up.
Anyhow, as you said I don’t understand the bigger picture, so tally-ho!
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Just putting in my two cents…..
Several has made the excellent point that Barbados cannot just sit back and wait for an exceptional talent to emerge; identifying and nurturing this talent from and early stage, providing knowledgeable training and ‘adequate facilities must be part of a national strategy.
I believe if I were to check the records for 2008, 2012 and 2016, I would see similar suggestions being made to remedy our paucity of medals. This is a quadrennial discussion which reaches it apex in the last few days of Olympic competition and our tally of medals is zero. Let’s find a way to keep this discussion going, so that it does not ends with the end of this Olympics and resurfaces four years later.
It seems to me that national sporting bodies must already be aware of what our problems are and what are the possible solutions.
Perhaps, there is a need to launch a continuous assault on those who manage our sports; perhaps, now is the time to begin a dedicated campaign for the 2020 Olympics. Let’s get those square pegs out of round holes; let’s raise the ‘criterion’ above ensuring that we have at least one athlete just make the Olympic standards, so that a band of officials can pack their suitcases for travel. Let’s demand results from today.
I am willing to bet, that though we may have not have a clue of the athletes going to the 2020 Olympics, the 2020 Olympic team (of officials) has already been picked.
Is it possible that cronyism, nepotism, and favoritism is rampant because those in charge have no real faith in our athletes being successful? If you thought that two athletes have zero chances of winning a medal, wouldn’t you take along ‘your son’ if he was one of the two who made the standard.
There will be no Olympic Gold medals under these sporting (bodies) fools.
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The one thing that amazes me is the amount of brains displayed on BU.
Whilst we may argue about if Barbados is in a lower weight class, it is clear that there is an over abundance of brain power on the island.
The poster team delivers posters that if one look at them very critically, one would see that the thoughts behind them are just brilliant.
The various bloggers, some of whose politics i find too US oriented, are scholarly and often make exceptional contributions.
Of course we have a few who are otherwise but ‘even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story’.
In summary, Barbados has the brains to meet the challenges that are ahead of us. We have to find away to use the full brain rather than just the B or D half.
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Another Olympics and nothing to show for it but look on the bright side some people received free trips and accommodation, some people got to “site see” (no favela tours of course), some people got to hob nob with the IOC elite and some people got to see the backs of the other athletes as they thundered down the track.
The rich countries that poured money and resources into their Sports programs will win the bulk of the medals, the poor countries except for Jamaica which has a lock on the sprint medals will receive the odd medal because of some exceptional athlete, the African countries will win most of the distance races, The Jamaicans seem to have inherited the fast twitch gene from their African ancestors, these same genes have been bred out of the Barbadian populace (perhaps some budding scientist should do a makeup of the Bajan DNA pool vs the Jamaican DNA and observe that the Bajan DNA is mostly comprised of people who originated in Liverpool vs the Jamaican pool which will be mainly of people from West Africa (look I am just ruminating).
The Olympics was and is always about prestige my country is better than yours etc. remember the East Germans? At one time they used the Olympics to try to justify that their political system was better than any through their athletes though if you said “Guten Morgen” to their female swimmers you would likely get a response from a voice south of “Bandit” late of the Opels. That voice was accompanied by a physique with bulging muscles that Earl Maynard or Darcy Beckles would envy. Later when the regime was dismantled the Stasi secret files revealed the extent of the drug program that wrecked the lives of the people subjected to it but the east Germans kept their medals; notably Putin embarked on a similar program in Russia in recent years.
This morning I am watching the canoe/kayak races on the National broadcaster in the country North of the 49th parallel, in addition to over 300 athletes it has sent over 300 officials to cater to the athletes every need, any success is celebrated and discussed around water coolers, bars, backyards and political offices. The country will continue to pour money into Sports and there is a program called “own the Podium” which is a bit controversial but is targeted at getting the country to win more medals. It is a wealthy country with a relatively small population and the medal haul is small compared to the behemoth beside it and China if it is having to expend so much money with limited results what are the poor countries to do?
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Followed a link and read an editorial ‘invest in our athletes’.
If I used that as a yardstick some contributors here get an A++
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The petty little officials in Barbados, should start looking firvthe olympic potentials based in talent, strength, commitment and skills, do not use classism, if the the kids parents got, money, car, house or ifm they are affiliated to a political party…that’s nonsense, it’s backward.
It’s heartbreaking to hear what Akela went through starting at her high school because of her humble beginnings, which was not her fault, now she is reaching her pinnacle.
The Bowie girl from the Southern US..had even humbler beginnings, now she is on the world stage, stop the ignorant classism and ya will find your olympians in Barbados.
DeGrasse was signed with Puma and chosen for commercials….before winning any medal at the olympics, it’s his very first ….your successful journey start when you qualify to represent.
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I am sure Akela has already signed her contracts…stop being idiots and do the right thing for the kids and the island.
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@Sargeant
Despite your remarkable gene pool theory :-), we should at least have a fraction of the success of the Jamaicans.
As other here have pointed out, a large part of the success comes from identifying, nurturing and training young talent. Money alone is not the answer or Saudi Arabia would be a super power.
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@WW&C
Greetings.
I see you still have your A game.
Keep on punching.
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@The Gazer
Or we could import a few Jamaicans to represent us, check out the number of Jamaican born sprinters representing countries like Turkey, Bahrain etc. the Turks renamed their athlete Jak Ali Harvey I think he was originally Jack Harvey. The Gulf rich states have also imported some African runners to represent their country Ruth Jebet born in Kenya won Gold in the 3000 metres steeplechase. The oil rich nations are buying the talent that they don’t have naturally and money always talks.
BTW Merlene Ottey the great Jamaican sprinter who used to carry the flag when the Jamaican sprint program was wavering and whom the Americans derisively called “The Bronze queen” (because she used to come third to the US first and second) ended her career representing Slovenia.
