Girl With a Purpose (GWAP)

World Championships Round-up, What's Next for Jamaica's Athletics Program?

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Originally uploaded by machomonk

Well, Jamaica mined gold in Berlin - 7 gold medals to be exact. Additionally, we mined 4 silver and 2 bronze medals!

But the 12th IAAF 2009 Berlin World Championships were not without controversy.

Veronica Campbell-Brown told team management she would not run in the finals of the 4x100 (women's)relay, just 1 hour and 30 minutes before the event.

In an interview on KLAS Sports Radio FM 89, following the relay finals, Veronica said that she refused to do the any other leg but the anchor leg, as it's the leg that she had practised for, given:

1) Her toe injury 

2) The fact that this is the leg that she had practised for, with the other women, at the mandatory JAAA's  (pronounced "J" three As - Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association) training camp.

(The JAAAs is the governing body for athletics on island).

She said she should have gone to her doctor, re the lingering injuries she's been having...but sacrificed her health to be at the mandatory training camp.

Additionally, following the women's excellent run in the heats, she decided to opt-out in the best interest of Jamaica.

The female quartet of Simone Tracey, Aleen Bailey, Shelly-Ann Fraser and Kerron Stewart won the gold medal in a time of 42.06 secs.

Our men also did excellently, winning gold in a time of 37.31 secs and making a new Championship Record. (They weren't able to beat the world record time of 37.10 secs they set in the 2008 Beijing Olympics).

So our athletes have done very well!

But what's next for Jamaica's athletic program?

Surely we have an excellent opportunity to expand our prowess into the field events.

To do this well, however, we need to get the necessary coaches, equipment, athletes and sponsors in place and the dedication and commitment to expose our youngsters to these events.

E.g. we want to see more Jamaican high jumpers, long jumpers, shot putters, javelin throwers, decathletes and more Jamaicans doing the longer races like the 400m, 800m, 1500m, etc.

Also, what a fitting tribute it would be to our athletes, for them to have world-class training equipment and facilities, so that they can achieve their utmost for this country!

Surely the government cannot afford the extravagant celebrations they had for the athletes' on their return from Beijing?...but how about them channeling the money they will spend to give the athletes a "splash", into starting a fund, to equip our athletes, in all events, feasible?

Thus ensuring that we will have more Usain Bolts, Asafa Powells, Brigitte Foster-Hyltons, Shelly-Ann Frasers, Aleen Baileys, Veronica Campbell-Browns, Melaine Walkers', Simone Traceys, Steve Mullings', Michael Fraters...so that Jamaica will be and continue to be the athletics powerhouse of the world!

(I would like to thank machomonk for the use of his Flickr inset photo above, of Usain Bolt doing his famous "To The World" sign with the Berlin World Championship mascot, "Berlino").

Gillian

Sources Include

1) KLAS Sports Radio FM 89, August 22-26, 2009

2) List of World Records in Athletics- Wikipedia.org
 

World Championship Update: Campbell-Brown - Silver, Jamaican 4x100m Men Qualify!

veronica campbell brown
Originally uploaded by iansharpes@btinternet.com

Jamaicans continue to shine at the 12th IAAF 2009 World Championships:

Yesterday's Results

• Usain Bolt proved that lightening does strike twice, in the same place, by decimating his old world record and setting a new one of 19.19 secs, in the 200m (men).

  
  

  Well, we sorta expected it...but when it actually happened, Jamaican's were mad with joy!

  
  

  CVM Television and Television Jamaica (the only free-to-air stations in Jamaica), in an effort to get on-the-spot reactions from Jamaicans, segwayed to Half-Way-Tree, just after the race...

  
  

  Jamaicans there were bubbling over with joy. Many were waving Jamaican flags and were dressed in the black, green and gold (colours of the Jamaican flag). The outpouring of joy was so tremendous, that traffic slowed while people danced and rejoiced in the streets.

  
  

• Well it seems that when Melaine puts in her hair extension, it's a sign that she means business.

  
  

  ..She did so yesterday and despite injury, Melaine powered through to win the 400m Hurdles (women), in a time of 52.42 secs,  setting a new Championship record. (She just missed the World Record by 0.08ths of a second - the world record is 52.34 secs).

  
  

  Following the race, her community of Waterhouse went crazy...people hit two pot covers together as a sign of celebration and were overjoyed, so overjoyed that you could hardly hear the interview being conducted by both free-to-air televisions stations, with her mom.

  
  

• Although he didn't medal, Maurice Wignall represented Jamaica creditably, in the male 110m Hurdles.  He came in 5th.

  
  

  Barbadian-Ryan Brathwaite, won the event with a National Record of 13.14 secs. Congrats to Ryan..he has made the Caribbean proud!

  
  

  The favorite to win this event - Dayron Robles of Cuba, unfortunately did not finish in Semifinal 3 of the event, due to injury.

Today's Results

• Congratulations are in order for our girl, Veronica Campbell-Brown (VCB) who gained silver in the 200m (women) today. Her time was 22.35 secs. She was second to Alison Felix who ran a smashing time 22.02 secs!

