KINGSTON, Jamaica – Among the millions of Jamaicans overjoyed for Hansle Parchment, following the sprint hurdler’s gold medal-winning performance at the Tokyo Olympics, is his barber Mario Bandoo. 

To show just how proud he is of Parchment’s performance, Bandoo, who has been the Olympian’s barber for nearly 10 years, welcomed the athlete with a fresh haircut and a gift on Saturday morning.

In an interview with Observer Online, Parchment said he expected nothing less from his longtime friend. 

“Mario is a world class barber (who) always does world class things, so I expect these kinds of things from Mario; Mario is a real artist, not just a barber. I must say I’m grateful…[we] coming from far,” Parchment stated. 

Parchment, who received a hero’s welcome when he returned to Jamaica from Tokyo earlier this week, expressed his gratitude for the love he has received from the public.

“It’s just an awesome feeling and as I’ve been always saying, this is the same kind of love we want for the entire team and not just the winners. You know, it’s always good to big up the winners but we can have more winners if we share the love,” he explained. 

Looking to participate in the Diamond League later this month, Parchment displayed an air of confidence when he said, “I’ve always giving my best, always putting out my best. I have a few more events coming up and I want to make sure that I go out there and show top form, so I’m working towards that. Plus, I just got the ‘hairodynamics’ hairstyle from Mario so I’ll be cutting breeze.” 

Meanwhile, Bandoo said he felt like a gold medalist after Parchment gave him a shout out following the hurdler’s victory in Tokyo.

“I feel like I’m the gold medal winner, the response has been crazy. When he ran the race I got a lot of phone calls like I was the actual runner, so it was a very good feeling for me,” the barber said. 

He continued: “We cannot congratulate him enough, as a personal friend of mine [for] 10 years. I think it was very important for me to express to him how we feel about him on behalf of the Mario’s Barber and Beauty Salon [family ]of course.”

Bandoo confirmed that he met Parchment through the latter’s coach, Fitz Coleman, leading to the 2012 Olympics in London, and he has been his barber ever since. 

“Mr Coleman came to get a haircut, he introduced Hansle to me and say, ‘Mario this is Hansle Parchment, he will be representing Jamaica in the 2012 Olympics.’ At the time, I didn’t know that he was gonna use me as the barber and when I gave him the haircut in 2012 and I saw it on TV, as a youngster, seeing [my] work on TV -the big screen was very delightful,” Bandoo said, as he noted that he also trims bronze medalist Ronald Levy.

Bandoo said following Levy’s return to the island, the Olympian will be greeted in the same manner as Parchment. 

Adding that Parchment embodies positive thinking, Bandoo said, “he’s a very hard worker, determined and he will stop at nothing. I knew his journey and I knew the hard work was being processed. I keep on telling him, ‘this is it innuh, we are in our 30s, not getting any younger, so this is it.’”