Rai Benjamin won USA a gold medal at the recent Paris Olympics when he won the men’s 400m hurdles event with a season best timing of 46.46 seconds. And it wasn’t just the Americans that celebrated Rai’s triumph.
Antigua, one of the Caribbean islands, also broke into joyous celebrations.
Why?
Rai is the son of former West Indies fast bowler Winston Benjamin who hails from Antigua. Winston played 21 Tests and 85 ODIs between 1986 and 1995 taking a combined 161 wickets.
Rai returned from Paris with two gold medals – one from 400m hurdles and second from men’s 4×400-meter relay.
“I have never met anyone who would have experienced a similar feeling; it was a surreal moment (watching his son win 400m hurdles),” Winston was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
“I’m very happy for his achievement, because I know how much he worked, I know how hard it was for him and how much he really wanted it,” he added.
Rai, born in USA, dabbled in cricket and American football before settling on track and field. At the Tokyo Games, he finished second in the event with Norway’s Karsten Warholm claiming the gold.
In Paris though, the results were reversed with Rai triumphing ahead his rival Warholm who took silver.
“He’s (Rai) an American. He was born in the US, so we are celebrating him just as much as the Americans are. I know what it meant for him to win an individual gold in particular. I know how hard he had been working, and I know that at the end of the day, he didn’t leave any stone unturned. And to accomplish such a feat, it’s phenomenal,” Benjamin said.
Winston was cheering for his son from the stands at the Stade de France.
“Most of my focus was how he (Rai) started. I said to his mom, he had a different risk today because he could not see his main challengers. And then in order for him to stay, he was going to have to work on push. At the start of the race, he was striving for Warholm. I think because of the lane draw, and I knew he was feeling fit and strong, and he just went out and executed that up. I said to myself, this is it,” he said.