Tia Clayton remains the darling of Crowder

WESTERN BUREAU:

While 19-year-old Tia Clayton failed to win a medal after qualifying for the women’s 100 metres final at the ongoing 2024 Olympic Games, in Paris, France, she remains the darling of her home community: Crowder district in Grange Hill, Westmoreland.

“This is not a disappointment. It is an experience from which she is going to learn, and others would have been there. If you were to speak to them, they will tell you they have learned from an experience,” said Dalbert Tomlinson, the pastor at the Crowder Evangelical Methodist Church.

Last Saturday, the Wisynco Group, through its WATA brand, transformed Crowder into an Olympic Village, setting up a watch party so that Clayton’s family, friends, and well-wishers, many of whom were clad in branded shirts with a photograph of Tia Clayton, could congregate at one location to watch her in both the semi-finals and final.

Tia and her twin sister Tina, who is also an accomplished sprinter, attended the Grange Hill Primary School before moving on to Edwin Allen High School, where they became standout stars at the annual ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships.

In what was her first Olympic Games, Tia showed class in her first round and semi-final runs but finished a disappointing seventh in 11:04 in the final, some distance behind the eventual winner, St Lucia’s Julien Alfred, who clocked a national record 10.72. American Sha’Carri Richardson was second in 10.87, and another American, Melissa Jefferson, took the bronze in 10.92.

“I was expecting a medal, but I am still proud. She is just 19, and just started at the senior level ... I am so proud of her,” said Tishana Pinnock-Williams, Tia’s mother

In analysing her daughter’s performance, Pinnock-Williams said Tia lost her focus slightly at the start, which she says is a little disappointing as the family was expecting a golden performance.

“Tia, you have done your best, and you know mummy loves you. I hope you do better next time because you always want to make mummy proud,” said Pinnock-Williams.

Pastor Tomlinson says he is looking for Tia to rebound quickly and make amends at next year’s World Championships because “she is on the way up. To make a 100m final at the Olympics is a big feat, and I am happy for her.”

Melissa-Kim Dunkley-Johnson, consumer marketing manager at the Wisynco Group, said her company was happy to have taken the watch party to Tia’s home community.

“We know the community backs Tia and Tina 100 per cent, and you see how they came out positively to support Tia’s debut in the Olympics,” said Dunkley-Johnson. “We believe that they needed their opportunity to come together and to celebrate Tia,” she added.