Sports officials urge nation to be patient with stars even if medals are not won Local senior sports officials are urging Jamaicans to continue supporting the country’s track and field athletes even if they do not equal or better their exploits at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. The Beijing Olympics saw Jamaica taking home 11 medals – six gold, three silver and two bronze, including three world records and an Olympic record. Usain Bolt won three gold medals in world record time, including with the men’s 4x100m relay team. Melaine Walker took the 400m hurdles title with an Olympic record. However, according to G.C. Foster College principal Edward Shakes, Jamaica Netball Association President Marva Bernard and Jamaica Cricket Association secretary Fritz Harris, whose organisations send representatives to international competitions on a yearly basis, there are no guarantees in sports and, as such, athletes for one reason or another can fail to perform. They said this, however, is no reason for persons to turn their backs on the athletes. “We have to see our performance of four years ago in China as being extraordinary,” said Shakes, who joined Bernard and Harris as guests at a special Gleaner Editors’ Forum […]
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KENNETH EDWARDS, Jamaica’s taekwondo representative at the upcoming London Olympics is 26 years old, but said he feels like 21, after spending the better part of this year in New York, training with renowned Jamaican coach Alvin Bernard. Edwards, a member of Jamaica’s combined martial arts team, historically qualified for London 2012, becoming Jamaica’s first taekwondo Olympic representative. To further hone his skills, Edwards was sent to Bernard’s Team USA Taekwon-Do Fitness in Fort Lee, New Jersey, to master Olympic-style taekwondo. Mainly a practitioner of International Taekwondo Federation-style (ITF) taekwondo, Edwards qualified in third place from the Pan Am region, fighting World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) style – the art used in the Olympics. Combined team captain Jason McKay believes the ‘Bernard factor’ could transform Edwards from outsider to possible medallist in London this summer. Bernard, who held national titles in the United States in both styles, was called on to make Edwards a lean, mean WTF-style fighting machine. A sixth-degree black belt, Bernard is an international instructor, international Class A umpire/referee, US national team coach and chief instructor at Team USA Taekwon-do Fitness. His interest in martial arts began at age 15 in Germany. Over the years, he has trained […]
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