On the track and in the field, the Carifta Games was Jamaica’s business as usual. A total of 69 medals and a 28th straight year on top don’t lie. Off track, burning questions beg for good answers. As soon as young star Michael O’Hara was declared ill with a full-blown case of chicken pox, a red flag went up. Apparently, young O’Hara arrived in The Bahamas afflicted. It makes you worry for those with whom he travelled there and for his family, friends and colleagues at Calabar. If the virus was passed on to the Carifta team and those they came close to in The Bahamas, the consequences are dire. Presumably, the Carifta officials were convinced that the crisis was well handled by the Jamaican team. Otherwise, they would have had no choice but to send Jamaica home. HEALTH CONCERNS PERSIST That would have killed off the Carifta Games, but the health concern would have had top billing. As things stand, it’s critical to check how O’Hara became infected and to care for any others who may be in danger. I’m no public-health expert, but the first step seems to be an immediate check with his family […]
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The National Aquatics Centre was briefly plunged into darkness six finals into the ultimate evening of competition at the 28th staging of the Carifta Swimming Championship. An announcement followed over the public address system, asking that the grandstand to the far side be evacuated. As the youngsters who became excited by the possible danger piled out, smoke was seen coming from the rear of the stand. The fire brigade was soon on the scene, as it was reported that there was a small fire coming from one of the generators. The area was cordoned off and persons were allowed to return to the stands and focus returned to the pool. This was the only dark spot on a bright night for Jamaica’s swimmers, as they bettered their medal haul from last year. At press time, with the six relays – yet to be contested – the country’s tally stood at 35: 11 gold, 11 silver and 13 bronze. Jamaica also moved up on the points standings, as they occupied fourth with 508 points, having finished sixth last year. Guadeloupe (686) led ahead of Trinidad and Tobago (630) and Aruba (601). Last year, Jamaica won 32 medals. Jamaica’s 11th gold […]
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HAILING FROM Leeds but representing Jamaica, the main goal for three-metre diver Yona Knight-Wisdom is to represent the Caribbean country at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Brazil. But like every sportsperson, the price of success is not cheap and the 17-year-old from Chapelton needed financial support to assist him with achieving his dream of competing in Rio. And thankfully for Yona, who won a gold medal at the British National Diving Championships in Plymouth in February, entrepreneur Levi Roots has committed to sponsoring the promising athlete. Disclosing how he got in touch with the founder of Reggae Reggae Sauce, Yona told the Voice of Sport: “I sent him an email from the email address on his website saying what I was doing, what I was looking for, I sent him a video of some of my dives and they replied to me. They asked me to come down to London and have a meeting with them. I discussed it with my coach and with them and they were really happy give me some money for the next four years in the run up to the Olympics. “He was there in the meeting and he was asking me all […]
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In his last competitive race, Asafa Powell was leading the men’s 100 metres Olympic final about the 30-metre mark. By about 40 metres he had pulled up in pain, another chance for gold gone. Powell’s next competitive run will be in Stawell on Saturday. From the most-watched sporting event in the world in London’s Olympic Stadium, to Victoria’s Wimmera. He smiles at the apparent absurdity of it. But for an athlete who has enjoyed success in Australia – he won Commonwealth gold here in 2006 – it was not a difficult sell to return to Victoria. Stawell has long had a strange capacity to draw the world’s better athletes – former world champion Kim Collins raced there, and last year Powell’s Jamaican teammate Michael Frater also ran – but Powell is another level again. He held the world record for the 100 for nearly three years – running 9.77 seconds three times before cutting that to 9.74 (it was later bettered by Usain Bolt). He has a best of 9.72 and has run under 10 seconds for the 100 more than any other man (88 times). He is adamant that time and Bolt have not irretrievably passed him by. ”No, […]
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