Dubai: American Will Claye delivered some inspirational performances at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games where he won back-to-back silver medals in the triple-jump, one of the most technically difficult athletic disciplines.
Since then his dream has always been to secure that elusive gold medal and has been hoping that the proverbial luck of the third adventure will help him realise a lifelong ambition.
But, after four years of being very focused mentally and training hard, life has played a cruel trick on the 28-year-old of Sierra Leonean descent, with the Coronavirus pandemic forcing the IOC to postpone the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo to next year.
The decision came as a body-blow to Claye.
However, as all great athletes are able to pick themselves up from adversity and find ways to adapt and stay positive.
So Claye did what was most natural to him, he took to the recording studios and composed a rap song sending an inspirational message to fellow athletes like him who have seen their Olympic dream put on hold.
A couple of days ago, Claye, who as a youngster won golds at the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships and the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships, released his moving music video on social media under the song title, ‘Dreams Don’t Die’.
“New Olympic dates, but the goals still remain,” Claye posted on Instagram.
“This song is dedicated to every Olympic athlete around the world who’s [sic] dream has been postponed till 2021.”
The video ends with an inspirational message saying: “The dream may be delayed, but it’s only allowing the fire inside of us to grow bigger.”
The Tokyo Games were postponed for the first time in the 124-year history of the modern Olympics.