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Greetings to you too Anonymice..I do not know why we have to be telling this to sports officials and government officials who love to boast about their 95% literacy rate. They should ALL already know all of it and SHOULD be APPLYING it.
Akeka did not even have a heptathlon partner frim the island, she was on her own and despite that she excelled….sending 2 or more of each from the various disciplines.., builds confidence in current and future olympians.
Someone told me there are a few coaches on the island who can spot the current talents……but more effort needs to be put into finding, harnessing and maintaining those olympic talents.
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RE Sargeant August 20, 2016 at 10:06 AM #
YOU CONTINUE TO MAKE THE MOST SENSE HERE
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Sargeant …ya failed to mention that since Ottey stopped running..Jamaica has been kicking US ass ever since in the the women’s 100, 200 and relays, lsst night is one if thr few times US won the relay from Jamaica…since Ottey stopped running.
Jamaica knows they have to find faster runners than Fraser-Price and Campbell-Browne because the US has new runners, Bowie, Gardner and a few other new talents. Jamaica has tge new Elaine Thompson to kick ass….they know to maintain.
Barbados cannot train or maintain their talents…where will they find millions to pay Olympians to run for them, they dont come cheaply….olympians sign 10 million dollar contracts to model shoes. ..ya think ya can pay them to run…lol
Ya better start finding ya young olympians and training them for 2020, 2024, 2028…etc…and be thankful the old satan America still gives the young athletes in the Caribbean athletic scholarships and opportunities..l8l
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Should read:
Olympians sign annual 10 million dollar contracts to model shoes. ..ya think ya can pay them to run…lol
That is 10 million annually…to model athletic shoes, shades, shirts, pants..it’s a business, ya think Barbados can tell them one year they broke and cant pay them…despite the contract…ha!!!
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We might get lucky.
“The world’s best triple jumper hasn’t ruled out donning the ultramarine and gold after saying he’s still seriously considering representing Barbados at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/84635/taylors-dream#sthash.e1yrbd1v.dpuf
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The talk about about importing players is nonsense and serves as a distraction. If we benefit by them coming fine but is does not address the management issue we have been discussing to aspire to excellence in what we do.
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By NAN Sports Editor
News Americas, RIO, Brazil, Thurs. Aug. 18, 2016: He is noticeable because he is the only black man on the Japanese men’s relay team and on Thursday morning he left many tongues wagging as he anchored his team to the win over favorites Jamaica in the 4×100-m men’s relay heats.
But few bothered to note that Asuka “Aska” Antonio Cambridge was actually born in Jamaica, West Indies even though he is running for Japan. Cambridge’s father is Jamaican and his mother Japanese.
The 23-year-old, who helped shatter the Japanese and Asian records for the 4×100-m Thursday as well in a time of 37.68, has been running in sprinting events from a young age.
He competed for his high school in Tokyo and later at Nihon University, where he studied literature and science. He was fourth in the 100 m at the 2011 National Sports Festival of Japan.
At the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics he narrowly missed out on the 200 m final but he excelled in the relay alongside Kazuma Oseto, Akiyuki Hashimoto, and Kazuki Kanamori – the team ran an Asian junior record of 39.01 seconds in the heats (the fastest of all the qualifiers) and were just one hundredth slower in the final, where they claimed the bronze medals.
In 2013, Cambridge improved his personal bests to 10.33 seconds for the 100 m and 20.62 seconds for the 200 m. He won his first international gold medals at the 2013 East Asian Games in October: he beats compatriot Shōta Iizuka in the 200 m to become East Asian champion and then teamed up with his rival to secure the 4×100 metres relay title for Japan. Their time of 38.44 seconds was a new East Asian Games record – an improvement of nearly half a second.
Cambridge qualified for Rio by winning the 100-m final at the Japan Championships in 10.16.
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Many olympic athletes opt at some time to represent the land of their parents or grandparent’s birth…it is a distinct possibility.
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Not bad talking the guy, but it may sound so…
Willing to bet that he represents Barbados only if he does not make the US team. This happens quite often. If they don’t make the cut in one country, they pop up in another country.
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@Well Well & Consequences….despite your other brilliant posts on BU…you sometimes say things that have absolutely no logical moorings. This is such a remark: “Blackman did not seek out any athletes for the olympic games, that came after his time….”
To the point made by @Balance, when I started secondary school in the 70s I saw Blackie around and about regularly training and grooming athletes. He was very involved directly and indirectly with many (if not all) of the Olympic athletes who represented Barbados during the 70s and 80s surely. He was still involved as late as with Oba, as well. Oba himself was quoted somewhere as calling the man brilliant.
So I have no idea where or how your remarks are valid.
Anyone who reads stuff here can easily verify for their own benefit. I suspect that you speak not just to be heard but to actually add credible commentary to the debate. Your statement above is thus duly corrected. Just say ‘merci’ and move on.
Please remember that Jim Wedderburn in 1960 was one of the first Bajan athletes who attended the Olympics as part of a WI team (or Commonwealth team or whatever they were officially called) so to suggest that Blackman did not seek youngsters for the Olympics because we only started doing this ‘recently’ is rather counter intuitive and abjectly WRONG.
Incidentally the doc corrected the blog that Oba’s parents were Guyanese and Bermudan. We all know that he married a Belizean superstar athlete (drugs apart), so therein is one possible answer to the gene management for quality athletes being recommended here: their children. But will they rep for Bdos or Belize.
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In that case Pedant, I stand corrected, seems like you had to go search out the information, I was not in Barbados in the late 70s or 80s and cannot remember if Orlando Greene, brilliant athlete at the time ever ran the olympics, why did you not share the time frame that Barbados actually entered the Olymoics…..why did I have to drag it out of you….lol..
it says Wedderburn won a bronze in the relay in 1968, first time Barbados entered the Olympics….what happened to the relay team that should have been replaced with new talent as seen fit from 1968 to 2016.
