The trio of women’s Discus national record holder Kellion Knibb, Tara Sue Barnett and Shadae Lawrence have created a first in Jamaica’s already rich history of track and field. When the three don the famous black, green and gold at the Rio Olympics on Monday August 15, it will mark the first time that Jamaica will be represented by three ladies in a throwing event. Knibb, the former St. Jago standout who now attends Florida State University is the 31st ranked Discus Thrower in 2016 with 61.44m while Barnett who excelled at Edwin Allen High before attending Grand Canyon University comes in at 34 on the world list with 61.28m. Twenty year old Lawrence who starred at Hydel High School before moving on to Kansas State University is the 37th ranked Discus Thrower with 61.18m. All three will have higher rankings as countries cannot field more than three representatives. The Jamaicans will have their work cut out to progress to the finals but are at a stage of rapid improvement and could register career best marks. (Photo: Ross Obley/FSU Athletics) Defending champion Sandra Perkovic of Croatia has the four best marks this season including […]
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The 24 year old from Banana Ground in Manchester left no doubt as to who is the world number one with a scintillating performance to win the 100m at the 31st Olympiad in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. In arguably one of the best fields ever assembled for a women’s final at the Olympic Games, Thompson who had served notice all season that she was the one to beat decimated the strong field to win in 10.71 (+0.5). It was the fastest wind legal time recorded in an Olympic final and second fastest ever behind Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 10.54 (+3.0) to win the title at the 1988 Olympics. The quality of the performance was reflected in the fact that seven of the eight finalists ran sub 11 times, surpassing the previous best of six that did so in London 2012. Thompson who ran out of lane 4 got off to a good start to be up with the leaders which included the fast starting pair of two time defending champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and the vastly improved Marie-Josee Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast. She was devastating in the last half of the race unleashing a decisive kick that saw her […]
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The Women’s 400m final in Rio could see Team Jamaica and the USA accounting for six of the eight finalists. The two countries will be well represented with six of the seven fastest women expected to face the starter when the preliminary round heats get underway later today (August 13). At the 2015 World Championships in Beijing , Jamaica’s representatives in Rio were part of an historic four-pronged attack that Jamaica launched in a bid to win a first senior 400m global title for women. It was the youngest of them all, Shericka Jackson that made it to the podium, securing Bronze in a personal best 49.99 behind Allyson Felix and Shaunae Miller. The outstanding 22 year old is once again armed for battle, this time to represent Jamaica on the biggest stage of them all, the 31st Olympiad in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. She will be joined by Christine Day who was 4th in Beijing and national champion, Stephanie Ann McPherson who was 5th in that historic final. The former Vere Technical High standout has made a smooth transition to the senior ranks and could once again continue that upward trajectory with a place in the Olympic […]
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For the second consecutive Olympic Games Team Jamaica will be represented by two athletes in the Women’s Triple Jump. Back in 2012, Trecia Kaye Smith and Kimberley Williams both advanced to the finals. The younger Williams finished 6th in her first major final. The veteran Smith who has the distinction of being Jamaica’s only field events athlete to win a Gold medal at a senior global championships was 7th. Williams, who has been a fixture on the international scene for the past 5 years returns and is accompanied by the much improved Shanieka Ricketts (formerly Thomas), a finalist in the event at the 2015 Beijing World Championships. Rickets, though somewhat inconsistent is the higher ranked of the two in 2016, with her PB 14.57m making her the 6th best in the world. Williams is ranked a centimetre (14.56m) and a spot below in 7th. Both triple jumpers have been exuding confidence and should make the finals if reporting anywhere near their best. The 28 year old Williams, the former Vere Technical High School standout has made the finals at the every major championship since 2012 and narrowly missed out on the Bronze medal at the Moscow World Championships […]
