By Neto Baptiste
Admitting that he does not want to be consumed by the thought of having yet to win that elusive individual gold at either the Olympics or the World Athletics Championships, US 400 meters hurdler Rai Benjamin said his aim is to keep pushing his limits.
Benjamin, whose parents Gale Mason and former West Indies fast bowler Winston Benjamin are both Antiguans, said that although he has won relay gold medals at major meets, pundits tend to place more merit on what he would have achieved in the individual events.
“I made a joke after Worlds, that I am the silver bullet because I’ve gotten straight silvers. I have two gold but that was in the relays and it’s weird because we don’t necessarily celebrate the relays as a whole across the sport, although it’s still a gold medal. They just know that individually I’ve gotten silver but I am pretty focused on it but I try not to have that be the end all, say all but I think this year, I just want to see how far I could push myself,” he said.
At the World Athletics Championships held in July this year, Benjamin clocked 46.89, his fastest time of 2022 to win silver, adding to the 2020 Olympic Games silver he won in Tokyo, Japan. The athlete has, however, battled injuries and other stumbling blocks to include contracting Covid-19 during his preparation for the World Athletics Championships earlier this year.
Benjamin said he will continue to push through and doing the things necessary to improve.
“Every year I just kind of forget what I did the previous year because no one is really going to remember who got second, who got third, but everyone always remembers who wins. So, I hate to say it, but it’s about winning and that’s what sports is, but also, it’s about participation and all those other things matter. I think, for me, it’s just the motivation of being the best in the world. I know there is still a lot more and I know I could run a lot faster and things just have to come together. I need like a seamless year because I feel like every year has been some kind of blip, some injury or some setback,” he said.
Benjamin represented Antigua and Barbuda at the 2013 World Youth Championships before going on to win a silver medal in the 400 meters at the 2015 CARIFTA Games.