Nervousness is believed to have gotten the better of Guyana’s youngest participant Niall Roberts at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games yesterday when he placed seventh in heat six of the Men’s 50m Freestyle at the National Aquatic Center.
Roberts, 17, improved on his previous personal best time in the event (25:37s) which he achieved at the Junior Carifta Games earlier this year and clocked 25:13s in his debut at the Olympics.
His coach Stephanie Fraser who watched him keenly during the race said that he appeared to be nervous and had some problems during his start. However, she said, he gave a very determined effort and she is pleased with his performance.
“He [Niall] was okay up until he took to the starting blocks, then I think the magnitude of it all dawned on him. He may have faltered on his dive; he went too deep and his arm-pull was too soon and because he was still under water this slowed him down a little,” Fraser said via e-mail.
His local coach Sean Baksh said that after summing up what he had learned about Roberts’ performance he is extremely pleased and feels that the young swimmer has the potential to do better since he managed to swim his personal best despite having a bad start. “Based on what I’ve learnt he was a bit nervous and went in too deep. He tried to correct this by using an arm-pull while under water and that would have created drag and slowed him down.
“I was expecting him to do better but based on what I understand, he would have been capable of a sub-24 time so I am pleased and am looking forward to see how he progresses in the future,” he said.
Baksh who is also the coach of the Goodwill team also told Stabroek Sport that he had given members of that team the morning off to watch Niall on television but was disappointed when Channel Seven (WHRM 7) who had bought the exclusive rights for broadcasting the games from the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), aired the NBC coverage of the event instead.
He said that he was hoping that since CMC highlights Caribbean athletes it would have been inspiring for the local swimmers to see Niall swim at the Olympics before they take the pool for the Goodwill Championships today. When contacted for a response yesterday representatives of the station declined to comment on the issue.
