Mom living dream through Clayton twins

Mother of sprinting twins Tina and Tia Clayton, Tishawna Pinnock, says, although many challenges prevented her dreams of becoming an athletics star, she is happy to see her daughters excelling at the sport.

"When I saw them taking it up, I said, 'Oh my, they are following in my footsteps!' Pinnock said. "It (a dream of athletic stardom) was something that was mine, but I put it down and then God blessed me back with two."

Pinnock said growing up in Crowder District, Grange Hill, Westmoreland, with only her father, did not provide much opportunity to develop her sprinting talents.

"We didn't have any training facilities, we did not have any gyms; we didn't have some things like other schools," she said.

Pinnock, however, was a student athlete while she attended the Grange Hill Primary School and Grange Hill High School.

"I competed at Primary Championships, Western Championships, and the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls' [Athletics] Championships (Champs)," she said.

Pinnock says she was a champion in Classes four and three in the 100m, 200m and sprint relays at the Primary Championships.

She says she then obtained a scholarship to attend St Elizabeth Technical High School but her father refused to send her to another parish alone.

Pinnock said her dream to become a successful sprinter faded further when she became pregnant while attending school.

"When I got pregnant at 17, I went back to training to run, but I didn't have anyone to motivate me, so I fell back again," she said.

She said she uses these experiences to motivate Tia and Tina as athletes and as young women.

"I told them that, 'I didn't have anyone around me to push me because it was my father alone, and just like how your father is not around you and it's me alone, I'm pushing you because I know what it is inside of you'," she said.

She said these are the reasons she always has motivational talks with her twins.

"[I tell them] if you have very stiff competition, you have to work towards it and go for what you want," she said.

Pinnock said the decision for her daughters to become professional athletes and compete at major games to achieve certain goals is not hers.

"They have to decide, I just have to show them the ropes and what is life," she said.

Tina and Tia Clayton won gold and bronze, respectively, in the 100m at Champs last month, and thanked their mother for their success.

- Sharla Williams