Jamaican Athletes: Dominating Track and Field
No analysis of post-independence track and field could be complete without a look at the pioneers who went to the Olympic Games in London in 1948 and Helsinki four years later.
Almost all the present and past greats have pointed to the inspiration they received from the exploits of Arthur Wint and Herb McKenley who introduced the world to the power and depth of Jamaican sprinting with gold and silver respectively in the 400 metres. Then in Helsinki, McKenley was again second in the 400m with gold going to George Rhoden. They - Wint, McKenley and Rhoden - then combined with Les Laing to win the 4x400 metres in a world record 3:03.9.
Long before the incomparable Usain Bolt, therefore, Jamaica was been a world power in sprinting. Lennox Miller spilt the Americans Jim Hines (gold) and Charlie Green in 1968 for silver. Miller won bronze in the event in Munich in 1972. Donald Quarrie took home gold (200m) and 100m silver in 1976.
In 1980 Merlene Ottey won bronze over 200m and became the first Jamaican woman to win a medal at the Olympic Games. It took another 16 years for Dion Hemmings to win the first gold by a Jamaican woman at the Games> This she achieved by capturing the relatively new event, the 400 metres hurdles.
Jamaica's sprinting in the new century has been dominated by Bolt, the world's greatest ever sprinter and to a lesser extent by Veronica Campbell-Brown, Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson.
Bolt burst on the scene in 2002 at the World Junior Championships in Jamaica winning the 200m at age 15 to become the youngest ever World Junior gold medallist. From then on he continued to improve and in 2004 at age 17 he set a World Junior record 19.93m over 200m.
From a rising star, Bolt became a real mega-star in 2008 when he shattered the world and Olympic records records in the 100 (9.69) and 200 metres (19.30) and led Jamaica to another World record in the sprint relay with 37.10 seconds at the Beijing Olympics. He had earlier given just a hint of things to come by breaking compatriot Asafa Powell's 100m record on May 31, 2008. At the Icahn Stadium in New York Bolt clocked 9.72 seconds to lower Powell's mark by two-hundredths of a second.
Bolt set new magnificent world marks of 9.58 and 19.19 for both the 100m and 200m respectively at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin. Those two times remain the world records for the events and they could be on the books for a very long time. Bolt, after outstanding performances at the London Games of 2012 and last year's Rio de Janeiro Games last year, has a tremendous record on the track.
* Only sprinter to win 100m and 200m titles at three consecutive Olympics
* Eight-time Olympic gold medallist
* An 11-time World Champion over 100m, 200m and 4x100m from 2009-2015. A false start in the 2011 100m final robbed Bolt of what would surely have been 12 gold medals.
Campbell-Brown, Fraser-Pryce and Thompson have lifted Jamaica's female sprinting to new heights. Campbell-Brown won the 2004 Athens 200m gold to lift Jamaica's first ever sprint title at the Games. In Beijing four years later she retained her title becoming only the second woman to do so.
A then little-known Fraser-Pryce became Jamaica's first female Olympic 100m champion at Beijing in 2008 and won again in 2012, one of only three women to achieve the distinction. Her MVP Track Club teammate, Thompson, won the sprint double at Rio de Janeiro in 2016, the first Jamaican women to achieve this feat.
We want to hear from you email us: editorial@gleanerjm.com or editor@gleanerjm.com
count down to next article