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| Human Interest | |
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Sport Specific Information | |
| Club / Team | Swept Track Club: Jamaica |
| Why this sport? | After racing a friend for fun he decided to get into athletics as it was a positive environment, in contrast to negative influences on the streets. "I started to realise these guys, the bad company, didn't really have anything positive to offer. I like doing good things, so I got into track and there everyone was aspiring to do something and to be great." |
General Interest | |
| Awards and honours | In 2012 he received the Hummingbird Medal [Gold], a national award in Trinidad and Tobago, in recognition of his bronze medal as a member of the men's 4x100m relay team at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The team were later upgraded to the silver medal position following the disqualification of the US team that originally claimed silver in London. (insidethegames.biz, 03 Jul 2015; sportarchivestt.com, 03 Dec 2013) In 2008 he received the Chaconia Medal [Gold], a national award in Trinidad and Tobago, in recognition of his silver medal as a member of the men's 4x100m relay team at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The team were later upgraded to the gold medal position following the disqualification of the Jamaican team that originally claimed gold in Beijing. (nytimes.com, 25 Jan 2017; triniview.com, 10 Sep 2008) |
Sport Specific Information | |
| When and where did you begin this sport? | He took up sprinting at age 21. |
Further Personal Information | |
| Occupation | Athlete |
| Languages | English, Portuguese |
General Interest | |
| Sporting philosophy / motto | "Winners win, they find a way to get it done. Losers lose, and talk." (Twitter profile, 14 Jul 2016) |
| Ambitions | To compete at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (trinidadexpress.com, 13 Jun 2020) |
| Milestones | He was a member of the first Trinidad and Tobago team to win an Olympic medal in the 4x100m relay event, when he and teammates Marc Burns, Richard Thompson and Keston Bledman won silver in the men's final at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, 44 years after Trinidad and Tobago won its first Olympic relay medal, a bronze in the men's 4x400m. In 2018, Callender and his teammates were upgraded to the gold medal position due to Jamaican Nesta Carter's positive test for the banned substance methylhexaneamine resulting in the disqualification of the Jamaican team that originally won gold in Beijing. The upgrade meant they became the first Trinidad and Tobago team to win gold in an Olympic relay event. (SportsDeskOnline 25 Mar 2021; nytimes.com, 25 Jan 2017; sportsmax.tv, 22 Apr 2020) |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Training Regime | He trains in Jamaica. “The pandemic has not affected training much because the access to the intangible resources athletes have in Jamaica is much greater than Trinidad and Tobago. The mindset to succeed is greater amongst clubs and athletes.” |