Taylor inspires the children

 

On his second visit to the Hilda Skeene School, the reigning World and Olympic Triple Jump Champion, Christian Taylor, had more inspiring words its students.

Taylor who has two World Championship golds under his belt (2011 and 2015), was the youngest Olympic gold medalist in 100 years after claiming the top spot in the Triple Jump event at his first Olympic games in London 2012. He told the children that many thought he was too young to win and was going to the games just for the experience at the age of 22.

 

“Many thought at the beginning that I was very young and was just going to the London Olympics for the experience but I had something different in mind and God definitely had a different plan for me. I tell you not to let age ever be a factor in holding you back and if you have a dream, chase it with all that is it in you.”

The Hilda Skeene School had taken much of what the gold medalist had said to heart during his last visit three years ago and with the help of the Barbados Olympic Association, created The Christian Taylor Olympism Spirit Award. On hand to meet Taylor since the awards inception was former student Kadari Webster who was an awardee three years running till he moved on to the Foundation School this year. Webster also is a jumper, breaking two zonal records at the National Primary School Athletics Championships this season in the high jump.

 

Taylor toured the school with both his London 2012 and Rio 2016 gold medals in tow, allowing each student to grasp a bit of inspired gold. The students stared in awe and smiled at being part of the privileged few to hold a Rio 2016 Olympic gold medal. With his father, Ian Taylor touring with him, the Triple jumper surprised the school with a donation of five thousand dollars to the school to go towards making the children’s dreams come through.

 

The school also had a sit down ‘Question and Answer’ session with Taylor where six young ladies asked the double gold medalist about his favourite things. In the answers Taylor mentioned his love for steak and flying fish and that he was planning to visit Oistins later for some fish. In relation to his favourite country to compete, Monaco had the athlete’s heart due to its beauty and fancy cars, while Barbados and any country that had a beach was the place of choice for a vacationing spot. When asked about his mantra before each event or jump, Taylor said that he preferred to pray and settle his spirit before each jump.

 

One of the Olympic related questions asked the 26-year-old how did he feel after winning the gold, his reply was humbled and excited but also nervous about being the best in the world and having all eyes on him when it came time to defend the title. Another asked about the balance between athletics and academics and he spoke of the memory of his parent’s requirement that he do well in class in order to take the field and as he got older, time management skills became a must.

 

Some of the final words the tall and lanky athlete left with the students was of his future.

 

“About my future, it is my goal to compete in one more Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan in 2020 where I will be 30 years old. In the beginning my goal was to make it to one Olympic Games but God has blessed me with some hardware and to go to three games would e a dream come through and icing on the cake. Nothing good comes easy, make the sacrifices and stay focused, stay true to yourself and dream big.”