LONDON 2012

The Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Team is based  in the Vale of Glamorgan as they prepare for the London 2012 Games.

The team flew into Wales this weekend and were given a warm welcome by local school children as they arrived at the Vale Resort in Hensol. A group of excited year six pupils from St Helen’s Primary School in Barry had made flags and banners and treated the team to a special performance of an Olympic song and dance that they had prepared.

Some of the team’s athletes, boxers, cyclists, sailors and swimmers were also given good luck cards by the children, and teacher Rebecca Benson said: “The children were really looking forward to this chance to meet the team and wish them all well for London 2012. During the last year we have worked on a wide range of Olympic and Paralympic themed activities in school, and we chose to focus on the Trinidad and Tobago team for a project so this is a fantastic way to round off our year.”

The 50-strong Trinidad and Tobago team are one of 21 countries that the Welsh Government has attracted to Wales for their pre-Games training camps. With the 2014 Commonwealth Games taking place in Glasgow, a conscious effort was made to target Commonwealth countries, such as Trinidad and Tobago, with the intention of developing long-term relationships.

The work to attract countries to Wales began several years ago, as Annette Knott, the Trinidad and Tobago team’s Chef De Mission, said: “When this journey started three years ago, we always felt that it would have a wonderful ending. While we haven’t finished our journey yet, this has been an excellent experience so far. From day one, everyone has gone out of their way to help us with lovely Welsh hospitality, and we were delighted to be given such a wonderful welcome from the young children of St Helen’s Primary School.”

Mrs Knott, a T&T Olympic Committee vice president added: “I can’t say enough how happy we are to be here and we definitely made the right choice in coming to Wales. Some people wondered why we were coming so far from London, but we wanted to be away from the heat and intensity of London so we would be able to have a quiet place to focus ahead of the Games.”

During their stay in the Vale, the Trinidad and Tobago athletics team is training at Cardiff’s International Sports Stadium, and their track and field stars will also be on show at the stadium’s ‘Road to London’ international athletics meeting which is taking place this Wednesday evening.

The Trinidad and Tobago team includes a number of top Olympic medal prospects, such as 100m sprinters Keston Bledman and Richard Thompson and Kelly Ann Baptiste to name a few. Bledman is one of the fastest men in the world this year, having scorched to a career-best 9.86 seconds in Trinidad’s Olympic trials, while Thompson won the 100m silver medal four years ago in Beijing, finishing behind a certain Mr Usain Bolt.

In addition to their sprint kings, Trinidad and Tobago’s other track and field stars include 400m runners Lalonde Gordon and Sparkle McKnight, as well as 400m hurdler Jehue Gordon, who could all be set for international stardom.

Welcoming their presence in Wales, Sports Minister Huw Lewis said: “Camps such as these provide an excellent opportunity to develop our sporting, educational and cultural exchanges with these countries, and I would like to extend a warm Welsh welcome to the Trinidad and Tobago team team. For children and local communities they give us the opportunity to learn more about other nations and provide us with a positive Games legacy for Wales.”

Mr Lewis added: “It is well known that sport is a major influence on young people and having athletes of global stature training on their doorstep and living in their communities will be hugely inspirational.”

Vale Resort Sales and Marketing Director Paul Beddoe said: “We are delighted to be able to host the Trinidad and Tobago pre-Olympic training camp which is testament to both our and Wales’ fantastic sporting facilities. We wish the team every success in the London 2012 Olympics.”

You can find out more about the benefits the London 2012 Games are bringing to Wales at www.walesin2012.com. You can keep up to date with the latest community sports and play news from the Vale of Glamorgan by going online at www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk/sportsnews or by following @valesportsnews on Twitter.

Australia's red-hot Olympic favourite Sally Pearson suffered her first defeat of the season in the 100 metres hurdles as Games medal hopefuls found the going tough at a cold and wet London Grand Prix yesterday.

World champion Pearson, winner of 15 of her 16 races last year and unbeaten in 2012, led until the final two hurdles before she was overhauled by American Kellie Wells who won in a time of 12.57 seconds. Pearson was two hundredths of a second behind.

"My coach told me to come here and do something today and I think I did it pretty well, I'll have to go and check with him," said Wells, who celebrated her victory with a dance on the track, to the delight of the capacity crowd.

There was also a shock in the women's 100 metres with Nigerian Blessing Okagbare winning the race in 11.01 seconds, 0.02 ahead of world champion Carmelita Jeter.

Olympic gold medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce appeared to stumble slightly at the start and finished last, but was philosophical about her performance and refused to blame the wet weather.

"As an athlete you have to take precautionary measures and hope things get better because the Olympics are pretty much on us," she said.

"I don't think the weather was that bad. I hope that when I go on the track (at the Olympics) there'll be a lot of sunshine in my lane, Fraser Pryce told reporters with a smile.

Women's javelin world record holder and Olympic champion Barbora Spotakova of the Czech Republic came off second best to Britain's Goldie Sayers who won the event with a national record of 66.17 metres.

