ENDY King was in his front yard, leaving for his nearby plantain garden, when even more eager fans arrived.

Next, he was posing for pictures with an eager father who had brought his two sons to see the home of Olympic gold medallist Keshorn Walcott.

"We came all the way from Lopinot," Dalton Mohammed said, hugging King, the father of 19-year-old Walcott.

"I want Bradley and Nicholas to see what can be done."

King and his wife Beverly Walcott are trying to cope with the attention pouring down on them since their son's win at the London 2012 Olympics.

Regular visitors to Toco have passed Walcott's small home many times.

Now, they slow down to take pictures and hopefully get a glimpse of the Olympic javelin champ, who regularly walked to the Toco Secondary School a few miles down the road from his Trois Roches home.

"These are the humble beginnings," King said when the Sunday Express visited last Friday. "It's home."

If there's one thing Walcott and his brothers, Trenton and triple-jump medallist Elton never lacked for, it's parental support.

It may be that Walcott inherited persistence from his parents.

"In villages like this, parents keep by their children," Toco councillor Terry Rondon said last Friday.

"And Keshorn's mother and father worked for that boy, to give him everything they could. And if they had to put roast fig on the table, they made sure their children had something to eat."

King later showed the Sunday Express his garden, a large part of which was inaccessible due to a poor agricultural access road.

With his family in the limelight and many asking him what changes he wants for his life, King's requests remain simple.

A better access road, a better water supply, a reliable supply of electricity, a coat of paint for the house.

In a village where people still leave their doors unlocked to "go down the road", needs tend to be basic.

About 50 families, most of them related, populate Trois Roches, French for "three rocks" and named for three rocks just off a bay from the village.

Rondon has already earmarked the cosy cove as a possible tourist attraction.

He is ecstatic over Walcott's Olympic victory and is honest about his hope that he may finally get to do the job he promised he would do.

"I want to see the people of Toco get the standard of living they deserve," Rondon said.

"This part of the North Coast, Matura to Matelot, or M2M, as we call it, is one of the country's biggest tourist areas, both local and foreign. And the amenities here need to be much better – both for visitors and for the residents.

Toco people know about having visitors. They are the ones who have kept this flow alive and they deserve better."

About 9,000 people live along the M2M stretch.

Unemployment is high and infrastructure low but there is little crime.

The road from Matura to Grande Riviere and Matelot is desperately in need of repair.

Rondon has been trying for years to source the funds for beach monitors and proper waste-disposal amenities, including dustbins and bathrooms.

At the Toco Lighthouse, which is to be renamed in honour of Walcott, the tiny row of toilets is permanently out of order and the access road is pot-holed.

Most of the wooden bridges along the road are also unreliable.

Rondon hopes to use a recently formed work programme, aimed at giving single-parents a financial boost before the new school term in September, to clean up the roadway.

There is no fire station and the police station is in need of repairs.

At Grande Riviere, one of the world's top nesting sites for endangered leatherbacks, the community centre that was once used by locals and visitors is in complete ruins.

The Grande Riviere Fishing Centre is also a shell, overgrown and out of use for years.

"We need the funding to bring this area up to scratch," Rondon said.

"We are hoping, with the attention the coast is getting now, to see changes that are long overdue."