Harlis Meadersleft a sizeable void on the Florida State track & field staff when, after 18 seasons as the Seminoles’ throws coach – the last eight as associate head coach – he returned to his alma mater, the University of North Carolina, as the head coach. Florida State head coach Bob Braman’s search for a replacement led him directly to a man of sizeable stature and a passion to help his alma mater return to the top of the podium at the NCAA Championship meet. Dorian Scott, a 2007 Florida State graduate who was mentored by Meaders, has taken the reins as the Seminoles’ throws coach. A two-time Olympian representing Jamaica in the shot put, and a former All-American for the Seminoles, Scott jumped at the chance to return to Tallahassee after one season as the throws coach at San Diego State. His appointment came just a month after becoming the first Jamaican thrower to reach the Olympic finals in the shot put, finishing 10th at the London Games. “It’s extremely exciting, just at the level we’re at – going after national [championships] on both men’s and women’s side,” Scott said. “Not knocking San Diego State, but I was […]
Read More
Jamaica Volleyball Association (JaVA), with sponsorship from Just Bet, Velle Sports International, Juici Patties, Red Bull, Hi-Lyte Sport Drink and Jamaica Blue, presented an exciting volleyball extravaganza at the Barbican Beach complex on Sunday September 9. 20 male and female teams from across the island matched wits and technical prowess, as they tried to secure one of the 6 vacancies in each gender category for the Just Bet/TvJ SN Beach Volleyball League scheduled to start on October 6 at the same venue. Following the Play-off, the male and female teams that qualify to the League will compete over the period of 4 weeks, on Saturdays and Sundays . After a preliminary round, teams will then play semi-finals and culminate with the finals on November 3. The League will also be used as the main premise for selecting players to represent Jamaica at international tournaments. Major Warrenton Dixon, President of the Jamaica Volleyball Association, said that the major focus of JaVA at this juncture is to ensure that the sponsors get value for money. The National pairs of Cherine Richards/Cheryl Daley and Dellan Brown/Donavon Larry Richards were the toasts at Sunday’s JaVA Just Bet/TvJ SN Beach Volleyball League qualifiers at the […]
Read More
Bolt will run 100m at trials … But Olympic champion says JAAA will have to decide on 200m pick Usain Wild-card issue partially solvedBolt has given the selection committee of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) one less problem to worry about, as he has disclosed that he intends to compete in the 100 metres at the National Trials to select Jamaica’s team to next summer’s World Championships to be staged in Moscow, Russia. By virtue of the decision taken by the IAAF Council at its last general assembly in November last year, the overall event winner of the 32 Diamond League events will be granted automatic entry to the World Championships, in the same manner that the defending world champions profit. With Bolt emerging as the overall 100m champion of the recently concluded Diamond League series he, along with defending 100m world champion Yohan Blake, qualified for a bye to the World Championships. Each country is allowed a maximum of four entries in any one event at the World Championships, and so in cases where the defending champion and Diamond League winner are from the same country, only one will be allowed to participate as a wild-card entry, […]
Read More
Hoping to contain the speedy Jamaica, the U.S. national team played a tight diamond midfield formation in a World Cup qualifier against the Reggae Boyz in Kingston on Friday night. The result, perhaps partially due to an off-night by three of the four U.S. middies, was a 2-1 win for Jamaica that puts the U.S. in near-precarious position with three games remaining in the semifinal round. It wasn’t that the fleet Jamaicans ran roughshod through the American defense. The U.S. did not allow Jamaica much of anything in the way of close-range scoring chances, minus the costly fouls by Kyle Beckerman and Jermaine Jones that led to free-kick goals from just outside the penalty area by Rodolph Austin and Luton Shelton. The problem was the creation of chances, or lack of, by the U.S., whose narrow posture produced only two notable crossing attempts from wide positions on Friday. It was compounded by the injury absences of field general Michael Bradley and the always dangerous Landon Donovan. But the Americans hope to change that in the rematch on Tuesday in Crew Stadium. They spent a lengthy portion of an open training session today working on finishing from […]
Read More
Brussels – Double Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt will be leading seven London champions at another sold-out edition of the Memorial Van Damme in Brussels on Friday night (7th), the second of two Samsung Diamond League finals and the last meeting of the circuit in 2012. As with the first final in Zürich a week ago on Thursday, many of the sport’s biggest names will converge on the Belgian capital to battle for the Diamond Trophy in the 15 remaining events. Four athletes – Paul Kipsiele Koech, Barbora Spotakova, Kaliese Spencer and Chaunte Lowe – are coming to claim the Diamond Trophy they’ve already clinched, but the remaining 11 events are still very much up for grabs. Given the double points on offer in Zurich and Brussels – 8 for first, 4 for second and 2 for third – several scenarios and potential outcomes come into play in the battle for the remaining trophies and the USD 40,000 prize that accompanies it. Bolt closing his Olympic season with the 100 It shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone that the most watched athlete this weekend will be Bolt, who will be wrapping up his season as the favourite […]
