Keshorn Walcott

Keshorn Walcott

ORTT

Keshorn Walcott at the 2012 Olympics
Personal information
Nationality	Trinidad and Tobago
Born	(1993-04-02) 2 April 1993 Toco, Trinidad and Tobago
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	90 kg (200 lb)
Sport
Sport	Track and field
Event	Javelin throw
Achievements and titles
Personal best	84.58 (London 2012) AJR
Medal record Men's Athletics Representing Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Games 2012 London Javelin throw World Junior Championships 2012 Barcelona Javelin throw CARIFTA Games (Junior) 2010 George Town Javelin throw 2011 Montego Bay Javelin throw 2012 Hamilton Javelin throw CAC Junior Championships 2010 Santo Domingo Javelin throw 2012 San Salvador Javelin throw CARIFTA Games (Youth) 2009 Vieux Fort Javelin throw

Keshorn "Keshie" Walcott, ORTT (born 2 April 1993) is a Trinidadian javelin thrower and the 2012 Olympic champion. Research compiled for the sport of Athletics international governing organization, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), reveals Walcott is the first black male athlete - in any throwing event - to win the gold medal in the Olympics: In 116 years, between 1896 and 2012, a total of 116 male Olympic champions (many of them multiple winners) were crowned in the shot put, discus, hammer throw and javelin, and Keshorn Walcott is the only black champion.

• According to the IAAF, Walcott is the youngest ever Olympic gold medallist in the Men's javelin (19 years 131 days), and the first athlete - in any track & field event - to win World Junior and Olympic titles in an individual event the same year.

Immediate Early Success as Caribbean Junior Champion

Born the third (and last) child of Beverly Walcott and Endy King, "Keshie" - as he is affectionately called - grew up playing football (soccer) and cricket, striving to keep up with his athletically talented older brother Elton.

• A photograph of the Walcott's humble home in the fishing village of Toco, in northeast Trinidad, can be seen in this 11 August 2012 local newspaper article.

Walcott first picked up a javelin at age 15 and found immediate success. He was, initially, self-taught, watching clips of world-class javelin throwers on YouTube to learn technique, and then received coaching from his high school coach at Toco Secondary School, John Andalcio. A week after his 16th birthday, he represented Trinidad in the 2009 CARFITA Games, held in Vieux Fort, Saint Lucia in early April, winning gold in the boys’ under-17 javelin. Throwing the lighter (700 grams) "youth" javelin, his winning throw of 59.30 meters was just eight centimetres short of the meet record. That earned him a trip to the World Youth Championships, held in Brixen, Italy on 11 July 2009, where he placed 8th with a throw of 66.72m.

• As a youth and junior competitor (under-20), he represented Trinidad's "Rebirth Club" team.

• Walcott throws with his right hand, "planting" off his left leg

• Note: The World Youth Championships are held in odd-number years and feature a number of sports, including athletics and swimming. The IAAF-sponsored World Junior Championships are held in even-number years and have track & field events only.

2010: In 2010 he stepped up to the standard regulation javelin (800 grams), and he continued his domination of the Caribbean junior division, as the three-time winner in the Under-20 javelin throw at the CARIFTA Games in 2010-2011-2012, setting a new North, Central American and Caribbean Junior record in 2012. He won the CARFITA games, held in the Cayman Islands in early April, then two months later he won the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Junior Championships (Under-20), in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in early July with a throw of 67.01m. That earned him a trip to the World Junior Championships, in Moncton, Canada, on July 22nd, where he threw 66.05 and failed to reach the Finals.

2011: He crossed the 70 meter threshold (230 feet) for the first time in 2011, defending his Junior title at the CARFITA Games in Montego Bay, Jamaica on April 25 with a throw of 72.04m. In mid-July 2011 he competed against men for the first time at the senior (open) CAC Championships in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, July 15–17, where he advanced to the Finals and placed 4th (70.98m). He closed out his 2011 season, again at the senior-level, finishing in 7th place (75.77m) at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, on October 28: that was his sixth "personal best" (PB) of the year.

