Jamaica at the 12th IAAF Championship

I am sure that this is an event that Jamaicans both at home and away have been following for the past 9 days. We are a country that is slightly smaller than the state of Connecticut yet we have been able to produce sportsmen/women and academics who have risen to the pinnacle of their chosen profession. Bob Marley is a name that is easily recognised all over the world and is on parr with Cocoa-Cola, Mickey Mouse, Superman and Tarzan as names that transcends languages.

Jamaica has been winning medals at world games since the 1930s and really came of age in 1948 Olympics when Arthur Wint won our firts Gold Medal. Later on in Helsinki in 1952 Wint, Les Laing, HerbMcKinley and George Rhoden teamed up for gold in the 4X400M relay and led the charge that had Jamaica reaching 13th on the medal table.

Lennox Miller (father of American sprinter Inger Miller), Donald Quarrie, Merlene Ottey, Grace Jackson, Juliet Cuthbert, Bert Cameron, Ray Stewart, Beverly McDonald, Winthrop Graham, Deon Hemmings, James Beckford, Sandie Richards, Michelle Freeman, Lorraine Fenton and many others that I am not remembering now are some of those who became world beaters or who at least challeneged for the titles. We followed their exploits cheering them on in victory and commiserating with them in defeat.

We were the perenial challengers and runners-ups to the United States and during the late 80s words started filtering out in many circles about athletes using performance enhancing drugs. Throughout the 90s and into the new millennium technology caught up with many drug cheats and slowly but surely the playing field finally levelled and Jamaica started winning GOLD MEDALS galore.




ENTER USAIN BOLT

Usain Bolt stormed the athletics world like a category 5 hurricane breaking records and winning hearts with his playful antics and I am sure driving the US Athletic Association into perpetual insomnia. To Jamaicans who follow atheltics from the high school level, we were extremly surprised but now shocked. We all knew that Usain Bolt would have been a world beater, we just didnt know how complete his victories would be. I want to give kudos to Usain Bolt for his double record breaking run and congratulate all the athletes who competed and helped Jamaica to 2'nd place on the medal tables with:

Gold - 7
Silver - 4
Bronze - 2

Total - 13

behind the USA who had 22 medals overall (10 Gold, 6 Silver, 6 Bronze)

As I sit here watching the closing ceremonies I reflect on the performances over the past 9 days and realise that certain performances have had a more profound effect on me than others and as great as Usain Bolt's runs have been, those are not the ones that have brought a tear to my eye.

more to come

Congratulations to all the Athletes in Berlin, Germany. Those who competed and won, those who competed and didnt, and those that trained with the team and offered support (Hello Sherone Simpson - hope to see you running soon)