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In praise of strength and resolve
Saturday, October 24, 2009
This newspaper would be at fault were we to allow any more time to go by without paying tribute to the graciously charming, yet lion-hearted sprint hurdler Mrs Brigitte Foster-Hylton - the 2009 winner of the Courtney Walsh Award for Excellence.
It's well established that women provide the backbone of the Jamaican society. Mrs Foster-Hylton surely exemplifies that awesome strength.
For when the 34-year-old ran a near-perfect race to win Gold at the 12th IAAF World Championships in Berlin in August, she did so on the heels of many years of extreme frustration.
It's not that Mrs Foster-Hylton's career had been without success up to then. Far from it. She went to Berlin as the defending Commonwealth Games champion in the 100m hurdles and counted among her successes silver and bronze medals at the 2003 and 2005 World Championships in Paris and Helsinki respectively.
But the big one - a Gold medal at World Championships and Olympic Games eluded her. The painful crunch came in August of last year when at age 33 she failed to place among the medals at the Olympic Games in Beijing.
Most others would have given up, resigned to forever being considered among the 'also-rans'. Overcome by disappointment, Mrs Foster-Hylton actually announced her retirement in Beijing. She has credited her coach, the inspiring and highly successful Mr Stephen Francis, for talking her into changing her mind.
This newspaper, like all of Jamaica, joins in thanking Mr Francis. Praise must also go to Mrs Foster-Hylton's family, her MVP club teammates and friends who would all have provided the necessary support. But at bottom line this was Mrs Foster-Hylton's decision. Most others approaching their mid-30s would have simply lost the hunger and given up. The majority of us would have sympathised, even agreed.
We must now applaud her self-belief and the willingness to go that extra mile. We can only imagine the extent of the physical work she had to do and the time spent in meticulous attention to detail in terms of technical execution. Ultimately, her decision was proven correct, not just by that Gold in Berlin but also a string of triumphs with which she closed the 2009 athletics season.
This native of Prospect on the border of South East St Elizabeth and North West Manchester has shown what can be achieved where there is will and desire.
Hers is an example that all Jamaicans should follow: when we really want something we should go for it, no matter what; never give up.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/edito...ND_RESOLVE.asp
Saturday, October 24, 2009
This newspaper would be at fault were we to allow any more time to go by without paying tribute to the graciously charming, yet lion-hearted sprint hurdler Mrs Brigitte Foster-Hylton - the 2009 winner of the Courtney Walsh Award for Excellence.
It's well established that women provide the backbone of the Jamaican society. Mrs Foster-Hylton surely exemplifies that awesome strength.
For when the 34-year-old ran a near-perfect race to win Gold at the 12th IAAF World Championships in Berlin in August, she did so on the heels of many years of extreme frustration.
It's not that Mrs Foster-Hylton's career had been without success up to then. Far from it. She went to Berlin as the defending Commonwealth Games champion in the 100m hurdles and counted among her successes silver and bronze medals at the 2003 and 2005 World Championships in Paris and Helsinki respectively.
But the big one - a Gold medal at World Championships and Olympic Games eluded her. The painful crunch came in August of last year when at age 33 she failed to place among the medals at the Olympic Games in Beijing.
Most others would have given up, resigned to forever being considered among the 'also-rans'. Overcome by disappointment, Mrs Foster-Hylton actually announced her retirement in Beijing. She has credited her coach, the inspiring and highly successful Mr Stephen Francis, for talking her into changing her mind.
This newspaper, like all of Jamaica, joins in thanking Mr Francis. Praise must also go to Mrs Foster-Hylton's family, her MVP club teammates and friends who would all have provided the necessary support. But at bottom line this was Mrs Foster-Hylton's decision. Most others approaching their mid-30s would have simply lost the hunger and given up. The majority of us would have sympathised, even agreed.
We must now applaud her self-belief and the willingness to go that extra mile. We can only imagine the extent of the physical work she had to do and the time spent in meticulous attention to detail in terms of technical execution. Ultimately, her decision was proven correct, not just by that Gold in Berlin but also a string of triumphs with which she closed the 2009 athletics season.
This native of Prospect on the border of South East St Elizabeth and North West Manchester has shown what can be achieved where there is will and desire.
Hers is an example that all Jamaicans should follow: when we really want something we should go for it, no matter what; never give up.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/edito...ND_RESOLVE.asp