Trinidad & Tobago’s 4x400m team deserves our respect!

I love our sport of track & field. Truth is, athletes from countries big and small can shine in our sport.

In London, lets speak about Trinidad & Tobago. Their 4×400 meters men team caught the U.S. team took the gold right out of their hands. The crowd went absolutely bonkers, and the interview with the TTO team post race was just, well fun.

Team Trinidad and Tobago after they won the Men’s 4×400 metres relay on the final day of the @iaafworldchamps in London. Photo by Mike Deering, the Shoe Addicts #IAAFworlds #London2017 #bethenext #IAAF #worldchamps #track #relays #teamtto #trackandfield #athletics #running #London #runblogrun #theshoeaddicts #letsrun

A post shared by Shoe Addicts (@shoe_addicts) on Oct 19, 2017 at 9:42am PDT

Trinidad & Tobago had played the rounds right and had built their team for a big run in the final. The U.S. spits out 400 meter runners by the dozens, but truth is, the U.S. team had a group of guys who were tired, and the coaching staff did not see the challenge, which they should always see.

I recall John Chaplin, former coach of Washington State at Pullman, telling me that an Olympic coach is remembered for only a few things: if they loose the relays or buy the batons. The US felt, for many years, that the long relays were a birth right.

Well someone did not tell TTO that. They all ran with spirit, but the anchor did the job and moved by an exhausted Fred Kerley in textbook fashion, to take the gold medal.

Trinidad & Tobago did it the old fashioned way, they earned their gold medal.