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Justin Gatlin talks tough and nothing is wrong with that. Whether it be the reported comments about Usain Bolt being ‘afraid’ of him or his dig at the Jamaican for his use of the medical exemption at the the Jamaican Olympic Trials, the American is ensuring that he is part of the Rio conversation. He has got Bolt’s attention if only for a few fleeting moments. A ticked off Bolt has since promised to make Gatlin feel his ‘wrath’ and the 34 year old American’s task was already a difficult one without him being a special target for the two time 100m champion. Gatlin sits atop the 2016 world ranking with a best of 9.80 while Bolt is the 4th ranked with 9.88. The undisputed face of international athletics will tell you that his closest rival was also the number one in 2015 ahead of the IAAF World Championships in Beijing. On that occasion the pressure of the big Jamaican caused the high-riding Gatlin to look more like a swimmer than a sprinter in the last 10m of the 100m before destroying him in the 200m. American Trayvon Bromell (9.84) and Jimmy Vicaut of France (9.86) are also […]
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Jamaicans use the expression ‘likkle but wi tallawah’ to describe our beloved country which has always punched above its weight in many areas including track and field. One athlete has over the last 8 years embodied on an individual level the concept of ‘Likkle but wi tallawah’….literally. The diminutive Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce may be just 5 feet tall but her record at global championships has her looking more like her 6 feet 5 inches tall compatriot Usain Bolt, the only sprinter with as many individual world and Olympic 100m titles over a similar period. In 2013 she created history by becoming the first woman to win three world championship titles over 100m. History beckons once again. No woman has ever won three 100m titles at the Olympic Games. The pint-sized ever smiling young lady known the world over as the ‘The Pocket Rocket’ is standing on the threshold of history. In 2008, she was the rookie that went to the party and stole the show winning the title with a scintillating 10.78. Four years later she was one of the favourites and duly obliged with a close win in 10.75. She enters the Rio Games perhaps more vulnerable than […]
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Fedrick Dacres made the finals of the Discus Throw at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing where he placed 7th. The 22 year old will be looking to not just improve on that showing, but also to create history by being the first Jamaican to win a medal in the event at a senior global championship. Dacres is the 4th ranked thrower on the year with a personal best 68.02m. Dacres knows what it is like to be the first from Jamaica to win the event at the world level. In 2011 he created history when he won the Discus at the World Youth Championships. He returned a year later to best a strong field on his way to the Gold medal at the World Junior Championships. The former Calabar standout is Jamaica’s lone representative in the event following the well-documented and controversial non inclusion of national record holder Jason ‘Dadz’ Morgan, the only other Jamaican to achieve the qualifying mark. The event promises to be a classic with the likes of Dacres, world number one Piotr Malachowski of Poland (68.15m) and the German pair of Christoph Harting (68.06m) and Robert Harting (68.04m). The event is not […]
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There are no Jamaicans ranked in the top ten in the 400m. National champion Javon ‘Donkey Man’ Francis is the only Jamaican to have gone sub 45 this season having done so on five occasions. He is ranked at number 13 with a season best 44.77. The 21 year old who has captured the hearts of Jamaicans with some fearless displays since coming to national prominence as a schoolboy in 2013 could force his way into the final. It will take a herculean effort but that is why they run the races. Upsets do happen and the under-dog Francis is looking to defy the odds. Fitzroy Dunkley (45.02) who was 2nd at the Jamaican Trials has a rank of 25 but will be the 19th fastest in Rio. He has shown much improvement this season but will be facing some hot steppers who break 45 seconds in their sleep. Dunkley who was 2nd at the NCAA Outdoor championships in June will be looking to dip under 45 seconds for the first time in his career. If the quality on display in the preliminary rounds at the last global championships is anything to go by, that may still not […]
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Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt says he wants to go out with a bang during JOA press conference in Rio. “Yes, this is the last Olympics for sure, I have done everything, and have proven myself,”. Info via Huffington Post
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Alia Atkinson of Team Jamaica 🇯🇲 finished 8th in Women’s 100M Breaststroke FINAL in 1:08.10. A disappointed Alia declined to comment after the race. Alia Atkinson captured hearts and world attention in 2012, winning a memorable 100m Breaststroke swim-off to make the finals before producing a gallant effort which saw her finishing just outside the medals in 4th. She is the first black woman in history to win a world title (Doha 2014), the first black woman to hold a record (1:02.36 Short Course Meters 25M Pool) in swimming, the first Jamaican to win a world title and the first to win a medal at a long course world championships (Silver and Bronze in 2015). Alia Atkinson takes 2nd in Heat 5 of Women’s 100M Breaststroke with a time of 1:06:72. #TeamJamaica
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