It’s not only bad things that happen in threes. A third Caribbean athlete has been honored this season by his country for his stellar performance at last month’s World Championships in Berlin.
Ryan Brathwaite, the 21-yr-old Barbadian hurdler, who captured Barbados’s first-ever gold medal at a major global event by winning the 110m hurdles, has been given diplomatic status by the Barbadian government. He is now Ambassador His Excellency Ryan Brathwaite.
In addition to bestowing the ambassadorship on Brathwaite, Prime Minister David Thompson said a national board of trustees would be created to oversee the hurdler’s financial, dietary and professional needs in preparation for his participation in the 2012 Olympics in London.
In announcing the honor on Brathwaite’s return to Barbados on Thursday, September 17, Thompson noted that in the past, the country did not create a suitable climate to build on the successes of athletes and promised that this would not happen in this case. He told Brathwaite that the government was determined that he [Brathwaite] would want for nothing in getting ready for London.
The athlete was treated to a splash of a homecoming, which included a motorcade along the country’s south coast and a show at the Kensington Oval, which included musical and cultural presentations.
Last week, Jamaica honored world record holder Usain Bolt by giving him the island’s fourth highest honor, The Order of Jamaica, which carries the title ‘The Honorable’, appointed him an ambassador-at-large, and promised to rename a highway for him.
Prior to Bolt’s appointment, Antigua & Barbuda honored its own sprinter Daniel Bailey for his performance on the track this season, naming him a sporting ambassador, which carries the title His Excellency, and giving him land.