For the sixth time in his outstanding career, Usain Bolt will compete at the Belgacom Memorial, the second of two finals of the Samsung Diamond League, on 6 September 2013. He will decide later in the season whether he will contest the 100m or 200m in Brussels, but either way he is expected to be one of the biggest stars of the meeting. Since making his first appearance in Brussels back in 2007 when he finished third in the 200m (20.14), the Jamaican superstar has notched up four successive victories. Arguably the most impressive of these came in 2008 when he clocked a meeting record of 9.77 into a stiff -1.3m/s headwind. The following year he smashed the meeting record in the 200m with 19.57, which was bettered in 2011 by training partner Yohan Blake with his stunning 19.26. At that same meeting in 2011, Bolt improved his 100m meeting record to 9.76, then last year successfully defended his title with a 9.86 clocking. Bolt will not be the only big name in Brussels on 6 September. Three weeks after the IAAF World Championships in Moscow, the Belgian capital will again welcome many of the newly-crowned world champions […]
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Huddersfield striker Jermaine Beckford says he is fit and ready for CONCACAF World Cup Qualification battle against Panama on Friday at the National Stadium. Match time is 8:30 p.m. Beckford could make his international debut for Jamaica after he was replaced in the squad that played against Mexico last month at the high-altitude Azteca Stadium. The 29-year-old was ruled out after sustaining a hamstring injury in an English Championship game against Crystal Palace late January. Having recovered from injury, Beckford played the last 20 minutes for his club against Leeds United on Saturday. That was his first game since the injury that kept him out for six weeks. Now Beckford says he is ready. I played on Saturday for about 20 minutes against Rodolph Austin (Reggae Boy) at Leeds and it felt good. Now I am fit, ready and confident. I can’t wait to score goals for Jamaica,” he told The Gleaner at the Reggae Boyz’s first training session since regrouping at UWI yesterday. HIGH EXPECTATIONS “Nobody has higher expectations than I have for myself in terms of coming out and putting on a performance and doing what I have to do in the game,” Beckford confidently stated. Although […]
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Alia Atkinson, the fourth-place finisher in the Olympic final of the 100 breast, won that event today with a 1:08.64 representing South Florida Aquatics. The Jamaican has been faster this season with a 1:08.51 win at the Arena Grand Prix in Orlando. Two other Olympians were also in the top three: Sweden’s Rebecca Ejdervik, representing Hurricane, was second with a 1:09.95, and Canadian Martha McCabe was third with a 1:10.03.
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Donovan Ricketts remembers the summer of 1998 well: “People ask me about France ’98, ask me to make comparisons to that team in every interview I do,” the veteran goalkeeper told FIFA.com with a kindly laugh, recalling Jamaica’s first and only trip to a FIFA World Cup. “It was a long time ago, and I was very young.” Ricketts’ teammates in the current Jamaica team watched the ‘98 Boyz huddled around TVs in their neighbourhoods, playing and carrying on with their friends in the streets. They were just boys and they dreamed recklessly of being the ones on those screens someday. But Ricketts was there in the flesh, a 20-year-old back-up goalkeeper soaking it all in from the bench. “The experience was crazy,” said Ricketts, now with Major League Soccer’s Portland Timbers. “It meant so much to Jamaica and to me.” “That team from ’98 was a better team than now,” added Ricketts, now 35, vice captain, and approaching a century of caps. “Most of us were playing our club football in Jamaica, so we were together in camp day in and day out,” he said of that 1998 side, coached by Brazilian Rene Simoes, that captured the world’s attention. […]
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In a sensational final day of the 2013 Inter-Secondary Sports Association (ISSA)/Grace-Kennedy Boys and Girls’ Cham-pionships, Holmwood Technical High came from well behind at the National Stadium yesterday to clip defending champions Edwin Allen High for the girls’ title, while Calabar High easily retained the boys’ crown. In a meet which saw 18 records falling on the final day and 30 overall, Holmwood wore down long-time leaders Edwin Allen, took the lead in mid-afternoon and came away with a narrow victory. The Maurice Wilson-coached Holmwood tallied 310.5 points to regain the title, their 10th in 11 years with Edwin Allen on 305.5. The top five was completed by St Jago (208), Vere Technical (202) and Hydel (157.50). On the boys’ side, Calabar had just too much allround quality for their rivals and won their 23rd title while Jamaica College (JC) surprised Kingston College (KC) to take second spot. The top five: Calabar – 299, JC 258.5, KC 247.5, Wolmer’s Boys 121, St Jago 107. The green and black army, coached by Michael Clarke, showed admirable grit to muscle their way past pacesetters Jamaica College and Kingston College. Calabar’s assistant coach Omar Hawes was elated with the victory. “It’s a big […]
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Several records went crashing on yesterday’s final day of the 103rd Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships as the defending champions Calabar and former champions Holmwood Technical marched to the top spots. Calabar, who were locked in a three-way battle at the start of the day, came out roaring – taking the lead when it counted and outlasting their main rivals, Kingston College (KC) and Jamaica College (JC). Holmwood trailed Edwin Allen for most of the day but pulled off an amazing victory as the girls from Clarendon lost points which they were expected to capture. Amid blaring horns and banging drums; oversized banners and a kaleidoscope of school colours, yesterday’s final day of ‘Champs 2013′ was already a spectacle long before the big crowds – avoiding intense sunshine – turned up in the late afternoon session. Zaavan Richards signalled KC’s intentions from the outset, setting a new mark in the very first event of the day – the boys javelin open; with a 59.66m throw, which, like silver medallist Orlando Thomas’ 59.59m, bettered James McDonald’s 58.75m distance, posted in 2011. Richards’ schoolmate Nathaniel Bann was equally impressive in the Class Three Boys 400m, showing tremendous […]
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Olympic champions Usain Bolt and Jessica Ennis headline the winners of the 2013 Laureus World Sports Awards named at a globally televised Awards Ceremony in Rio de Janeiro today. Bolt was acclaimed Laureus World Sportsman of the Year after his remarkable performance at the Olympics when he repeated his success in Beijing by winning gold medals in all three sprint events in London – 100 metres, 200 metres and 4 x 100 metres relay. Laureus World Sportsman of the Year: Usain Bolt Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year: Jessica Ennis Laureus World Team of the Year: European Ryder Cup Team Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year: Andy Murray Laureus World Comeback of the Year: Felix Sanchez Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year: Felix Baumgartner The Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award went to Ennis, who carried the hopes of the British nation in London. Despite the enormous pressure of being one of the first on the track, she dominated the heptathlon and won the gold medal with a British record score of 6,955 pts. British tennis star Andy Murray’s first ever Grand Slam victory, at the US Open, plus an Olympic gold and silver medal in the singles […]
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