Crowd welcomes home local Olympic medalist
Posted at: 08/22/2012 10:40 PM
By: Adam Camp, KOB Eyewitness News 4
 Jarrin Solomon |
An Olympics bronze-medalist was celebrated and welcomed when he returned home to Albuquerque Wednesday evening.
After representing the University of New Mexico in college, Jarrin Solomon sported his family's Trinidad and Tobago roots at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London.
Solomon's team set a national record in the 4x400 relay, placing third behind the United States and The Bahamas.
But all that mattered at Solomon's homecoming was that he had a medal. Even strangers swarmed around the greeting, snapping pictures and checking out his hardware. Solomon said the support was great.
"It just makes me feel good to know that everybody has supported since I started running, and everyone in Albuquerque has been behind me the whole time," Solomon said.
His mom, Susie Solomon, set up the greeting at the airport. She had just returned a few weeks ago from watching her son in London. But she said watching him was complicated. She didn't know whether to take pictures or enjoy the moment.
She did not know how her son finished up until the race was over and the results were on the giant board.
"Because when I was trying to get photos, I had my camera here, my phone here, and the only picture I got was a blurred nothing," Susie Solomon said.
She hopes the next few weeks won't be a blur, either. She wants her son to enjoy the next couple of weeks and relax.
But her son has high goals for the next few years. His mom even said that after he won the bronze medal, he wrote on Facebook, "bronze in London, gold in Rio." And from now until 2016, Solomon said he and his teammates have one thing in mind and it all started at their medal ceremony.
"(We were) really pumped to see the bronze medals were coming out, and as the gold medals walked across, we were like, 'we kinda want those,'" he said.
Solomon and his Trinidad and Tobago team hope to get gold for the 4x400 relay at Rio de Janeiro in 2016. He also hopes to qualify and run for the individual 400 meter.
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