It was 2012, that’s right – just 8 years ago that Keshorn Walcott became the first Black person to win an Olympic gold medal 🥇 in a throwing event in the ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE OLYMPICS!!! ⁣
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Bonus: He’s Trinidadian 😀⁣
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But the most amazing part of the story is not that even that he’s the youngest Olympic gold medalist in the men’s javelin – and also the first athlete in any track and field event to win both World Junior and Olympic titles in the same year. ⁣
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Nope, it’s that he didn’t even pick up a javelin until he was 15yrs old and won the Olympic gold just 3.5yrs later. ⁣
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Seriously, his cousin was playing with a javelin. He wanted to try & bet the experienced group that he would be able to throw it further than them. And he did. And then once he did, there was nothing else he wanted to do. ⁣
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There are so many messages I take from this story. The first is that it’s never too late to get started on your journey. The second is about rising to the occasion and putting in all your effort to be the best. But the last is that there are still firsts to be made, even today, for Black men and Black women and we should all keep striving and working. ⁣
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As always please don’t forget to let me know in the comments if you had heard of Keshorn before this post. ⁣