So from 1968 to 2016, sports and government officials did not see it necessary to seek out their olympians which exist on the island, ya have to keep rotating ya athletes, to get the right fit, the right mix, I cannot say this enough..keep sending one horse to a race for decades and see what happens.
I thought Oba is married to the many gold medaled American Marion Jones born in Los Angeles California, did not know she was from Belize…who told you she was from Belize…Google has the info.
Pedant….ya need a real job you know that…lol
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http://ow.ly/blZL303qu6E
This is whom Oba is married to Pedant.
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Now with all jokes aside…from 1968 to 2016, Barbados has no excuse not to have maintained a relay team of olympians or send more potential olympians for qualifying times.
There was so much boasting over the decades about the island having first world status and being the most wealthy, most developed of the Caribbean islands…all kinds of garbage…yet islands with smaller populations and much less funding seek out and send their olympians out for exposure..
……and we cannot forget or ignore that the US always makes athletic scholarships available for athletes with potential from Caribbean islands…..so what’s the excuse….eh!!!
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Marion Jones…..
“she was raised by her mother, Marion Toler, a medical-legal transcriptionist who had immigrated to the United States from Belize.
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Lol….I dont know how Pedant turned that into Oba being married to a Belizean and all the other stuff he came up with. ..everyone knows Marion Jones the olympian is a born and bred American…it’s all over the internet, couple years ago there was a documentary made about it showing the kids, one belong to Marion and Tim Montgomery, the other to Oba and Marion.
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Brazil wins Soccer Gold on penalties after extra time, Brazil had the better run but couldn’t convert while Germany seemed content to wait for the penalty kicks. Brazil obtained some revenge after the 7-0 shellacking in the last Word Cup
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A good show by Neymar.
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@Well, Well discussions with you quickly devolve into the realm of a sort of Neverland. So let me close out this exercise in futility and fantasy quickly.
You are obviously shooting from the lip re Barbados and it’s Olympic history. I really thought you had simply misspoken re Mr Blackman and his legacy to Barbados’ athletics and thus genuinely attempted to clarify. However you are obviously ‘mekking sport’ about sports.
Marion Jones has always highlighted her Belizean roots, certainly as I recall anyhow. All are aware she represented the US and thus is a ‘citizen’ there. However, that does not repudiate her roots and I facetiously focused on that to stretch the point – in line with the discussion – in jest re the possible athletic prowess of her and Oba’s off-spring. That would have been rather obvious, I thought with all the chatter we had about Chinese and Jamaicans and importing talent and all that.
And one last point. From way back at school days I learned about Jim Wedderburn. And as you said Google is there to fill in any blanks. I am not aware that Wedderburn was on any BARBADOS relay team when he first attended the Olympics. So again I have absolutely NO idea what you are talking about.
I was not in Selma in the 1960s either just as you say you were not in Barbados in the 70s, but what does that have to do with accuracy. Whether there or not I would not come here and make statements with the conviction you did unless I checked my facts….
I spoke of Blackman and Maynard and Clarke from memory not Google. Oba and Marion were also from memory as her Belize roots were the key thing that stuck out for me when they got married.
If you needed to check it all via Google then that’s absolutely OK….that’s what Google is for. For me in this case the main details came from the other ‘computer’ memory: de noggin!
Tally-ho.
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http://ow.ly/EEfD303qNEN
Let google be your friend Pedant..Wedderburn did get a bronze running as part of a relay team under the West Indies Federation in 1968, If you knew he ran from memory, it is now equally easy to find out if he medaled.
The very first olympic medal barbados got as an independent nation was by Oba in 2000.
Now you can let your memory tell me if any olympians were sent to represent the island between 1968 and 2000……I was off island when Frank died so you can tell me the names of the Olympians he and others coached in those years.
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The first Barbadian athlete to win an Olympic Medal was Jim Wedderburn as a member of the West Indies 4 x 400 Relay Team at the 1960 Olympics in Rome.
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Pedant….Marion Jones, not her mother, was DQed from the Olympics, I did not check to see if it’s a lifetime ban, you can do that, suffice it to say she will not be running any time soon…..Marion Jones, not her mother, was born in the US and married Oba.
Now that is out of the way, how do you propose we get the local sports officials to focus on finding olympians in the primary and high schools, that’s the issue.
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LOLLL, Well, well your fans here will like you more if you continue in this manner of rushing bull-like through simple English comprehension. Not knowing a single thing about you other than you love to engage/argue (we share that) and something you said about lingering effects from a mosquito infection some years back in Bim I can only slap them together and diagnose that you need your eye-sight checked…at minimum. LOLL.
Several posts ago it was noted that Jim Wedderburn ran as part of a Caribbean team… point 1 eye check! It was noted in was in 1960… point 2 eye check!
Before Oba we have had several athletes make it to the Olympics. SEVERAL. Your good friend the doc mentioned one, Freida Nicholls, a few posts back as well… point 1, mekking sport, ’bout Sport; point 3, eye check!
Marion’s Belizean ancestry was clarified by @Hants and my subsequent post; it’s the same concept the allowed a Jamaican born to Japanese parents to hark back to his ancestral root and represent Japan. Marion’s and Oba yut could do similar assuming his mother had also affirmed her Belizean citizenship. Very simple…point 2, you mekking sport, ’bout Sports; point 4, eye check!
At 10:12 PM you said he won in 1968; at 10:14 PM you said 1960. Because YOU are confused it does not mean you need to confuse all-ah-we too….point 5, eye check. DEFINITELY!
