We Likkle but we Tallawah

[Jangle]

"Thanks to Absolute Fencing Gear, and Favero scoring machines, the JFF was able to take our demos deeper into the Jamaican community!

Some of The Gentlemen of Wolmer's All Boy School. Intelligent, disciplined, ambitious, Jamaican. I can't say how proud I was to be in their presence. For years years years my mother has been harping about these GREAT Jamaican schools a...nd Wolmer's was a common name in our household, and finally I was able to step foot on this campus. Very proud moment for me.

Next we want to go to JC, Wolmers Girls, TG, and any and everywhere we can get our face in. — in Kingston, Saint Andrew, Jamaica." ~ J.a. McBean President of Jamaica Fencing





Jamaican diver Yona Knight-Wisdom finished 5th place in 3M at 2013 UANA Junior Pan Am Diving in Arizona, USA on Friday, only 27 points away from a medal. Yona says he hasn't really adjusted to the 8 hour time difference but he is happy with how he performed under the circumstances!

[Jangle]

Again I ask, do we have a Winter Olympics Team?



Here's our Synchronized Swimming Team

[Gamma]

one of the few areas that i tek issue with my good but at times misguided friend Historian, is about jamaica being a sporting power ..... we don't have to WIN everything to be a sporting power

[Karl]

Wonda iffen di bredda dat a 'gas-up'...

gots im license fi drive dat dere vehicle an iffen di vehicle di license?

[Historian]

Re: Sporting Power

one of the few areas that i tek issue with my good but at times misguided friend Historian, is about jamaica being a sporting power ..... we don't have to WIN everything to be a sporting power

Gamma, my friend, you still do not get it! Do the research and you will find that Cuba is the real “Sporting Power” of the West Indian islands.

Yes, Jamaica has made its global mark in ONE aspect of track and field – the short sprints, particularly since the 2006 Commonwealth Games and the 2008 Olympic Games (and please do not insult me by reminding me of 1948 and 1952; I KNOW of our cultural and sporting history). For instance, in our pet sporting event, the sprints (a small part of track and field), what has our accumulation of senior global medals been between the years 1956 and 2000?

In addition to the sprints (100 and 200 meters and sprint relays), we have also prevailed against the odds in netball. I completely respect and adore our netball ladies and their administrators. Also, our cricketers are generally okay.

So, what else do we have? Surely you cannot be including the 1988 bobsled team, whose main claim to fame in its failed Winter Olympics was that popular Disney film, “Cool Runnings.” That 1988 team did not even finish the race!! To make things worse, since then our quartet of bobsledders has not made any impact whatsoever.

Finally, simply showing a Jamaican face or two in various events does NOT make us a “Sporting Power”! (I recall those wasted arguments with you and Badazz, and trust me, you both were not correct!!) Sports is more than the sprints and netball and cricket!

I long for the day when this tiresome debate will end!

[Karl]

Gamma, my friend, you still do not get it! Do the research and you will find that Cuba is the real “Sporting Power” of the West Indian islands.

Yes, Jamaica has made its global mark in ONE aspect of track and field – the short sprints, particularly since the 2006 Commonwealth Games and the 2008 Olympic Games (and please do not insult me by reminding me of 1948 and 1952; I KNOW of our cultural and sporting history). For instance, in our pet sporting event, the sprints (a small part of track and field), what has our accumulation of senior global medals been between the years 1956 and 2000?

In addition to the sprints (100 and 200 meters and sprint relays), we have also prevailed against the odds in netball. I completely respect and adore our netball ladies and their administrators. Also, our cricketers are generally okay.

So, what else do we have? Surely you cannot be including the 1988 bobsled team, whose main claim to fame in its failed Winter Olympics was that popular Disney film, “Cool Runnings.” That 1988 team did not even finish the race!! To make things worse, since then our quartet of bobsledders has not made any impact whatsoever.

Finally, simply showing a Jamaican face or two in various events does NOT make us a “Sporting Power”! (I recall those wasted arguments with you and Badazz, and trust me, you both were not correct!!) Sports is more than the sprints and netball and cricket!

I long for the day when this tiresome debate will end!

Boxing?
Would our history in such a sport, as one among the 200+ countries in the world, place us in the elite class - Top 20 - 30?

I think so!

Historian, I think you are a little hard on us (yourself) I think we are, when compared to the World's nations, a Sporting Giant!

[Jangle]

Nicholas Walters is now the 10th Jamaican world title holder in boxing. The other eight are Michael McCallum, Trevor Berbick, Simon Brown, Lloyd Honeyghan, Kenneth Mullings, Uriah Grant, O'Neil Bell, Alicia Ashley and Glen Johnson.

Special mention:

Donovan "Razor" Ruddock
Richard "Shrimpy" Clarke
Lennox Lewis

[Historian]

I Am Not Hard On Us!

Boxing?
Would our history in such a sport, as one among the 200+ countries in the world, place us in the elite class - Top 20 - 30?

I think so!

Historian, I think you are a little hard on us (yourself) I think we are, when compared to the World's nations, a Sporting Giant!

I’m sorry that you chose to mention boxing!

Karl, do you really follow Caribbean sports on a regular basis? You probably don’t, and so you haven’t realized that many of our local boxers over the last ten years, like our men and women’s volleyball players, have been whipped by other Caribbean nations!

The simple fact is that, in this 21st century, Jamaican boxers on the whole are NOT a force to reckon with overall in this region! This, despite the fact that we have had a couple of Jamaican-born, foreign based boxers who have made headlines internationally in this century.

So I repeat: We are a remarkable world sporting giant in THREE areas:

1. The sprints (100 and 200-meter races and the 4x100-meter relays, both men and women);

2. Netball, where our women have really, really impressed me year after year! Those ladies are better than we probably realize;

3. Cricket, where we have occasionally impressed.

Also, our women’s soccer team are a force, but only within the Caribbean region.

Do these limited successes make us a “Sports Power”?

Do you want us to debate a comparison with Cuba? (No doubt the master of the one-sentence innuendo, Gamma, will use this as his cue to chime in.)

[Islandman]

Didn't we have a decent womens hockey team for a while in the 80s and early 90s? I believe we won the Pan Am games gold medal once.

I haven't heard anything much about that sport in JA for a long time.

[HL]

So do you think Jamaica is a sporting power 'ouse?

A simple yes or no will do.

TIA.

[Islandman]

No, we are a track and field power house and we fight above our weight class in a few other sports.

[Historian]

Correction, I'man

No, we are a track and field power house and we fight above our weight class in a few other sports.

I’m not dissing my beloved country, I’man, but we are not a track and field powerhouse as yet. What we certainly are is a track powerhouse as far as the 100-meter, 200-meter, and sprint relays for both men and women are concerned. Also, the women’s 400-meter race and 400-meter hurdles (and to a lesser extent the 100-meter hurdles). Back in the day we could have added the men’s 400-meter race.

Winthrop Graham has been one of our only real shining light in field events, but Winthrop retired way back in the 1990s (sometime after the 1996 Atlanta Olympics). Our other promising stars, for example long jumper Chelsea Hammond at the Beijing Olympics, have virtually disappeared.

And to answer your question, HL, my answer is a resounding “No”, unless we are using the word “powerhouse” lightly.

[HL]

Historian, "we" also tend to use the word "abundance" lightly too.

You are absolutely correct in your assertions.

[HL]

No, we are a track and field power house and we fight above our weight class in a few other sports.

You said track and field--but i figure you meant track only.

And track only to the extent that the Historical One correctly pointed out.

[Gamma]

exclude yourself from "we" HL, i don't think it applies to you ... inverted commas or no ...