“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the
courage to continue that counts.” Sir Winston Churchill
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| Usain Bolt Credit Ricardo Makyn Gleaner Staff Photographer |
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| Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Credit Ricardo Makyn Gleaner Staff Photographer |
The 14th IAAF World Athletics Championships held in Moscow
ended just right for all Jamaica, with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price and Usain St.
Leo Bolt crossing the finish lines with relay batons safely in hand. How
wonderful is it to hear our national anthem played at the very end, three times in a
row. We couldn’t ask for more. Or could we?
In recent times, to understand the absorption rate of the
international track and field games such as the World Championships and the
Olympics you also have to follow on social media. Unless, of course, you are
fortunate enough to be in Moscow or London in 2012. Only then will you
experience the full extent of the interest of all the world in Jamaica’s
performance and the growing interest of Jamaicans beyond the 200 metres or
relays.
I’ll go out a limb and divine that for the average Jamaican a
good run in the short sprints and relays are all that they need to knock two
pot covers together in excited hurrah. I am noting however an exciting trend in
an increasing number of Jamaicans taking notice of other events beyond those
for which we are best known. How else do you explain our ever growing cheers
for athletes whose names we can barely pronounce let alone commit to spelling?
It’s not accidental; the impact of Usain Bolt has been immeasurable and has
brought many personalities and stars into the limelight.
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| Kimberley Williams Triple Jump Credit Ricardo Makyn Gleaner Staff Photographer |
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| Edna Kiplagat Marathon Champion Getty Image |
As they say in some circles, “all an a sudden” we’re cheering
for names like Mo Farrah, Meseret Defar, Tirunesh Dibaba and Edna Kiplagat; all
over distances that we’ve not even ventured an effort let alone a few
competitors. We now know the names Bohdan Bondarenko and Svetlana Shkolina
(high jump), Teddy Tamgho (triple jump) and Yelena Isinbayeva (pole vault); along
with their events. So as consumers of the sport we’re evolving; becoming more
sophisticated and wanting to see the country work harder at producing athletes
beyond a handful of names like Kimberley Williams (triple jump), Natoya Goule
(800 metres) and Damar Forbes (long jump) – hint hint Jamaica Athletics
Administrative Association (JAAA).
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| Hansle Parchment Credit Ricardo Makyn Gleaner Staff Photographer |
Yes, the “usuals” delivered our craved high but others worth
mentioning gave us our doses of uppers and downers. We were spectacularly not
surprised, though truly delighted, by the sprint doubles, Warren Weir’s silver
run and Nesta Carter’s first individual bright bronze medal. We were sure that
the 4x100 metres relays were ours to lose.
We ached with Hansle Parchment and
Anneisha McLaughlin as they
went to pain filled places and gasped a few “oh somethings” as Andrew Riley clipped that late hurdle to lose his place along the way. We were saddened by
Allyson Felix’s fall from grace, she’s a gracious competitor and we always prefer
to win by beating the best of them. We were in shock for our Caribbean star,
Kirani James, as he learnt the hard lesson of loss against the big boys. We
swore aloud at out television screens as they announced the disqualification of
our women’s 4x400 metres relay team and let out a great big “kis teet” when
Kaleise Spencer was dropped from the 400 metres hurdles for what many saw as
“foolishniss”, ‘fight dem a giwi’.
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| Novlene Williams-Mills Credit Ricardo Makyn Gleaner Staff Photographer |
These games delivered more to Jamaica than rankings and medals.
They delivered a brief respite from our harsh realities. They delivered
messages of determination from those Like Novlene Willaims-Mills who
competed against the toughest odds. They delivered messages of pride in
our future from those like Stephanie McPherson and the Williams sisters who
realized a dream by just getting thus far. They delivered messages of hope
from those like Natoya Goule who never made it past the first rounds of their
events.
For this fan of the sport however, the most important message
to emerge from the 14th IAAF World Championships was about courage,
delivered by a teenaged high school student, barely old enough to vote or marry without his
parents’ permission. Jevon Francis shouted to the entire world, WE DO NOT QUIT.
We do not quit because it’s hard, we do not quit because it seems impossible,
we do not quit, because we have nothing to lose by giving our all.
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| Jevon Francis Credit Ricardo Makyn Gleaner Staff Photographer |
Just as they did in prior years, Jamaicans gathered in Half
Way Tree and Downtown Kingston where they were whipped into a freakish frenzy
as our athletes delivered just the right doses of victory.
The rest of us congregated on social media to make our pride
known, Jamaica Land We Love.
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