  
  

  Congratulations are also in order for our up-and-coming sprint queens - Anneisha McLaughlin (22.62 secs) and Simone Facey (22.82 secs) for making it to the finals of this event.

  
  

• The Jamaican quartet of Lerone Clarke, Michael Frater, Steve Mullings and Dwight Thomas, also made us proud, by qualifying for the finals, of the 4x100m (men), to be run tomorrow. Their time was 38.60 secs, placing them second in Heat 3, behind the Italians, who ran 38.52 secs.

Events for Tomorrow

• The event that most Jamaicans have been anticipating, since Beijing 2008, is the the 4x100m (women). Jamaica will be running in Heat 1 of the event, at 11:10 a.m. Jamaica time.

  
  

  We are not sure who the representatives will be, but we highly suspect that it will be Shelly-Ann Fraser, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Aleen Bailey and Kerron Stewart.

  
  

  The final for this event will be held at 1:00 p.m., Jamaica time.

  
  

• Jamaica will also run in the 4x400m (women's) tomorrow in Heat 1.  The start time is 1:25 p.m. Jamaica time.

  
  

• The men will try to delight us once more, in the 4x100m final at 1:50 p.m. Jamaica time.

Friends, tomorrow stands to be another exciting day of these World Championships. Get out your (healthy) snacks and drinks and enjoy!

Big up (Jamaican, meaning, "congratulations to") Jamaica!

(I would like to thank  iansharpes@btinternet.com, for the use of his Flickr inset photo of Veronica Campbell-Brown winning the 200m in the Beijing Olympics).

Gillian

Sources Include

1) Television Jamaica's coverage of the 12th IAAF 2009 World Championships, August 20-21, 2009

2) CVM Television's coverage of the 12th IAAF 2009 World Championships, August 20-21,2009

3) 12th IAAF 2009 World Championships Schedule and Resultsat iaaf.org

World Championship Update: Foster-Hylton - Gold at Last, Ennis-London - Bronze!

Jamaicans got the biggest, most pleasant surprise of the World Championships today, when Brigitte Foster-Hylton, came first in the finals of the women's 110m Hurdles. She won the event (and the gold medal), in 12.51 secs.

Canada's Priscilla Lopes-Schliep and Jamaican, Delloreen Ennis-London, got silver and bronze, respectively, in times of 12.54 and 12.55 secs.

Jamaica is now second in the number of medals, with a medal tally of 7: 3 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze. The USA is above us with a medal tally of 8: 3 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze.

Brigitte had retired from the event after a disappointing result in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the fact that she only seemed able to get silver and bronze medals in this event, in major championships. She however came out of retirement at the insistence of her family and her coach, Stephen Francis.

Brigitte didn't even know that she had won as the race, as it was a close one and she said she just closed her eyes and powered through to the finish-line, so she didn't see that she had won.

She became the first woman in history to win gold, silver and bronze in the World Championships, in this event.

Other Results for Today

• Ricardo Chambers just failed to qualify for the finals of the 400m (men) with a time of 45.13 secs

  
  

• Usain Bolt and Steve Mullings qualified for the finals of the 200m (men), in times of 20.08 secs and 20.26 secs, respectively.

  
  

• Dwight Thomas and Maurice Wignall qualified for the Semi-Finals of the 110m  Hurdles(men) in times of 13.57 secs and 13.62 secs, respectively. Unfortunately, Richard Phillips did not qualify with his time of 13.70 secs.

  
  

• Simone Facey, Anneisha McLaughlin and Veronica Campbell-Brown qualified for the Semi-Finals of the 200m (women) in times of 22.83 secs, 22.91 secs and 23.01 secs, respectively.

Events for Tomorrow

• Alain Bailey and Nicholas Gordon will compete in Groups A and B of the Long Jump, respectively. They will seek to qualify for the event - the top 12 men qualify for the Semi-finals of the event. The event starts at 11:10 a.m.

  
  

• Dwight Thomas and Maurice Wignall will run in Semi-Final Heats 2 and 3, respectively, in the 110m Hurdles (men) at 1:23 p.m and 1:31 p.m., Jamaica time.

  
  

  The finals will be run at 1:55 p.m.

  
  

• Veronica Campbell-Brown, Anneisha McLaughlin and Simone Facey will compete in the Semi-Final Heats 1,2 and 3, respectively, at 12:50 p.m., 12:56 p.m. and 1:02 p.m.,  Jamaica time.

  
  

• Melaine Walker and Kaliese Spencer will compete in the finals of the 400m (women) at 1:15 p.m. Jamaica time.

  
  

• Usain Bolt and Steve Mullings will compete in the 200m (men) finals at 1:35 p.m., Jamaica time.

Gillian

(I would like to thank olliemadonna for the use of her YouTube inset video above, of Brigitte Foster-Hylton winning the 100m Hurdles).

Sources Include

1) Television Jamaica's coverage of the 12th IAAF 2009 World Championships, August 19, 2009

2) CVM Television's coverage of the 12th IAAF 2009 World Championships, August 19,2009

3) 12th IAAF 2009 World Championships Schedule and Results at iaaf.org