We should have broken the record in Beijing, says Fraser-Pry

[Exile]

We should have broken the record in Beijing, says Fraser-Pryce

Thursday, April 04, 2013 | 8:36 AM

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Repeat Olympic 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce says that Jamaica could have had the women’s sprint relay world record since the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games if the team had the “right attitude.”

“That should have been us in 2008,” Fraser-Pryce told the IAAF series Inside Athletics, referring to the US women team which ran 40.82 seconds to break the long-standing German Democratic Republic’s world record at the London Olympic Games last year.


Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce

“I don’t believe in coincidences, things happen because they are supposed to happen that way; and I said that if as a team we had the right attitude (in Beijing) that we had last year, we would have had that world record a long time but we didn’t have that,” Fraser-Pryce commented.

Jamaica’s team, comprising Fraser-Pryce, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Kerron Stewart and Sherone Simpson, ran 41.41 to finish second with a new national record behind the US quartet in London.

“A lot of egos had to do with who wanted to do what and I’ve always said that I don’t believe that I’m a very good starter for a relay; but if they say ‘go and start’, I’m that kind of person.”

With all three 100m medalists, Fraser-Pryce, Stewart and Simpson, and the 200m champion, Campbell-Brown, the Jamaican women started as hot favourites in the Beijing sprint relay but failed to get the baton around the track.

Heated debate would follow as word spread about conflict within the team regarding the leg of the relay some athletes wanted to run.

That debate would continue until the following year when the team took gold at the World Championships but without the aid of Campbell-Brown.

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport...#ixzz2Tw7w27ZK

[Sir X]

We could have broken it in london, stupid line up the legs didnt make any sense.Shelly should have anchored that leg.

[Hortical]

Nuh waan hear that, unuh mess up the baton exhange and couldn't finish the race.

[Islandman]

I dont think we could beat the US that day whatever lineup we ran. 40.82 is no joke. We were not even close.

[Sir X]

Not being close must be attributed to a reason ? that said it doesnt mean we cannot do it , given that we have the current -previous 100m Olympic Champion , Previous 200m champion/100m silver/bronze medalist , 2 other 100m silver medalist from beijing (Sherone & KS)...That is talent , that no other nation boast of , not even the USA for a 4 * 100 m leg.

The most important mitigating factor - belief by Shelly Ann that it could be done , hopefully that belief runs within the team .

With all of those factors it was belief that made the americans beat us and break that record.

It can be done and should have been done from beijing to this present .We frigged up our legs with politics , what is Shelly doing starting ?

[Islandman]

It can be done, just not on that day. We did not have thier speed and once they had decent baton changes they were going to win

Previous medallists are great but that doesn't count for much on the day of the race.

[Sir X]

Disagree, we frigged up the legs .

[Historian]

You Are Absolutely Correct, Islandman

I dont think we could beat the US that day whatever lineup we ran. 40.82 is no joke. We were not even close.

You are absolutely correct, Islandman.

Their individual personal bests in 2012 show us quite clearly that Veronica Campbell, Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart were nowhere near the times they were running in 2008. For example, Veronica won the Beijing 200-meter race in the seventh fastest time in history: 21.74 seconds, but look at her in London!

In 2012, on the other hand, the only Jamaican female sprinter who had shown improvement was Shelly-Ann Fraser.

Even if Shelly-Ann had ran the anchor in London, it would have made absolutely no difference. The fact is that Tianna Madison did not lose any ground to Shelly-Ann (our best sprinter in 2012) on the first leg of that relay. So, switching legs would have made no difference against the fully in-form USA team. In fact, three of those women had made the 100-meter final in London (Carmelita Jeter, Allyson Felix and Tianna Madison), and with a splendid Bianca Knight on curve in the relay final, the annihilating of the world record was no surprise, in my opinion.

And speaking of surprises, the fact that Sherone and Kerron made the 100-meter final in Beijing was no surprise. Likewise, it was no surprise that neither lady made the final eight in London. Even Veronica, although getting a bronze medal in the100-meter dash in London, could only manage a fourth place finish in her pet event, the 200-meter race.

And yes, we could have broken the world record in Beijing, and we might have done so were it not for that botched baton exchange between Sherone and curve runner Kerron.

Incidentally, an eerily similar thing had happened to the USA team four years before at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens (during the exchange between backstretch runner Marion Jones and curve runner Lauryn Williams). Compare the botched exchange by Jamaica in Beijing with that by the USA in Athens. It is like a carbon copy!

[Islandman]

I will have to watch those 2 botched exchanges again, didn't realise they were that similar.

I think that W 4x100m record is going to be difficult for us to get to now with some our top ladies being on the downslope of their careers.

[Karl]

Why is she not starting?
She is our best and fastest starter and fastest over 100M from a 'standing start'. She cannot defeat a fit VCB on a running start.

Her ego?

She, I think, did not give us her best in the 2012 Olympics. The US runner, an inferior sprinter, matched her stride for stride on her leg.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOORz_fRtRY

[MdmeX]

Shouda, couda, wouda (water under the bridge)!

That US baton passing was a thing of beauty