2012 World Junior Champion

He began the Olympic year in April with his fourth-consecutive victory at CARFITA Juniors. A record throw of 77.59m earned him the distinction of competing unbeaten throughout his CARFITA career. This would be the first of many wins in what would prove to be a remarkable year. Then in late May 2012 he twice improved his personal best in May, breaking through the 80 meter mark (262 feet) for the first time. At the Quantum Classic, in Trinidad and Tobago on 20 May he threw 78.94m, breaking Trinidad's (junior and senior) national javelin record of 78.06, set in 1996 by Kurt Thompson. It was also a North America, Central America and Caribbean (NACAC) junior record as well. One week later he reset all those marks, while competing at the IAAF International Centennial Meet in Havana, Cuba on 27 May. He extended the record(s) with a winning throw of 80.11m. The 80.11 mark made the Toco athlete the Trinidad & Tobago (T&T) junior and senior and Pan-American Junior record holder. He then returned to win T&T's national junior competition on 3 June, securing his return to represent Trinidad at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) junior championships and the World Junior teams. At the CAC Juniors Championships, held in San Salvador, El Salvador from June 29 to July 1, he won with yet another personal best/national record of 82.83. And at the World Junior Championships in Barcelona, Spain from 10-15 July he was the surprise winner with his last round (6th) toss of 78.64m.

• Walcott's 82.83m throw at the CAC Juniors met the Olympic "A" standard (distance) of 82 meters (269 ft) required to qualify for London. Even though as his nation's only entrant in the event he needed only to achieve the "B" standard of 79.5m (260' 9")

However, the Men's javelin competition has, historically, been dominated by Europeans, especially by Finnish throwers (who have won the Olympic javelin 7 times.) Caribbean champions had rarely ever qualified for the finals (top 12 throwers) at World and Olympic competitions. Walcott served notice that he was ready to step-up onto the world stage with a come-from-behind win at the world junior champion in Barcelona in mid-July 2012, just one month before the London Olympics.

• The first male thrower from the Caribbean to reach the Finals of the Men's Olympic javelin throw was Aurelio Janet of Cuba, at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.

2012 London Olympics Champion

Following his win at the World Junior Championships in Barcelona, Walcott headed directly to Trinidad & Tobago's Olympic training camp in Wales to prepare for the London Games. He had no expectation of winning a medal and his coach just wanted the young thrower to experience the pressure of Olympic competition, hoping this would better prepare Walcott for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janiero, when he would be 23 years old. Keshorn's goal was to throw at least 80 meters in qualifying, which - at the previous 2008 Olympics - was good enough to qualify for the Finals (top 12 throwers). The qualifying round was held Wednesday 8 August, with 44 competitors: Walcott threw in the second group of 22. Also throwing in "Group B" was Czech Vítezslav Veselý (age 29), the world leader coming into the Olympics, having set a personal best of 88.11m in June. On his first (and only throw) Veselý improved to 88.34, the longest throw in the competition (Group A and B). Walcott's opening throw was nearly 79 meters, good enough for 7th place in the standings. Many competitors improved on their 2nd attempts, but Walcott's second throw was worse (76.44m) and by the time he prepared for his third and final throw he was standing in 18th place, six short of qualifying. He unleashed a throw of 81.75m, moving up to 10th place and a spot in the Finals. Knowledgeable javelin commentators postulated it would take a throw of 85 meters on Saturday to earn a medal.

• Gusty winds in the stadium on Saturday evening made conditions for the javelin throw less than ideal, and worse than during Wednesday's qualifying rounds.

• Walcott responded to the pressure of the Olympic Finals by throwing his best-ever distance on his first throw - giving him the lead - and then exceeding that throw on his second.

• There were two 90-meter throwers in the final, Finland’s Tero Pitkämäki (age 29) and Norway's Andreas Thorkildsen (age 30, and the reigning 2-time defending Olympic champion. Coming into London they were the sixth and seventh furthest throwers of all-time, and they were beaten by a 19-year-old who entered with a best of 82.83m.