Read More
Usain Bolt is being lined up to play for Manchester United against Real Madrid. The sprint king — who is a huge Red Devils fan — could appear in a glittering friendly next season. Bolt, 25, was guest of honour at United’s first home game of the season against Fulham, when fans cheekily urged boss Sir Alex Ferguson to “sign him up”. Now Ferguson, 70, has hinted he could make the Jamaican’s lifelong ambition come true. He said: “Usain’s a character and a big United fan. “But it’s interesting he says he’d like to play in a charity game. It could be brilliant, and next year when we play Real Madrid’s Legends again, there could be opportunities to bring him up and see how he does.” Just last month, Bolt told The Sun he would happily quit athletics for a spot in the United squad. Fergie also revealed how he cashed in after backing Bolt to win the 100m and 200m at the London Games. He said: “I must thank him because that was my biggest bet. Bolt was 4/5 to win each of them a week before the Olympics started. It […]
Read More
Jamaica lost 2½-1½ to Bolivia in the sixth round of the 40th World chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey on Monday. Duane Rowe scored the only win for Jamaica on board 3, FM Warren Elliott and co-national champion Andrew Mellace lost on board 1 and 4, respectively, while IM Jomo Pitterson settled for an early 16 move draw on board 2. Boliva took a 1½-½ lead over Jamaica when FM Elliott failed to solve the intricacies of grandmaster (GM) Osvaldo Zambrana’s Sicilian Defense, and was eventually tactically strangled by the Bolivian GM. Rowe won his third game in a row for Jamaica to level the score as he dismantled Jorge Molina’s Caro Kann Defense with a strong mating-net, and promptly took home the full point by promoting a mere pawn to a second Queen. Bolivia sealed the win over Jamaica when co-national champion Andrew Mellace’s King Indian Defense was no match for the pin point attacks of candidate master (CM) Boris Ferrufino. In other notable Open section sixth round results, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados were both crushed 3-1 by the Dominican Republic and Estonia, respectively; leaders Azerbaijan beat Croatia; Germany and the USA played to a draw; Russia […]
Read More
Team Jamaica at World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey KARLOVICH: Let me welcome our guests, these are the representatives of Jamaica team: the President of Jamaica Chess federation Ian Wilkinson, captain of men’s team, Russel Porter, captain of women’s team, WFM Debora Richards Porter, 1 board of women’s team, 10-folded Champion of Jamaica and Krishna Grey, current Woman’s Chess Champion of Jamaica. Our question is how did Jamaican team prepare to the Olympiad? WILKINSON: First of all let me thank the Organizers of the World Chess Olympiad. It is a privilege and pleasure to be in this fantastic city Istanbul. We are enjoying ourselves though the games are tough. The preparations were very good. Our women’s team was preparing with the International Master and coach Russel Porter who happens to be a husband of our 1st board of women’s team. Our men’s team was also preparing but not on the same level as women did. But we still feel confident that we will do well. We pay a lot of attention to female chess players. Women first, they are very important. In Khanty Mansiysk our women won the category E. KARLOVICH: What are your goals in the Olympiad? DEBORA: The […]
Read More
Fraser-Pryce delays legendary status until 2016 Motivation was also the keyword for another double gold medallist, Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who insists she can hardly be called a legend like her compatriot, Usain Bolt, but that, “If I win in 2016 and become the first woman to win three 100m titles in a row then maybe I will become a legend.” Having stumbled coming out of the blocks in the London Diamond League and having a slight stutter in Lausanne where she was edged by America’s Carmelita Jeter, Fraser-Pryce admitted there was a problem, but that, “there are still three or more races to work on it”. 2011 was a down year for her – if you can call a year with a season’s best 10.95 a down year – but she insisted it made her more determined: “It set me back really bad, but it motivated me. I became a professional at the age of 21 and every year I get more motivation.” The theme of women sprinters being sidelined compared to the men came up for discussion and though she conceded that Bolt’s world record show was worth the attention: “We work just as hard, we are very competitive […]
Read More
A stunning line-up of athletics talent brimming full with Olympic champion has been assembled for the Athletissima 2012 – Samsung Diamond League meeting which takes place tomorrow night (Thursday 23) in Lausanne. A series of press conferences took place today ahead of the meeting and what follows is a summary of what was said… Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM) “I am very excited to be here. I am feeling good, not sore after the London Games. You focus so much on the Olympics and then it’s over. But I am here, ready and looking forward to competing.” “I went directly to our base camp in Venice, Italy. The season is on-going, I will return home when the season will be over. There will be a lot to celebrate for me, my Olympic title, my graduation in November, my birthday in December. My sponsors will probably organise something for me.” “After 2008 in Beijing I did focus on London. Now Rio (2016) seems far away. For the time being, I will focus for some time on being in the moment.” “As for starting a family, I am still young and don’t plan it for the moment. When I’ll be ready, we’ll […]
Read More
