You never know what tomorrow may bring. However, recent performances from Jamaica’s athletes at the just-completed IAAF World Championships speak well of Jamaica’s chances at the 2020 Olympic Games, which will take place in Tokyo, Japan, next summer.
Jamaica ended the championships with 12 (three gold, five silver, four bronze) medals to finish third overall behind the United States (29 – 14 gold, 11 silver, four bronze) and Kenya (11 – five gold, two silver, four bronze). Many here take these results for granted, but it’s a truly magnificent accomplishment if one were to match especially population and access to world-class facilities with countries such as Germany, China, Great Britain, and Northern Ireland, just to select a few.
Massively contributing to Jamaica’s excellence is a track and field culture that familiarises a spirit of competition from toddler stage at preschool. They graduate to Primary and Prep Championships, then the world-renowned ISSA-GraceKennedy high-school Champs, which races ahead of most Grand Prix and global athletics meetings in terms of sheer support, particularly on the final day, with crowds bordering on 30,000.
The experience of competing before that mass of people cannot be bought, or discounted. It plays a huge role in preparing Jamaicans for the world stage. Much of that preparation has been bolstered recently with support never before afforded by the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA), which has been maximising opportunities for the nation’s sporting representatives in international competition. For track and field athletes, many competed at the Central American and Caribbean, then Pan Am, Games through a renewed thrust to get the nation’s best competing at those meets.
Of course, coaching provides that lead, which has gained greater ground with the rebirth of local track and field clubs and tertiary institutions awarding more scholarships to athletes. The benefits are many, given that athletes are able to compete in a stable background with greater support all round.
Some athletes point to a lack of resources in fulfilling scholarships overseas, noting a challenge with finding accommodation when having to move off-campus during holidays to finding additional income to make up tuition shortfalls.
Depending on who you talk to, opinions differ, as others point to on-campus programmes in the collegiate system that are designed to afford credits and finance to cover those gaps.
Criticisms are many, and generally, the fittest of the fittest survive. There is no doubt that staying closer to home brings greater advantages, and this is bearing fruit in uncharacteristic fashion, with Fedrick Dacres launching a first men’s silver at the IAAF World Championships and Danniel Thomas-Dodd achieving the landmark with a similar colour medal in the women’s shot put.
None of the performances, however, was surprising, as Dacres had been a world leader and regular winner in Grand Prix competition all season long, while Thomas-Dodd had been hitting the front line in the women’s shot.
The throwers, launching onwards from the youth level in the case of Dacres, reflect versatility in Jamaica’s display, a variety extended in the long jump pit, where Shanieka Ricketts claimed bronze in the triple jump, a step ahead of her countrywoman, Kimberly Williams, who placed fourth.
When looking at that spread, spotlight must also be shed on MVP Track and Field Club, which is headed by Stephen Francis. Since their advent, they have made a habit of producing athletes who have championed the full range of track and field events. Many of their athletes were, by any standard, mediocre or average in the earlier stage of their careers, but have been taken to dizzying heights.
This is no mean feat, and the MVP coaching crew is certainly one of the best – if not the best –coaching units in the sport.
Further evidence was provided by Tajay Gayle in the long jump. Once not good enough for a Champs top-20 placing up to 2015 while competing for Papine High School, Tajay is now on top of the world, winning the men’s long jump gold medal with an 8.69-metre lunge.
Leading the Jamaica and MVP charge is the indomitable and much-loved Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the ‘Pocket Rocket’, winning two gold medals. Barely two years after giving birth, Fraser-Pryce is pretty much right where she left off, with a toe injury as well, which affected her medalling at the Olympics.
Dominating the world calls for more than raw speed; it calls for guts, determination, and self-belief. Fraser-Pryce has all and let herself loose in the women’s 100-metre final to win in a world-leading 10.71 seconds, a hundredth of a second off her lifetime best, proving a complete comeback.
Quite fittingly, she celebrated a lap on the track with her two-year-old son Zyon.
Shelly later ran a monster leg on the backstretch to lead an all-MVP quartet, including Natalliah Whyte on start, Jonielle Smith, the second corner, and Shericka Jackson on anchor to win a second gold medal.
The comeback has placed Shelly in a group of distinguished female sporting icons who have returned to world dominance after giving birth. These include tennis star Serena Williams and American sprint hurdler and mom of two, Nia Ali, who took the World Championships 100m hurdles gold. Another American running great, Allyson Felix, is on track and claimed two 4x400m gold medals.
Jamaica took bronze in that event, in circumstances that turned controversial with Great Britain and Northern Ireland claiming anchor runner Stephenie-Ann McPherson took the baton in the wrong lane. The team was listed as being disqualified at one stage, but was duly reinstated as Anastacia Le-Roy, Tiffany James, McPherson and Jackson claimed third in 3:22.37, just behind Ukraine.
The men’s quartet went one better, with little-known former Bridgeport High athlete Terry Thomas registering a relay split of 44.3. Akeem Bloomfield and Nathon Allen, fresh out of college, and anchor man Demish Gaye ran the other legs.
Danielle Williams completed her unending battle to run at the championships by claiming a bronze in the event. Three Jamaican women, including Janeek Brown and Megan Simmonds-Tapper, made the final listing, while a fourth, Yanique Thompson, barely missed out on a place in the final.
In terms of numerical value, the 12 medals won were the second highest ever (in raw volume, not value) in Jamaica’s history, falling one short of the 2009 haul in Berlin, Germany, which was led by incomparable icon Usain Bolt, who claimed the sprint double and an additional gold in the men’s sprint relay.
When one looks at the line-ups and the ages of competitors, Jamaica’s prospects look good for next year in Tokyo.
Olympic champion Elaine Thompson was forced out of the championships with injury after competing in the 100m final. Omar McLeod crashed out in the men’s 110m hurdles final, ending an injury-plagued season in dismay. And teenage prodigy Briana Williams did not compete after successfully fighting off an Independent Anti-Doping Panel hearing for a banned substance.
And who could forget the Chinese women’s 4x100m team, which made the baton-changing foul-up of a lifetime. The yearlong countdown begins. Let’s see what Tokyo will bring.