And finally, point repeat. The Bushman and @Sargeant and even the Doc with less words, have given clear reasons why our sports structure is deficient, and Bushman spoke to remedies (here and previously). I have met many talented and bright male and female Bajans over the years who UNDERSTAND these issues…who ‘GET IT’. Who have worked to resolve…in vain, generally.
Oba himself spoke on the subject in the past and just recently. Nothing I say here will ameliorate that situation. Just as nothing just ‘voiced’ here by itself will improve our politics.
By all means say your piece boldly and eloquently but do please get your sight checked and facts too! Smile.
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@Dee Word
Uour problem is that you have to know when to leave an argument.
Surprised though you have not mention that 4×400 relay team that did us proud, was it Los Angeles?
Elvis Forde, Siebert Straughn, Richard Louis and ??
On Sun, Aug 21, 2016 at 11:20 AM, Barbados Underground wrote:
>
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@David you are absolutely right that, “[my] problem is … know when to leave an argument.”
I had long ago promised myself not to engage with @Well, well and had you provided one remark to debunk her absolutely, mindlessly wrong comments re our athletics I would not have said a word. Not a single word.
Like you I don’t remember all the lads although I don’t think Seibert was in that mix. There was an Edwards as well I think (will Google)…but anyhow do give me some credit for trying to end it early and then returning to set the record straight. LOLLL.
I thought I had stepped into an alternate universe when I saw the post that Barbados had NO Olympic athletes before Oba or some such amazingly inaccurate remark…and you said not a pang!!! Shame on you. Smile!
…. Search says that Richard Louis, David Peltier, Clyde Edwards and Elvis Forde were the four who broke the Bajan national record at the LA Olympics.
Forde and Louis I remember most of the group. Forde was very good from a local perspective and was all over the papers back then.
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@Dee Word
Do imagine building a coaching/management structure with Elvis, Oba, Siebert, Harcourt, Codrngton et al given their US collegiate connections etc? One has to agree with Bushie, there is the opportunity to do better with a more structured sorts program. Why do you think many recall the performance of the relay team and it did not even win a medal? It is about breeding a culture of excellence that squeezes the best out of your people. In the same way Barbados was described as punching above its weight class who is to say similar cannot be done with a youth/sports program. Look to the stars!
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http://www.barbadostoday.bb/2016/08/20/silver-for-jamaica-in-4x400m-relays/
Jamaica and other Caribbean islands always refresh their athletes, they do not wait for 4 to 8 years to replace and renew….they learned from watching US etc..there are things to be learned by the local sports officials…ya always need a new genneration of athletes in varying disciplines and in greater numbers than 6 or 8.
“Several posts ago it was noted that Jim Wedderburn ran as part of a Caribbean team… point 1 eye check! It was noted in was in 1960… point 2 eye check!”
Pedant….lol really, I noticed the error 1960, 1968, but I DONT fix every error, however mercI for bringing it to my attention, glad ya noticed.
But you keep missing the point I outlined above… the reason Barbados chances seems lessened, the reason why they do not seem to be successful enough, the reason why ya complaining….they need to find their olympians in the primary and secondary schools….send them out in larger numbers.
” Who have worked to resolve…in vain, generally.”
You have said it…the problems lie with those responsible for choosing the athletes….THE POINT OF SELECTION….I did not speak French when I said that, I only resort to french to iritate you…lol
I wish you were close enough to me to fix my every typo…but alas… I am sure you will continue to point them out though…
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I just heard one of the commentators on CBC Toronto say that countries aspiring for success in the olympics are sourcing the new generations of talented athletes FROM NOW…..they are searching for them by the HUNDREDS….that means from grade school to high school they are looking for olympic talent…..FOR THE FUTURE.
I dont count my posts or anyone else’s, but I am sure my posts trying to say the same thing fir the past 2 days numbered at least 50 and meeting all types of stupid arguments and opposition…..I mentioned it once to a few people around the globe….and they understood perfectly….the FIRST time, I did not need to repeat myself, but the replies were sensible and intelligent.
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Pedant…I only just read the top of your post dont ask me why, sometimes I start reading from the bottom and work my way up….while I appreciate like minded people who understand the issues and look to make things better by a thought, an idea, a comment…..we are all adults and this is not a competition, not a sport.
I dont tell me about reading from the bottom up…. because the jews read everything including the bible…from the back and come forward, variety……. ya should try it.
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Was trying to rely on the old memory to recall the athletes who represented Bim in 1968 and saw that they were listed on a website (Steve Stoute would have been one of the officials as he was Secretary of the local Cycling Association).
Again I am relying on memory but wasn’t Anthony “Mango’ Phillips disqualified in Mexico because a Coach didn’t know that he had to increase the weight lift attempt by a specific amount?
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The question is:
How do we hold our sport authorities feet to the fire so that we do not repeat this conversation four years from now?
Do sporting authorities need new blood (members) and new ideas?
Do they need to come with new plans and strategies?
We need to get in the engine room and in the pilot house instead of standing on the deck discussing the course and speed of the ship.
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In my first post on this thread I listed a number of athletes who were outstanding in athletics in the 60’s, who later went on to acredit themselves well in later life, despite not going to the Olympics. I forgot Fingall, David Simmons and Clover Arthur of QC, a paediatrician in the USA. I also spoke of the prowess of schoolboy cricketers who could defy their elders while still schoolboys and make what was then a strong Barbados team.
This was an era when schoolboys were expected to run fast, play good cricket and football….as well as do school work well.
Most of thee students chose it seems NOT to be Olympians. THIS IS NOT A CRIME. these folk were practical and pragmatic!
Many of our best schoolboy cricketers gave up too in the 70’s 80’s and 90’s as they saw no way that they could advance into the team that was crushing everyone.
I have not followed athletics much since my schooldays. But is it not possible that our best athletes are practical and pragmatic too, and do not think they can win at the Olympics, and prefer not to go and make an ass of themselves?