He won the Olympic gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London with a result of 84.58 meters (277 feet 10 inches), beating Ukraine's Oleksandr Pyatnytsa and Finland's Antti Ruuskanen, becoming the youngest-ever Olympic champion in javelin throw and the second non-European to ever win the Olympic gold in men's javelin throw since American thrower Cy Young in Helsinki in 1952. In the Finals, held Saturday August 11th, Walcott threw in the 5th position (of 12) and took the lead in the first round with an opening toss of 83.51m, a new personal best: only one other thrower exceeded 80 meters in the first round. He extended that by a full meter in the second round, with a throw of 84.58m. His winning throw was a new North, Central American and Caribbean Junior record. Eight of the 12 competitors in the Finals threw over 80 meters, but only Pyatnytsa, in the third round, came close to beating the 19-year old from Trinidad, falling short by only 7cm (3 inches). It was the smallest winning margin seen at the Olympics since the introduction of the new spear design in the mid-1980s.

• There was one other black man in the Finals of the javelin throw in London- Julius Yego from the African nation of Kenya, but who trained in the IAAF Accredited Training Center in Kuortane, Finland. Yego was the first Kenyan to qualify for the Finals of an Olympic or World Championship in this event.

• The last (and until 2012, only) non-European male to win the javelin throw at the Olympics was Cy Young of the United States, at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. And the silver medal was won by William "Bill" Miller, a black African-American graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who was the U.S. champion in 1952.

Hailed as National Hero in Trinidad

Following his Olympic victory, the humbly-born "Keshie" was hailed as a national hero in the tiny, twin-island nation of 1.3 million people. Not since their national football (soccer) club earned a trip to the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany was the nation so excited. He is only the second person from Trinidad and Tobago to win an Olympic gold medal, after Hasely Crawford. The [then] 26-year old Crawford was already an established sprinter when he posted the fastest time in the semi-finals and went on to win the 100 meters at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. In addition, Crawford had left the island to run and train in America (at Eastern Michigan University.) Whereas Walcott remained on the island and his victory in 2012 was a shocking bolt-of-the-blue. Monday August 13th, the day of his arrival back in Port of Spain, Trinidad from London was declared a national holiday so that thousands of citizens could greet him. He was awarded $150,000 in cash and given some land near his hometown of Toco, as well as a luxury home in Port of Spain. In addition, both the Toco lighthouse (in northeast Trinidad) and the Toco Secondary School were renamed in his honor.

• Until Walcott won gold, Trinidadian sprinter Ato Boldon was the island's most famous Olympian. Boldon was a world champion and won 4 Olympic medals (Silver and Bronze)- placing in both the 100m and 200m at both the 1996 Atlanta Games and 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics. Like Crawford, he also has a stadium named in his honor.

Walcott has been coached since 2009 by Cuban-born Ismael Lopez Mastrapa of the Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago. Trained in the Cuban system as a hammer thrower, Mastrapa was hired to come to Trinidad in 2004 to coach throwers. Cuba has produced a number of world-class throwers, most recently Cuban javelin thrower Guillermo Martinez was ranked amongst the Top 10 throwers in the world six times between 2005-2011, reaching #3 in 2011.

The fact that Walcott chose to remain in Trinidad to train for the 2012 Olympics, rather than leaving the island to join a more established, world-class athletics program in Cuba or the United States, especially endeared him to his fellow Trinidadians. In this respect he is as admired in his nation as World and Olympic champion sprinter Usain Bolt is in Jamaica.

The javelin is not contested indoors, so Walcott - like most javelin throwers - trains all fall and winter (October through March) for the outdoor season. Being from the warm Caribbean his season often begins early, in April, before most European competitors. Compared, physically, to other (older) elite-level throwers, Keshorn is neither particularly tall - height being an advantage - nor (unusually) strong and he relies on a "smooth, flowing" technique to impart energy when releasing the javelin. Video of the 12 throwers lined up to be introduced at the start of the Men's javelin finals in the 2012 London Olympics, reveals the 19-year old Walcott is exactly "average" when compared to the other javelin throwers in terms of height and body size (6 feet & 200 pounds / 1.83m & 90kg).

