TORONTO, Canada, November 23. ALIA Atkinson and Kelly Aspinall put on a show tonight as both swimmers turned in title trifectas in short course meter competition at the Canada Cup in Toronto this evening. Alia Atkinson smashed the meet record in the women’s 100 breast with a swift 1:04.69. That effort downed the 1:05.52 set by Tara Kirk back in 2008. The swim pushed Atkinson to second in the world this year behind only Jessica Hardy’s 1:04.58 from the Berlin stop of the World Cup tour. The performance also represents a Jamaican record, blasting Atkinson’s previous mark of 1:06.05, shooting her to 10th all time in the event. Martha McCabe touched second in 1:07.19, while Tera Van Beilen wound up third in 1:07.60. Atkinson returned later in the evening with a winning time of 2:11.71 in the women’s 200 IM. Erika Hodgson Seltenreich touched second in 2:12.35, while Paige Schultz earned third in 2:15.11. Atkinson moved into the top 20 in the world this year with that performance. Atkinson continued her stellar evening with her third title, this time by way of a 25.35 in the women’s 50 free. Heather MacLean placed second in 25.73, while Laura Galarza picked up […]
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Minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for sports, Natalie Neita-Headley, is hoping a precedent will be established with the offering of monetary tokens to all the athletes who represented the country at the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. Forty-seven athletes formed the Olympic team which amassed 12 medals – four gold, four silver and four bronze – the most in the country’s history, while the three-member Paralympic team captured one gold medal. Usain Bolt is set to have the biggest payday, having won gold in the 100m and 200m, as $1 million will be awarded to each individual gold medal winner. The other $1-million recipients will be Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who captured the women’s 100m, and Alphanso Cunningham, who won gold in the men’s javelin F52/F53 at the Paralympics. There will be a pool of funds to be divided among the six members of the various relay teams, with other awards for Olympic and world records still being developed at a committee level. CREATING PRECEDENT “What I am doing now is creating a precedent going forward because 2016, I am not expecting that we are going to yield less. I am expecting that we are going […]
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Jamaica is On a Mission, and this is what Alia Atkinson and other Jamaican Olympic Athletes are out to prove, at the London 2012 Olympics. July 29, 2012 will be a day that will never be forgotten by Alia. She performed at a very high level to prove that she deserves a spot in the 100 metres breaststroke final, when the odds were against her. July 29, 2012 will be a day that Jamaicans remember as the first day that they really felt the overwhelming 2012 Olympic pride for our athletes in London. Alia Atkinson won her 100 metres breaststroke heat and took the lead for the most part in her semi-final race. In the final lap of this event, she fell behind to tie for fourth position with the competitor from Canada, Tera Van Beilen. One would believe that Atkinson would be tired and struggle in her swim off; that was not the case. Alia rallied and from the moment she hit the water she lead the race. She ended up swimming the fifth fastest time to make the 100 metres breaststroke final. Alia will be swimming from lane eight; nonetheless, this is not seen as a disadvantage as […]
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Alia Atkinson, competing in her third Olympics, will be swimming the 100 Breast, 200 Breast, and 50 Free. She’ll be swimming at the following times (in Jamaica time): 100M Breast: (Heat 3, Lane 6) 4:40 A.M on July 29th. Semifinals are at 1:45 P.M on July 29th. Finals are at 2:10 P.M. on July 30th. 200M Breast: (Heat 1, Lane 5) 4:40 A.M on Aug 1st. Semifinals are at 2:20 P.M on Aug 1st. Finals are at 1:40 P.M. on Aug 2nd. 50M Free: (Heat 6, Lane 8) 4:00 A.M on Aug 3rd. Semifinals are at 2:00 P.M on Aug 3rd. Finals are at 1:30 P.M. on Aug 4th.
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Approximately 1 billion people will be tuning in to the London 2012 Opening Ceremony. If you plan to join them, here’s how: The ceremony will take place Friday, July 27, at 9 p.m. London time (or 4 p.m. ET) and will be broadcast live on BBC. In the U.S., the event will be played on tape delay, so it will be broadcast on Friday, July 27, at: Eastern Time: 7:30 p.m. – 12 a.m. on NBC Pacific Time: 7:30 p.m. – 12 a.m. on NBC Central Time: 6:30 p.m. – 11 p.m. on NBC Although NBC will be live-streaming every sporting event this year, the Opening Ceremony and Closing Ceremony will not be available through NBC online. For full coverage of the event, look no further than the Yahoo!. We will also host an Opening Ceremony chat here, starting at 7 p.m. ET. So pour a cup of tea, break out your home flag, and join the queen, Paul McCartney, James Bond and Yahoo! for Friday’s Opening Ceremony! via By Andrew Dubbins | Fourth-Place Medal
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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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Alia Atkinson wins Women’s 100m breaststroke gold: Day three – Santa Clara International Grand Prix Alia S Atkinson of South Florida Aquatics won gold medal of the Women’s 100m breaststroke on day three of the 2012 Santa Clara International Grand Prix in California on Sunday, June 3. The Santa Clara is the concluding stage of 2012 USA Swimming Grand Prix Series, which provides an opportunity to top-class players to compete with each other before the 2012 London Olympic Games. The 23-year-old Atkinson showered her expertise in the double lap breaststroke discipline and proved her mettle for gold medal of the event. With her commendable start and utter determination, Atkinson faced no trouble in securing top spot on the podium and shattered hopes of her competitors, who were eyeing the title of the event. Her immaculate pace placed her considerably ahead of her opponents and she touched the finishing end for first position with the timing of 1 minute and 08.45 seconds. The gold medallist was followed by Kate Haywood of Great Britain, who remained 1.23 seconds apart and stepped on the medal rostrum for silver medal with the timing of 1 minute and 09.68 seconds. The second position holder was […]
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