Every year we witness schools primary and under 15 cricket. Many good players are unearthed. When the primary school days are over how many of these great players continue playing.
Perhaps in Bim the emphasis is on academics not sport. Does this make us a nation of fools?
So many Bajans have gone to the USA on athletic scholarships. When they got to to the USA, what was their priority? Athletics or sport? How many of these went to the Olympics? Were they good enough or did they have other priorities? ARE THEY SINNERS WHOSE NAMES SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM THE BOOK OF LIFE FOR LIFE BECAUSE THEY DID NOT GO TO THE OLYMPICS? I think not..
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i am here watching something called rhythmic gymnastics in which some girls in beautiful costumes parade with hoops and balls and ribbons
perhaps at the next olympics we can send some of our girls to compete in this “sport”
with some good wukking up for the “rhythmic” part, perhaps we can get a medal or two
BY THE WAY LET ME SAY THE MOST IMPORTANT THING FOR A MAN OR WOMAN TO DO IS TO BE A GOOD PARENT
I HAVE TOLD THE MEN IN MY CLASSES IN MED SCHOOL ” IT IS FAR MORE IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO BE A VERY GOOD FATHER THAN TO BE THE BEST DR EVER”
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@The Gazer
Precisely.
After a while one starts to tire of making the same observations over and over again AND IRRESPECTIVE OF HOW ELOQUENTLY WE SPEAK it does not matter the points made if, four years down the road, or like the scourge called the WICB, our BOA repeats the same visionless process and we come back here to comment about it.
The time has come for change by doing and relinquishing change through impotent talk.
Someone or some agency, with the bonafides that will stand the scrutiny of an international agency like the ITU or the IOC, needs to promote an unbiased mechanism that will collect all requisite data, across ALL the sports sectors, for critical mining and analysis.
It will be extremely hard.
I can send email pertaining to such attempts for one year to the local agency housed at Blenheim pasture in My Lords Hill.
A lot of you here love to talk nicely about the history of this matter and all of the rest but the facts are that nothing that can remotely achieve results here in Bim is accorded any success.
The fact is that we Bajans are truly monkeys recently descended from trees and it is for this reason that other races are understandably? embarked on eradicating our useless asses from the landscape of the country, the region and the world.
The envy that Noel Lynch displayed when Obadele Thompson secured his Olympic Medal, speaks volumes to the engrained nepotism and cronyism that besieges the BOA and our entire national psyche.
“Unless I, PieceuhdeRockyeahRight, or whatever you call yourself, am responsible for recommending who shall serve, unless they are my son, my friend s son or someone who is related to me, I will ensure that they will not get through”
We are a nation cursed by GOD
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@Gazer, those of us who palaver here are those who were either never in the ‘the admin sports game’ , were only ‘loosely’ so involved (I include myself there) and those who are very frustrated with what they encountered over the years (the Bushman seems to fit that bill).
Many competent folks were (and still are really) in the ‘engine room and in the pilot house’ of the various sporting bodies but it seems they have being either beaten down by conditions around them, given in willingly to those conditions in order to reap the sweets or are being stymied at every turn as they try to make a difference.
Thus @Sargeant’s point is instructive. He reminded me of the short of stature but strong as hell Mango Phillips whom I often saw around the Cheapside area for many years, but to this point he spoke also of Steve Stoute being involved in Bajan sports for eons. I am sure the older folks here remember Peder Pedersen (?) and the other international cyclists who filled the stadium to max. We remember feeling real proud when Kingsley Reece and Forde competed with some vigor alongside these big guns.
Stoute was instrumental in bringing all that razzle-dazzle to our shores.
So people like him really do know what it takes to make champion caliber athletes, and develop champion level process and effective engine rooms and so on. And of course he has been the big cheese for Olympics here for decades. He has had his time perhaps.
To your point we do need to completely remodel and revamp the engine rooms, and to change and elect an entire new cadre of people…but as in everything, turning that pestle in a deep mortar of thick gruel is harder than it looks.
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correct that….” they have being ” rather ” have BEEN”!
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“Perhaps in Bim the emphasis is on academics not sport. Does this make us a nation of fools?”
GP..I got a better understanding of the challenges from the 60s from your post.
They really need to vary athletic discipline, find more great talent.
There are many factors involved after local athletes immigrate with scholarships….injuries while training is a leading factor. While it’s important to focus solely on athletic training, it must be balanced with good grades to maintain the scholarship, it’s one of the criterias post Kobe Bryant, who did not go to college….but excelled in basketball.
Hence the reason the most committed, focused, strongest, fastest athletes are sought out for olympic selections…it starts wuth the selection process.
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“Unless I, PieceuhdeRockyeahRight, or whatever you call yourself, am responsible for recommending who shall serve, unless they are my son, my friend s son or someone who is related to me, I will ensure that they will not get through”
And that is the blight that follows the island everywhere, it defies logic and guarantees failure and mediocrity.
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Hence the reason the most committed, focused, strongest, fastest athletes are sought out for olympic selections, particularly those who can balance all that, with good, but not necessarily great grades.…it starts wuth the selection process.
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@PUDRYR
Some use the bullet to fuel revolutions, others use words over time to move change along. One is more impactful in the short term and the other grinds to the objective over time. What do you want, a revolution by gun or a process using suasion fuelled by our intellect.
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Yuh gotta give jack e jacket and no doubt Steve Stoute was instrumental in helping in the development of cycling back in the 60’s ,70’s. I grew up hearing names like Ken Farnum but wasn’t fortunate to see him ride but I remember locals like Kensley Reece, Hector Edwards, Colin (‘Tossels?) Forde at the new stadium/velodrome. During competitions in Bim, I saw many champion cyclists e.g. Lesley king from Trinidad who was one of the best in the region, Jocelyn Lovell from Canada who was a Commonwealth champion and Daniel Morelon of France who was World Champion in the Match Sprint. The races like Team pursuit and “Devil take the hindmost’ where the last cyclist in a lap was eliminated were always exciting.