Olympic Victory Earns #5 World Ranking for 2012

The American-based monthly magazine Track & Field News calls itself "The Bible of the Sport" and at the end of each year it produces a list of the "Top 10" athletes in each event, taking into account their best times and marks that year, as well as their performance at major competitions. On the basis of his winning the London Olympics with a personal best throw, T&FN ranked Walcott #5 in 2012, behind #1 Vítězslav Veselý (Czech Republic); #2 Oleksandr Pyatnytsya (Ukraine); #3 Tero Pitkämäki (Finland); and #4 Antti Ruuskanen (Finland); and just ahead of #6 Andreas Thorkildsen (Norway).

Walcott fell out of the Top 10 rankings in 2013, replaced at #5 by Julius Yego of Kenya.

2013 and 2014 Seasons

Walcott's 2013 season was hampered by injury. In his first competition since his Olympic victory nearly 9 months earlier, he "opened big", nearly matching his personal best with an opening round throw of 84.39m at a hometown meet in Hasley Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain, Trinidad, on Friday 3 May. But a week later, at the season-opening IAAF Diamond League meeting in Doha, UAE, on 10 May, Walcott sustained an ankle injury to his left ("plant") leg and finished 6th with a throw of only 79.79m. Rather than rest, he continued to train and competed at three more Diamond League meets in May and June, to his detriment, never reaching 80 meters. At the World Championships in Moscow in mid-August, he continued to struggle with his ankle injury and failed to advance to the Finals, throwing only 78.78m (well short of the 80.18 needed to qualify for the Finals.)

In an early March 2014 interview with BBC Scotland Sports, Walcott said that after some rest his ankle "is back to normal". With no World or Olympic competitions to aim for, his 2014 season will be targeted on the British 2014 Commonwealth Games, to be held in Glasgow, Scotland. [The Men's javelin throw will be held on 1-2 August.] He was on a six-week training camp in Cuba (in March) and planned to compete at a few events in May 2014, before taking part in another training camp in Europe so he can adjust to Glasgow's climate. He said, "My coach [Mastrapa] likes me to get away from a lot of distractions and just focus on training and being healthy."

Competition record

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing Trinidad and Tobago
2009	CARIFTA Games (U17)	Vieux Fort, Saint Lucia	1st	Javelin throw (700g)	59.30 m
	World Youth Championships	Brixen, Italy	13th (q)	Javelin throw (700g)	66.72 m
2010	CARIFTA Games (U20)	George Town, Cayman Islands	1st	Javelin throw	63.41 m
	Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships (U20)	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic	1st	Javelin throw	67.01 m
	World Junior Championships	Moncton, Canada	16th (q)	Javelin throw	66.05 m
2011	CARIFTA Games (U20)	Hamilton, Bermuda	1st	Javelin throw	72.04 m
	Central American and Caribbean Championships	Mayagüez, Puerto Rico	4th	Javelin throw	70.98 m
	Pan American Games	Guadalajara, Mexico	7th	Javelin throw	75.77 m
2012	CARIFTA Games (U20)	Hamilton, Bermuda	1st	Javelin throw	77.59 m
	Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships (U20)	San Salvador, El Salvador	1st	Javelin throw	82.83 m
	World Junior Championships	Barcelona, Spain	1st	Javelin throw	78.64 m
	Olympic Games	London, United Kingdom	1st	Javelin throw	84.58 m (NR)
2013	World Championships	Moscow, Russia	19th (q)	Javelin throw	78.78 m

Seasonal bests by year

• 2010 - 67.01 m
• 2011 - 75.77 m
• 2012 - 84.58 m
• 2013 - 84.39 m

Related Topics and Links

• Trinidad and Tobago at the 2012 Summer Olympics Summary of other T&T medal winners at London 2012

• main entry Javelin throw lists of Olympic javelin champions (Men & Women) and national records

• main entry Trinidad and Tobago

External links

• Keshorn Walcott at World Athletics
• T&T Native Enjoys 2nd Gold in Nation's History
• Games 2012 JAVELIN Men Final; YouTube video shows Walcott in comparison to his fellow competitors in London, not simply his Gold medal winning throw.
• London 2012 - Event Report - Men's Javelin Throw Final; detailed results of London 2012 Finals.
• Walcott's Career Highlights and Honors; The National Sports Archives of Trinidad and Tobago lists the astonishing number of national awards and honors bestowed on Walcott following his 2012 Olympic victory.