Kings of the track

The US track and field teams dominated athletics events especially the sprints, for a long time until the Jamaicans bannered by the fastest man in the world, Usian Bolt, came along. The lightning Bolt first struck in the 2008 Beijing Olympics where Usain won the 100 and 200-meter races and was part of the winning 4x100 meter relay team.  In the 2012 London Games, Bolt sprinted to 9.63 seconds in the 100m, the second fastest time in history.  Teammate Yohan Blake came in second in 9.75 but American Justin Gatlin spoiled a sweep for Jamaica as he salvaged third in 9:79. Asafa Powell, the third Jamaican in the final, suffered an injury just before the line and limped home.  In the 200 meters, there was no stopping the Jamaicans as they swept the event this time, with Bolt clocking 19:32.  Blake was second in 19:44 while Warren Weir took third in 19:48.  Then in the 4x100 meter relay, Bolt anchored Jamaica to the gold medal in 36:84,  an Olympic record.  The team was composed of Nesta Carter, Michael Frater,Yohan Blake and Bolt.  Then in the 2016 Rio Olympics, Bolt made it three in row when he again won the gold in the 100m, 200m and the 4x100m relay.  The 6’5”, 207-pound Bolt still holds the 100m record of 9:58 seconds which he registered in the 2009 World Championship.  So, it’s not just reggae in Jamaica after all.  Of course, Jamaica’s famous singers are Harry Belafonte and Bob Marley.

Marlene Ottey

The Jamaican-born Ottey ranks among the greatest female sprinters of all time.  Her total of nine Olympic medals is yet to be exceeded by any other female track and field athletes.  However, Ottey also earned the nickname “Bronze Queen” as she never won an Olympic gold medal.  She first won the 200 meter bronze in the 1980 Moscow Olympics, two bronzes (100m and 200m) in the 1984 Los Angeles Games and bronze (200m) in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.  In the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Ottey won silver in the 100m and 200m and a bronze in the 4x100m relay.  In her last Olympics in Sydney in 2000, she won silver in the 4x100m relay and a bronze in the 100m.  She has won 14 World Championship medals.

Cool Running

In 1987 American George Fitch, a member of the Foreign Service who worked in Jamaica, toyed with an idea to field a local team in a winter sports.  The Jamaicans are strong athletes but has never seen snow.  Fitch approached four soldiers at the Jamaican Defensive Force and formed a bobsled team, composed of Dudley Stokes, Devon Harris, Michael White and Frederick Powell.  Former two-time Olympian bobsledder and US National coach Howard Siler was hired as coach.  Their first training site was Lake Placid, New York, it was their first taste of snow.  After slipping and sliding, the team improved and participated in a World Cup race, finishing 35th place out of 41 nations, which qualified them to the Calgary Winter Games.  It was an in auspicious beginning as the four-man team crashed while the two-man team finished 30th.  Unfazed with the bad start.  The Jamaicans participated in the 1992 Games in Albertville and has competed in six Olympics including the 2014 Sochi Games. 

Did you know? Gertrude Ederle

Became the first woman to swim the English Channel in August 6, 1926.  Her world record of 14 hours and 31 minutes was two hours faster than the men’s record.  Tragically, she became deaf as a result of her channel swim.  She is also the youngest world-record holder at 12 years old, setting the mark for the women’s 880-yard freestyle swim in 13 minutes, 19 seconds on August 17, 1919.  I had the opportunity to visit her grave at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York City in 2013.  My brother’s apartment is just across the cemetery where Jazz legend Duke Ellington is also buried.

Don Thompson

A  British walker prepared himself for the overbearing heat of the 1960 Rome Olympics by training for a year in his bathroom, with doors and windows sealed, the central heating turned up to maximum and surrounded by boiling kettles.  The trick worked as Thompson won the gold medal but was shocked with his gas bill of nearly 10,000 pounds.