King James came, ate and left – already.
No, not Lebron. The other big Olympic gold medallist Kirani James.
After setting the world ablaze, James made his presence felt in Barbados too, as the World Champion quarter-miler turned Olympic king had a brief stopover yesterday while en route to Grenada for his big welcome home celebration.
It was the first time the teenage phenom was returning to his country of birth since copping Grenada’s first Olympic medal with a personal – and national – best 43.94 seconds at the just concluded Summer Games.
“It’s going to be crazy,” said a smiling James of the reception he expected to get back home.
“I expect a huge crowd out there and it will be a great feeling. It’s just a feeling of pride, a feeling of excitement just being able to represent my country. And just winning the gold medal, that’s the ultimate thing at the Olympics and I’m just happy that I could achieve that.”
Smartly clad in a green national jacket over a black Nike shirt, the towering six-foot-four 19-year-old met with National Sports Council (NSC) chairman Seibert Straughan, Director of Sports Erskine King, along with local athletics officials Noel Lynch and Dr June Caddle, in an impromptu reception at the Grace Adams Suite of Grantley Adams International Airport.
And like the start of his title runs, he was gone again. Just like that.
Whizzed away in a white SUV, James enjoyed a brief lunch with some of local sports’ top brass at Champers in Christ Church before eventually returning to the airport to fly home for the real celebrations.
And he couldn’t hide the anticipation of his long-awaited return. Getting to celebrate his 20th birthday back home didn’t hurt either.
The motorcade and rally in Grenada was planned as a show of national joy and appreciation of James’ phenomenal rise through the ranks of international track and field, which includes gold medal performances at the World Youth, World Juniors, World Championships and now sports’ biggest stage.
Like Bond, the fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, the world is not enough for this James.
“I can’t really lay back right now and just relax because I still have a lot of stuff to do,” said the young Grenadian.
“There are still a lot of things I can still achieve so right now I’m just focused on being consistent and just trying to stay on top. I want to be consistent for the longevity of my career,” he added.
It’s a point that Straughn – himself a former 400-metre Olympian – also stressed upon young James while urging the World champ to be patient amidst the early successes.
Identifying the Caribbean standout as a great role model for local athletes, Straughn said he believes James has the attributes to become a legend in the sport once he can continue to manage all of these accomplishments.
“I was speaking to him and told him that if there is one thing you must try to remember to do is to remain humble in success because some day you’re not going to do as good as you want to perform and that’s when you’re going to need all your support people,” relayed Straughn.
“And he reminds me a lot of myself in terms of his body structure when I would’ve been a little lighter, though I probably could still run the 400 metres in 46.5 [seconds],” he joked.
The only non-American to ever break the 44-second barrier, James is the first of two big gold medallists at the London Games expected in the country over the weekend ahead of three-time NBA MVP LeBron James’ anticipated arrival today.
