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As we no doubt are all well aware, the Carifta Games involves only the English, French and Dutch-speaking Caribbean nations. The three Spanish-speaking Caribbean islands are not involved, and have never been (regionally, they take part in track and field only in the CAC and Pan Am Games).
One way to try and mount a real challenge to Jamaica’s almost 30-year track and field dominance is to try and somehow persuade the three Spanish-speaking islands to take part in the Carifta Games. Of course, while Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic will likely not make much of a difference (I expect Jamaica, Trinidad and the Bahamas to outperform Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic), Cuba is another story.
Cuba would undoubtedly pose some challenge to Jamaica and reduce the margin of victories, particularly in the field events, the middle-distance events and in some hurdles events. The sprint events and relays would undoubtedly still be Jamaica’s domain, but the Cubans have traditionally been the Caribbean powerhouse in ALL the jumping and throwing events, and in distances of 800 meters and longer.
By the way, do we recall how Grenada was starting to make some inroads into the field events at the Carifta level before Hurricane Ivan destroyed its stadium in 2004 and put a halt to its apparent field events growth spurt?
One way to try and mount a real challenge to Jamaica’s almost 30-year track and field dominance is to try and somehow persuade the three Spanish-speaking islands to take part in the Carifta Games. Of course, while Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic will likely not make much of a difference (I expect Jamaica, Trinidad and the Bahamas to outperform Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic), Cuba is another story.
Cuba would undoubtedly pose some challenge to Jamaica and reduce the margin of victories, particularly in the field events, the middle-distance events and in some hurdles events. The sprint events and relays would undoubtedly still be Jamaica’s domain, but the Cubans have traditionally been the Caribbean powerhouse in ALL the jumping and throwing events, and in distances of 800 meters and longer.
By the way, do we recall how Grenada was starting to make some inroads into the field events at the Carifta level before Hurricane Ivan destroyed its stadium in 2004 and put a halt to its apparent field events growth spurt?
, although I have never regarded Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic as being outstanding in athletics. (Their relative lack of international impact has been disproportionate to the size of their population, which in both cases is significantly larger than Jamaica’s.)
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