Michael Williams is striving to take part in the 2014 Winter Olympics for Jamaica. The novelty of four Jamaicans swapping their tropical Caribbean homeland for the freezing slopes of Canada to become the first team from their country to compete in the bobsleigh was a story that resonated around the world. It also planted a seed in the brain of another Jamaican who, 22 years later, began his quest to ski at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. The 42-year-old has until January 2014 to achieve the required points to get in. Despite taking up skiing at 40, Michael Williams is determined to represent Jamaica at the 2014 Winter Games. “I actually watched ‘Cool Runnings’ and the bobsleigh team from 1988 and was inspired,” Williams, who refers to himself as “The Dream Chaser,” told CNN’s Alpine Edge show. “I just thought it was the coolest thing — Jamaica in the Winter Olympics and they did well. “I watched a lot of skiing during those Olympics, Alberto Tomba (Italian who won two golds in Calgary) was the king of the Games and I thought, ‘Wow, it’s incredible what these guys can do.’ “I thought I’d love to combine […]
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Debutants Jamaica entered the stadium to thunderous applause their coach Conroy O’Malley put down to the Usain Bolt factor, as the tiny nation rides a wave of sporting popularity instigated by six-time Olympic sprinting champion’s exploits. “He set the trend for us so I expected this to happen,” said O’Malley. The support wasn’t enough to lift the side to victory, as they fell 27-17 to Georgia as the world series pre-qualifier got under way, but there was enough talent on show from the Jamaicans to keep the crowd happy – and to warn rivals they won’t be easybeats over the weekend. “Basically, I said coming out here just to go out and put on a good show,” said O’Malley. “I was expecting a little bit more from them. I thought they would be a little bit too forceful but that didn’t happen so I am happy with that.” The Jamaicans found it tough to deal with the brute power of Georgia’s Irakli Machkaneli (two tries in the first half) and Viktor Kolelishvili (two in the second) but they rallied as the game wore on, despite being reduced to six men twice for infringements. “It didn’t do much damage,” […]
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No, they are not called the Reggae Boyz but skipper Tyronie Rowe is quick to point out that he and his teammates can string together a catchy tune. “Of course, we can all sing reggae, after all we are from Jamaica,” smiled Rowe, who along with his teammates have been left wide-eyed by the lights of Hong Kong – despite surveys that the city is the world’s worst for light pollution – and is eager for their first taste of the Hong Kong Sevens. Unlike their more famous soccer cousins the Reggae Boyz, who enjoyed international acclaim when they qualified for the 1998 World Cup, the Jamaican rugby team are still waiting for their moment in the sun. This weekend will go a long way to giving them confidence and Rowe is hopeful of a praiseworthy debut. “We are definitely aiming for a top four finish. We have travelled far and we have been waiting a long time for this,” said Kingston-born Rowe. Jamaica qualified behind Mexico from the North America and Caribbean region for the 12-team pre-qualifying competition this weekend from which four teams will go to London in May for the final qualifying event for core-team status. […]
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The Hong Kong Rugby Football Union (HKRFU) is proud to be hosting the biggest (and best) ever Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens in the 38-year history of the tournament. For the first time ever, Hong Kong will welcome 28 teams to the Sevens in 2013. This year’s Sevens will comprise the HSBC Sevens World Series (HSBC SWS) competition with the 15 international core teams on the Series plus Asian Sevens champions Hong Kong, alongside a 12-team pre-qualifier competition to determine the eventual entrants for the final HSBC SWS qualification event at the London Sevens in May. The move to 28 teams is the first increase in the Hong Kong Sevens field since the 24-team standard was adopted in 1984. The Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens 2013 will also mark the largest ever tournament held to date as part of the HSBC Sevens World Series since its inception in 1999. As such, it is entirely fitting that the international television coverage is set to break an HSBC SWS record with 23 individual broadcasters taking the live coverage worldwide and live/delayed coverage reaching its widest footprint ever with an expected reach of 257 million homes in 144 countries. Of the 28 […]
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For the first time – in this its 52nd staging – the Intercollegiate (Intercol) Track and Field Championship will be used to aid in selecting students to the World University Games. The championship, to be staged over two days – April 5-6 – at the UWI/Usain Bolt Track, will act as the first-round pool of selection for the national team to the World University Games, to take place from July 6-17 in Kazan, Russia. The disclosure was made by Rashid Hall, chairman of Intercol, track and field, during yesterday’s press launch of the 2013 VMBS Intercollegiate Track and Field Championships at the Principal’s Council Room, University of the West Indies. The press conference also witnessed the signing of the Brighton Declaration on women and sport, by Intercol second vice-president, Dalton Myers, general secretary, Moyann Simpson, and treasurer, Valdimir Wallace. The declaration aims to develop a sporting culture that enables and values the involvement of women in every aspect of sport. “We would normally use the National Championships to select the athletes, but because of the closeness between the Games and the National trials, we are unable to do that,” Hall disclosed. “So what we are doing this year is to […]
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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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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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Jamaica is an amazing place to escape to while the rain and snow hammer Vancouver and the trails at home in BC. In the spring of 2012 a posse of riders: Dean Payne, Andreas Hestler, Darren Butler and Connor Macleod signed up for the Jamaica Fat Tire Festival, a guided tour that would take them deep into the lesser known parts of an amazing destination. This crew of riders collected under the BC Bike Race banner rolled out for an amazing bike adventure. It was as much about camaraderie and experiencing another culture as it was about escaping the foul weather of our dark BC winters. BC Bike Life Visits Jamaica on Pinkbike The chance to be guided on the ground by locals and explore off the beaten path in a destination like Jamaica was simply too much of a good offer, so while the weather did it’s thing at home we journyed south and east to the amazing island of Jamaica. Mountain biking is an amazing connector – it brings people together and unites different cultures under one experience. We all share the same passion for exploration whether our backyard or abroad, mountain bikes are our vehicle of choice […]
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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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