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Too Early to Predict Berlin, But….
By Historian
By Historian
Last year’s Olympic Games was a stellar one for Jamaica and, to a much lesser extent, the English-speaking Caribbean. For Trinidad, a country that can boast only one Olympic Games gold medal in its history (Hasley Crawford’s 100-meter gold in 1976) it was good, as that nation won two silver medals. For the Bahamas, on the other hand, it was less so as for the first time since the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games that country failed to win an Olympic gold medal.
With memories of Jamaica’s sterling performances still deeply embedded in our minds, it is only natural that we start looking with great expectation at this summer’s IAAF World Championships in Berlin. It’s obviously too early to start making predictions, but nevertheless the temptation is great and so….
1. Women’s 100-m: In the women’s 100-meter race at the Beijing Olympic Games, my sentimental favorite for the gold medal was Shelly-Ann Fraser, so you can imagine my joy when my beloved Shelly-Ann ran the eighth fastest time in history by a woman (10.78 seconds) to capture the gold medal in convincing style.
Nevertheless, we would be careless to ignore the fact that the veteran Torri Edward’s surprising shift in the blocks affected several of the women in that hard-fought final of the 100-meter dash. Certainly it affected Torri, Kerron Stewart and Lauryn Williams, who were all close to Torri. Kerron’s true greatness, in fact, is displayed in that truly impressive run she made from way in the back (sixth or seventh place, in my estimation) to share the silver medal with Sherone Simpson. In fact, Sherone, running on the inside lane, had one of the best starts in that field.
Kerron’s race reminded me of another remarkable run by a Jamaican, that of Merlene Ottey on anchor in the 4x100-meter relay at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. In last year’s CMC post-race interview in Beijing, Kerron admitted that Torri’s shift affected her race, but blamed herself for ignoring one of the cardinal rules of sprinting (that is, run until you hear the recall gun).
I would not be surprised if, barring injury, Kerron captured the gold medal in Berlin. Easing up before crossing the line in 10.92 seconds in early May, as she did yesterday, is not to taken lightly!
But…. it is way too early for predictions.
2. Men’s Sprints: Barring unfortunate circumstances, Usain Bolt will be racing against himself in both the 100-meter and 200-meter races this summer. His performance in Beijing was so dominating and “unworldly” that I for one would be extremely surprised to see any other human being even seriously challenge him this year!! Bolt, quite simply, is not human (as many have been saying since at least 2004 when he dipped below 20 seconds at the Bermuda Carifta Games to become the first junior sprinter in history to run a sub 20-second 200-meter race).
3. Women’s 4x100-m Relay: It’s probably significant that the two times that Jamaican women have won the gold medal in the sprint relay at a global meet (1991 at the IAAF World Championships in Tokyo and 2004 at the Olympic Games in Athens), the USA women either were not in the final of this event (1991) or else did not finish the race (2004).
Will Jamaica’s expected powerful women’s sprint relay team beat the USA in a race to the finish this summer? Only time will tell….
4. Women’s 4x400-m Relay: The Russians have tended to often be the unknown factor here, so I’m certainly not ready to claim a USA vs. Jamaica showdown in this event.
5. Women’s 200-m Race: Veronica Campbell is my all-time favorite Jamaican athlete (along with Merlene Ottey), and probably the only woman sprinter on the planet who has won gold medals at EVERY global track and field event. Nevertheless, we should be cautious about writing off Allyson Felix in this double lap event. In my view, the Allyson I watched and read about all year in 2008 did not seem like the Allyson Felix of old. In addition, while we celebrate Veronica’s excellent run in Beijing (the all-time seventh best, if my memory is correct here), we also cannot forget that Allyson won the 200-meter event at the IAAF World Championships in both 2005 and 2007.
6. Men’s 400-meter: From Grenada’s Alleyne Francique (PB 44.47) to the Bahamas’ Christopher Brown (PB 44.40) to one of the current new-kids-on-the-block Ricardo Chambers (44.62), the Caribbean has only won the 400-meter in a global event once since Bert Cameron brought us glory at the inaugural IAAF World Championships in 1983, and that was the Bahamas’ Avard Moncur in 2001 in Edmonton, Canada.
We have come close, most notably our great 400-meter man Gregory Haughton at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games where he won the silver medal. Will things change for Jamaica in the event that first brought us world fame at the 1948 and 1952 Olympic Games?
We all would, I’m sure, be extremely surprised….
Paul Marin -19 is one thing, 20 is a whole other matter. It gets even worse if they win the UCL. *groan*. 
05/18/2011.MU fans naah cough, but all a unuh a vomit?-Lazie 1/11/2015
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