Jamaica's awesome sprint talent

[Mosiah]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>Jamaica's awesome sprint talent</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Laura Arcoleo
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=204 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>CAMPBELL ... won the sprint double in 2000</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>Rarely had any major athletics competition, let alone an IAAF World Junior Championships, produced the incredible scenes witnessed on the night of Sunday, July 21, 2002 in Jamaica's National Stadium in Kingston.<P class=StoryText align=justify>It was just past 7:25 pm (local time) and the sprinting quartet led off by Sherone Simpson - incidentally, the athlete who holds the fastest time at 100m this season - managed to hold off the challenge of World Champion Lauryn Williams and company to win a most awaited gold medal in the women's 4x100m in a championships best of 43.40, a mere two hundredths of a second shy of the world junior record.<P class=StoryText align=justify>It was an amazing conclusion to the superb week in which the then 15-year-old Usain Bolt, who had been billed to be the star of the championships, fulfilled the 36,000 sell-out crowd's expectations with a 20.61 run to win the men's 200m final.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Hundreds of fans who hadn't been lucky enough to get a ticket were climbing the outside walls trying to get a glimpse of their champion, as Bolt concluded his championships with a pair of silver medals in both the men's 4x100m and 4x400m relays.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Bolt's gold was Jamaica's last individual medal in the 20-year-old history of the IAAF World Junior Championship, but it is expected that the Caribbean island's overall tally of 14 gold, 21 silver and 20 bronze will improve at this 11th edition of the championship in Beijing, China.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=203 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>BOLT ... won the 200m gold in Kingston in 2002</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>The magic in Bolt's achievement was made even greater by the fact that he could share it with his home crowd, but the greatest Jamaican performer in the history of the World Junior Championship was arguably Gillian Russell, who not only managed to defend her title at 100m hurdles, but she also doubled up in the 4x100m relay.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The only female athlete to have won four World Junior gold medals, Russell took a superb win in Plovdiv 1990 when she clocked 13.31 as a 16-year-old and then came back two years later to take another individual gold in Seoul 1992 with a time of 13.21. A member of the Jamaican 4x100m in both 1990 and 1992, Russell contributed to the team dominating the sprint relay and added another two gold medals to her résumé.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The reigning 200m Olympic champion, Veronica Campbell was also one of Jamaica's top performers at the junior level with an amazing sprint double achieved at the 2000 edition in Santiago de Chile. Campbell outclassed the field to set a championship record of 11.12 and 22.87 in the 100m and 200m, respectively. It took Campbell only four years to reach senior glory with a display of pure sprinting excellence at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Laura Arcoleo is employed to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in the Media &amp; Public Relations Department. She is the world governing body's expert on junior athletics.

[Karl]

RE: Jamaica's awesome sprint talent

GOLD!<DIV class=KonaBody>


FILE-Kaliese Spencer




Anthony Foster, STAR Writer

Beijing, China Jamaica's first gold medal on today's third day of the 11th IAAF World Junior Track &amp; Field Championships at the Chaoyang Sport Centre in Beijing, China. [/B]

Spencer secured the <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: blue! important; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">gold</SPAN> and Jamaica's first win in this event at any World Junior Champion-ships with a national junior record of 55.11 in the 400m hurdles.

The University of Technology (UTech) student erased her own mark of 55.61, which was achieved on June 11 in Gateshead, England.

Another Jamaican, Sherene Pinnock repeated her bronze medal performance from Grosseto, Italy when she crossed the line in 56.67, a personal best. American Nicole Leach, who entered the event as the world leader, finished second in 55.55 seconds.

Sonita Sutherland, who was the favourite, captured Jamaica's third <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: blue! important; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">medal</SPAN> of the night when she won silver in the 400m with a time of 51.42. "I am not disappointed, but I know I could have gone faster, I don't know what happened," Suther-<SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: blue! important; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">land</SPAN> said.

After three days, Jamaica have a total of five medals with one gold, one silver, and three bronze.

Spencer, who had pre-race favourite Leach covered from the first 150m, kept her form for a decisive win. The 19-year-old, who is in her first year of hurdling, was delighted at the outcome.

"I am really happy (for the national record), but I really wanted a World junior record, but I am very, very grateful though," she said.

She explained her race. "I just got out and ran my first 200m hard and I came out victorious, so I am just very happy."

Spencer admitted she was a bit worried about Leach, but said; "I just went out there, kept confident and did my best."

She said having Paul Francis, her personal coach at the Championships helped her very well.

"He spoke to me, I listened an