But the news was less good for Beijing silver medallist Phillips Idowu and high hurdler Tiffany Porter with both Britons suffering injury scares with a little under three weeks to the start of the athletics at the London Games.

Idowu pulled out of the triple jump competition with a back injury and Porter left the track in tears having finished last in her 100 hurdles heat in some discomfort.

In the Londoner's absence American world champion Christian Taylor had a comfortable win with a best distance of 17.41 metres but he did not discount the challenge he faced from Idowu at the Olympics.

France's Christophe Lemaitre won the men's 200 in a season's best time of 19.91 but said he would have to go faster to win an Olympic medal.

"I knew I could run under 20 seconds but to do that here is very good, two weeks before the Olympic Games. Now I'm very confident over this distance.

"For the Olympic Games I want to go even faster, because with (Usain) Bolt, (Yohan) Blake and the other sprinters I think that I must beat my personal best if I want to win a medal.

Britain's Christine Ohuruogu battled through a torrential downpour to overtake world gold medallist Amantle Montsho for victory in the women's 400 in 50.42.

It was in stark contrast to her 'appalling' performance — as the Olympic champion described it.

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Olympic legend Carl Lewis has cast doubt on sprint sensation Usain Bolt repeating as 100 metres champion at the London Olympics starting later this month.

Jamaican Bolt will start the July 27th to August 12 as the defending champion in both sprints after dominating in Beijing four years ago.

Lewis, who won gold in the event at the 1984 Los Angeles showpiece and four years later in Seoul, said it was difficult for sprinters to remain in peak condition for extended periods.

"The reason it hasn't been done is because it's hard to stay at that level for a long period of time. People are always trying to beat you when you are a champion," the American pointed out.

"(Yohan) Blake has beaten Bolt two years in a row now after the World Championships in 2011 and we don't know what Bolt's head is like when he loses."

He continued: "It's a challenge to win two in a row but history defines greatness. You don't have greatness in your time – you are great because of history.

"We always try to predict which races are going to be great but you just don't know and that is the brilliant thing about it."

Chinks appeared in Bolt's armour two weeks ago when he was twice beaten by training partner Blake at the Jamaica National Trials.

On both occasions, Blake clocked world-leading times – 9.75 seconds in the 100m and 19.80 in the 200m – to install himself as one of the favourites in London.

Lewis, a nine-time Olympic gold medal winner, warned about the hype surrounding Blake.

"I still don't understand this Yohan Blake situation because one year ago I had never heard of him and now everyone is saying he is the greatest," Lewis said.

"But, in 2004, I went through the same thing with Maurice Greene. I said then that history defines greatness. Maurice only won bronze [in Athens] and then disappeared. That is why I let it all take place because I know how quickly it can change."

Lewis pointed out the 100m field was perhaps a lot more open than many were willing to admit.

"People are talking about Bolt but (Justin) Gatlin could win," said Lewis.

at the time — for last place at this meeting in 2011. "I've done all the work so I'm happy that I can take something like that away. I knew I had a good chance, I saw her (Montsho) look back so then I thought, 'I've got you now'," said Ohuruogu, who was disqualified from the world championships last year for a false start. Men's world champion Kirani James timed his race to perfection, surging to the front off the bend to win in 44.86. Kenyan Silas Kiplagat burst to the front off the final bend to win the men's mile in 3:52.44 after the race had been subject to two false starts, which were put down to a technical problem.

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Several African countries have pulled out of pre-Olympic training camps in Britain at the last minute because they are unable to pay the fees. Senegal, Uganda, Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia and Mozambique are among the nations which have reneged on agreements to use the UK's training facilities before the Games.

Locog, the Games organisers, pledged to pay up to £25,000 to any Olympic or Paralympic team who did their training in the UK, but were prepared to pay out only afterwards. This has left poorer nations struggling to find the funds up front.

The lost time acclimatising to British weather and the missed opportunity to use international-standard facilities could put them at a disadvantage to other athletes. The no-shows will also be a blow to Locog, who planned the camps around Britain to help spread the legacy of the Games beyond London.

The Ugandan team were meant to be in Coventry before the Games but will now go straight to the Olympic Village on 22 July. A spokesman said: "There would have been a lot of expense involved… They all wanted to go to Coventry."

Gambian athletes had been expected in York, but Momodou Demba, chef de mission at Gambia's National Olympic Committee (NOC), said: "Unfortunately it did not work out… Locog promise to take care of the bill, but the fact that we would have to put up the money first then be reimbursed does not go down well. It's quite expensive."

Burundi never took up the offer of a British training camp because they knew they would not have the funds. Tharcisse Harerimana, executive secretary for the Burundi NOC, said: "If Locog had paid in advance then we could have come, but we had a meeting with them and they told us it was not possible to have this money."

Paralympic teams from Niger, the Central African Republic, The Gambia and Ghana are also understood to be abandoning pre-Games training in Britain for funding reasons.

A spokeswoman for Locog said: "We've always made it plain we'd pay at the end so it eliminates fraud and accusations of impropriety."

By Emily Dugan & Denise Roland

Source: www.independent.co.uk