It wasn’t until I got to Canada to see a velodrome with a steep track in Montreal that I realized that Bajan cyclists were at a disadvantage when it came to International meets as riding in a velodrome is a far different experience from riding on the track that we had in Bim.
I still follow cycling from a distance as I watch the Ttour De France on TV but that is a whole other level of competition.
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WHEN I FIRST WENT TO HC, EVERY BOY HAD TO PARTICIPATE IN GAMES PERIOD IN ATHLETIC EVENTS IN THE QUEST OF A SO CALLED “STANDARD POINT” FOR THIER HOUSE
THIS WAS IN THE DAYS OF MAJOR HEADLEY
ALL THE BOYS WHO GOT STANDARD POINTS WERE FORCED TO GO ON IN THE EVENTS IN WHICH THEY GOT STANDARD POINTS UNTIL ELIMINATED. IN THIS WAY THE CLASS FIVE ATHLETES WERE SELECTED
DOES THIS KIND OF THING STILL HAPPEN AT HC AND ELSEWHERE?
AT BFS “KINGO” STRIVED TIRELESSLY TO UNEARTH QUALITY AMONG HIS CHARGES
IN THOSE DAYS FELLAS LIKE DARNLEY BOXILL AT BFS AND COLIN BLADES AT LODGE EXCELLED AT CRICKET FOOTBALL AND ATHLETICS- ALL THREE. AND THERE WERE OTHERS
ALSO BDOS COMPETED IN INTERNATIONAL SWIM MEETS. THERE WERE THE GIBBS BROTHERS AT BFS AND THE EDGHILLS, BURKES, FARMER TOMLIN ETC. THERE WERE NO POOLS OR PRACTICE AS THIS WAS BEFORE NORTH POINT RESORT DAYS
WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE? BASKET BALL AND OTHER SPORTS….COED WITH FEMALE STUDENTS WHO DONT LIKE TO SEE SWEATY BOYS IN CLASS AFTER LUNCH
DO MANY STUDENTS STILL RUSH HOME AFTER SCHOOL TO GET A GOOD MEAL TO ADD TO THE JU-C AND CHEESE CUTTER OR BREAD AND TWO THEY HAD FOR LUNCH
SO MANY OF MY PEERS HAVE TOLD ME HOW HUNGRY THEY USED TO BE AT SCHOOL AT HC AND COULD NOT ATTEND TO THE TEACHER OR CONCENTRATE
WHY WAS OBA A LITTLE DIFFERENT? HIS FATHER, NOW HISTORY PROFESSOR EMERITUS WAS A GUYANESE TOP SPRINTER
THERE ARE MANY MANY FACTORS INVOLVED HERE
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@Dee Word.
It s good to reminisce because it serves as a reminder of the quality of sportsmen we produced back in the day with slim resources. We dropped the ball and have failed to build on the earlier infrastructure now that there is an opportunity to leverage sports to help improve the economic and social well being of our youth and by extension society’s quality of live. As you alluded, why did our cyclists like Orlando Bates, Hector Edwards and later Charlie Pile able to give Peder Patterson, Daniel Marlon and the others from overseas a run for their money on an inferior track Sargeant highlighted.
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Now that we have the experience of the co-ed,should we not revert to single sex schools and allow our boys to develop into wholesome men?
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at age 17 Ryan Hinds of St Leonards was predicted to be a top notch cricketer -our olympic event- what went wrong? In contrast why was Tiger Woods great until his father died?
look how Suki King has been treated this is his “olympic “event
Draughts is not considered important here.
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@ Dribbler
Stoute was instrumental in bringing all that razzle-dazzle to our shores.
So people like him really do know what it takes to make champion caliber athletes,
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
According to a simple google search, although he seems not to say too much, he still seem to know what it takes…
the problem seems to be with doing it….
http://www.nationnews.com/print_article/nationnews/news/13557/boa-teams-uwi?print=true
As he says, unless we achieve this we will always be behind the 8-ball.
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@ Honourable Blogmaster
Re your 11.58 a.m post.
The American Patriots would, with 1776 in hindsight, say that the first option is a desirable option.
Of course, while stating your two options you forgot to add “and the other, while chewing up its subjects, grinds to its objective, over time”
Let me just give you an example of what I mean so that you understand what I am saying.
Only you understand this one – “templates”
Now, since you know what that means AND now, by virtue of the “budget Doodle” show your acuity in this domain, tell me Blogmaster, how, rather, who do you see, on either side of the divide, with that ability to be first eclectic, and the, MORE IMPORTANTLY, extrapolate??
Between counting and the alphabet and calculus there is a chasm too wide David, and “a bridge too far”
You are a younger man who, armed with an education in “X”, decided that there was a dearth in our national psyche which our reporting entities WERE NOT ADDRESSING.
So you, armed with nothing else than that unrelated? discipline decided that you would launch this blog.
Some would say that the ubiquitous nature of WordPress templates made what you did mundane AND EASILY REPEATABLE, and would encourage Sand Nigger and Angelique the Vampire to repeat it.
But, like Walter PPK has realized, building a following by doing it your own is not as easy as picking off an existing reputable one and hitching his Wagon Train to it.
Along the way David, you would have known similar despair and wondered, “WTF am I doing this thankless job for?”
Certainly not to be called speckled fowl by AC every single day or to have Sand Nigger or me or others tell you how to run your blog.
But like Robert The Bruce prior to his Bannockburn with 10k? men to Edward II 20k? You will pause, as you are entitled to, and say, WTF!!!
How many of the skin the pooch clan of ForeDay Morning or Kadooment Day s revelry know or even care what you do here? day in day out?
So there are 3 options – bullet, struggle per intellectualization or just stop and let the cards fall where they may, between Doufuses or Troika cause David, that state where acuity takes template and converts it to pertinence, is a bridge too far
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“Georgie Porgie August 21, 2016 at 12:46 PM #
at age 17 Ryan Hinds of St Leonards was predicted to be a top notch cricketer -our olympic event- what went wrong?”
He played cricket at the highest level and performed. All cricketers cannot be top notch like Lara, Sobers, Botham Kapil Dev etc or all athetes like Bolt , Flojo , Phelps, Biles but it is how they perform and compete at the highest level that makes the difference.
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“It wasn’t until I got to Canada to see a velodrome with a steep track in Montreal that I realized that Bajan cyclists were at a disadvantage when it came to International meets as riding in a velodrome is a far different experience from riding on the track that we had in Bim”
Yes cycling meets at Kensington oval were very exciting in those days and we should not forget Hugh Springer from Mason Hall street who passed away last year but by the way did the Trinidadian cyclists like Lesley King and roger Gibbons have the benefit of the use of a velodrome
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@PUDRYR
What BU and family like about you is that you are a thinker, an ideas man – Thomas Edison would have SO been proud of you
The answer to your puzzle – an history is a good teacher here – is located in your final paragraph. is gets to a point on the continuum of life where the temporal state of things collide with an unpredictable force (in the future) and new pathways are charted. It is why human beings give great value to the state ‘hope’.
On Sun, Aug 21, 2016 at 5:28 PM, Barbados Underground wrote:
>
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ryan hinds performed FAR BELOW HIS ABILITY.yES He played cricket at the highest level BUT HE performed HOW CHECK HIS STATS.
HE NEEDED GUIDANCE TO CONTINUE TO DISPLAY HIS TALENT TO BE CONSIDERED EXCELLENT
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RE did the Trinidadian cyclists like Lesley King and roger Gibbons have the benefit of the use of a velodrome
DONT KNOW IF IT WOULD BE CALLED A VELODROME BUT THERE USED TO BE A CYCLE TRACK BEYOND THE BOUNDARY OF THE CRICKET PLAYING AREA AT THE QUEENS PARK OVAL
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THERE IS NOW ONLY ONE SERIOUS HOPE THAT REALLY MATTERS
IT IS THE BLESSED HOPE (ASSURANCE) OF THE RAPTURE AND THE GLORIOUS APEEARING Titus 2:13 et secq
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@ GP
THERE IS NOW ONLY ONE SERIOUS HOPE THAT REALLY MATTERS
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
That has always been the case.
BUT….
He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.
Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true (spiritual) riches to you? And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?
Luke 16 (as you well know…)
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“Georgie Porgie August 21, 2016 at 1:41 PM #
ryan hinds performed FAR BELOW HIS ABILITY.yES He played cricket at the highest level BUT HE performed HOW CHECK HIS STATS.
HE NEEDED GUIDANCE TO CONTINUE TO DISPLAY HIS TALENT TO BE CONSIDERED EXCELLENT”
Ryan Hinds scored 62 and 16 unbeaten against Pakistan in his first test match with a highest score of 82 in 15 tests in which he captured 15 wickets. Modest returns true but I never said he was an excellent cricketer. He also captained Barbados a high accolade in sporting achievement and earned a living abroad as a result of his talent immodest it might be yet in demand and continues to earn a living at home up to now when compared to our supposedly talented athletes.
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BALANCE
I LIKED RYAN HINDS FROM WHEN I FIRST MET HIM AND HOPED FOR MUCH MORE FOR HIM THAN HE ACHIEVED
I BELIEVED HE WOULD HAVE ACHIEVED MORE WITH MORE GUIDANCE OR /AND PERHAPS MORE OPPORTUNITIES
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Bush Tea August 21, 2016 at 2:59 PM #
YOUR THEOLOGY IS SERIOUSLY OUT OF WHACK
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Obadele was biting in his replies on Andi Thornhill’s show the Olympic bronze medallst opined that alongside fellow diaspora athletes he’s keen to assist the AAA.
You feel Oba’s pain when he speaks we know of the long history of bad blood between him the AAA ,BOA and in particular AAA wind bag Muscle Mary. Even the most optimistic fears Oba’s offer is dead on arrival.
The AAA and BOA hierarchy repeatedly confirm they run a closed shop of inefficient proven failures. The same faces are reclyed decade after decade . A poster claims Steve Stoute was entrenched at BOA since 1968. Jesus H. Christ that was before I was born.
Its unclear if Stoute plans to retire in any case Muscle Mary lurks in the wings. So what becomes of Oba’s offer? The media is charged with discovery of the truth no matter where it leads. Investigative journalism should follow up Oba’s out reach. All the while the Toyko Olympics presses on to be a rerun of Rio which was a rerun of London etc etc. the island’s contingent top heavy with officials returns home empty handed.
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@ GP
Bush Tea August 21, 2016 at 2:59 PM #
YOUR THEOLOGY IS SERIOUSLY OUT OF WHACK
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Bushie’s theology…..?
That was a DIRECT quote from Luke…
Bushie has no theology..
Shiite …. Bushie don’t even have a whacker any more….
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The American right Bible Belt proponent Jerry Falwell jnr compares the Donald with Churchill
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jerry-falwell-donald-trump-winston-churchill us
576b8a976e4b0b51733a3cffe?
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jerry-falwell-donald-trump-winston-churchill_us_57b8a976e4b0b51733a3cffe?
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Falwell another crook and snake oil salesman.
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We all know it’s the mummified sports officials hampering the potential olympians’ progress, generation after generation of olympians and their ideas have been overlooked because of small island petty minds.
Stoute should have been gone 4 decades ago, he is just an old useless relic or there would be more talented athletes representing the nation, Muscle Mary should be kept as far away from decision making re olympians….. as is possible.
I dont know why Oba even bothers, he shiuld just be happy his kids do not have to be subjected to the stagnating tendencies that permeates everything and everyone on the island because of the selfishness of the few.
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@Gabriel
The American right Bible Belt proponent Jerry Falwell jnr compares the Donald with Churchill
++++++++
Wuh he aiming pretty low we Bajans used to call a man “Lil Jesus”.
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Nice that Bolt wants to stay connected to sports, bad that the prime minister of Jamaica is trying to push him into the blight of politics, am sure he can be much more useful to the country without getting sucked into that cesspool.
“RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, Monday August 22, 2016 – Jamaican Usain Bolt is to be offered a job for life in athletics when he hangs up his golden spikes.
The world’s fastest man waved goodbye to the Olympics after securing the ‘triple-triple’ to confirm him as the greatest track and field athlete of all time.
His iconic status in Rio also highlighted the massive hole he will leave when he retires from competition following next summer’s World Championships in London.
But Sebastian Coe, the boss of world athletics, revealed that he will not allow the Jamaican to walk away from the sport.
“He is not going to be short of offers,” said Lord Coe. “But we started a dialogue three years ago and came to an agreement that of all the things he will go on to do, I am very keen to carve out some space to help us develop the sport.
“Not just an ambassadorial role but to really get involved and play a role. I don’t want to usher him off the scene too quickly, but when the time comes we really do want him to stay and get involved. His like is not going to come round again that quickly.”
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness has already said there is a place in his Cabinet waiting for Bolt.
“It’s important to use the fame and the achievement of Usain Bolt for the benefit of Jamaica. It does open doors,” he said. “Usain could be minister of anything he wants.”
bolt wins 2200m
Bolt, who turned 30 yesterday, confirmed his interest in Coe’s project, saying: “I want to stay in the sport, I want to stay around the sport – though not as a coach.
“I’ll talk more to the IAAF president and see what he can do for me.”
Bolt added: “I’m definitely going to run the 100 and 4×100 in London, and knowing my coach he will try to convince me to run the 200, so we’ll see what happens.
“But I’ve proved to the world that I am the greatest. That is why I said this is my last Olympics – because I can’t prove anything else.
“I’ve made the sport exciting, I’ve made people want to see it. I’ve put track and field onto a different level. And I’ve done it clean.” (Mirror)
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This is what you get when you have ignorant, backward newspaper reporters in the form of Mike King, who could not qualify for a dog peeing race.
“When Did We Lose National Pride?
Distasteful. That is the only way I can find to describe the fair-weather, faux-nationalism being displayed by some whose profession it is to speak in the public sphere.
In a recent sports article by Nation reporter Mike King, he disparaged our recent contingent of athletes as disappointing and receiving a failing grade. All because they did not medal in Rio 2016. What Mr. King and those of his ilk, and all other armchair coaches should consider is how difficult, physically and mentally taxing and exclusive a trip to any Olympiad is.
The feat of qualification in itself is already an accomplishment that 99.9% of all the other humans on earth will never achieve. Ever. In the history of humans. And in every field of tens of competitors, only 3 will ever medal in a given year. Take for example the Barbadian sprinter Ramon Gittens. He came 4th in his 100m heat, not qualifying with the time of 10.25, but still an impressive sprinting feat. His time was 32nd overall in the heats out of a field of 69 competitors. That is 69 of the fastest people on earth and our boy was 32nd. On a planet of 7 billion people, a Bajan is the 32nd fastest. Do you know how minute of a percentage that is? I do, it’s 0.000000457142857% (honestly it’s lower, but I decided to cap it off at 15 decimal places). That is a number that will not show on standard calculators, and our boy achieved it in his first Olympics. And while yes it would be great to get a gold or even another bronze on island, there is not one out of almost 300,000 of us that should not swell with pride that we were even there to compete to begin with.
Athletics: Rio 2016 Olympic GamesPictured: Not Mike King running the heat on the track in Rio that he qualified for.
Don’t even get me started on Akela Jones. Most Bajans didn’t even know the heptathlon was a thing before Rio 2016. At least certainly not a thing that we did as a sport. To be able to qualify for Rio while attempting seven events (this is not counting the high jump which she also qualified for) is not a spectacular feat of athleticism, it is a showing of superhumanism. I don’t care what she placed in the end, no one can take that from her. No one should be allowed to. She represented Barbados with every cell of her 21-year-old body, and no Admiral Nelson, that is not mediocrity. It is anything but. And this is to say nothing of the other athletes we sent to Rio, across various disciplines from shooting to triathlon. And as someone who has done a triathlon, it is an event that will take your life and all you hold dear, so to qualify at an Olympic level should be automatically celebrated. Period.
akelaPictured: Admiral moving past the first round of the female highjump. Wait….
That’s something that we never used to be as a nation. We were always country first. Always. In 1996, when Obadele Thompson was on his way to his first Olympiad, we were bursting at the seams with support. Overflowing with pride. Hell, we even had a whole Road March about it. Oba did not medal that year though. He wouldn’t until four years later to the elation of us all, but I don’t recall any disparaging remarks about him in the press when he failed to in that first outing. So what happened? When did we become a nation that only celebrates top line results and castigates everything else? When did we stop celebrating national participation on an international level, if said participation did not put us above countries with far better resources? When did we in our 50th year as a nation stop putting Barbadians first?
We need to stop. Like right now. Or the message that will be sent to all of our young emerging athletes is to forget everything. Forget Carifta, the Pan Am games, forget the World Championships and the Commonwealth games. And definitely forget qualifying for the world’s biggest stage. Unless you medal at the Olympics, you have done nothing for your country.”
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