Tue in Olympic Stadium

It is 8.20 pm in Beijing and our three great ladies, Veronica Campbell Brown, Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart are through the second round of the 200 metres. They all came out in front or near front.
We await with anticipation the Women's 400 metres Final and the Women's 100m hurdles Final.
We have two finalists in each event - 400m Shericka Williams and Rosemarie White; 100m Hurdles Bridgette Foster-Hylton and Delloreen Ennis London - this is already a fantastic achievement.
Another proud moment was seeing Saladino of Panama receive his country's first ever Gold Medal.
The Black Green and Gold flags are in evidence - fingers crossed - pray!!!
One love
Jean

Jamaicans sprinting out of poverty

(China Daily)

KINGSTON: Shelly-Ann Fraser can thank her mother's uneasy relationship with the Jamaican police for helping her become an Olympic sprint champion.

Maxine Fraser, who brought up her daughter in one of the Caribbean's meanest ghettos, believes her quickfire genes have been passed on to the 21-year-old, who led a Jamaican clean sweep in the 100m final in Beijing on Sunday.

Maxine has had to live on her wits all of her life and working as a street vendor she regularly has to put in a blinding turn of pace if police are chasing her for illegal trading.

"This is to show that something good can come out of the ghetto. Ghetto can't hold you back as long as you have ambition," said Maxine after watching her daughter take gold.

For Fraser, Olympic success will guarantee an escape from the island's grinding poverty.

Her family still lives in a tenement yard in one of Jamaica's toughest inner-city communities known as Waterhouse.

It is a place where zinc fences, bad roads and high levels of crime are a feature.

The young sprinter does not live there in Waterhouse now. She boards at the University of Technology, where she is a second-year student.

Education and sporting prowess are seen as keys to a better life.

"In school many people see track as a means of gaining an academic scholarship. There is also more to it," said high-school coach Michael Oliviera, who trained Olympic medallists Winthrop Graham and Deon Hemmings.

"If an athlete is able to balance track with studies the rewards are great. One good season on the track and you are OK."

It's been estimated that Asafa Powell, the former world record holder who was fifth behind compatriot Usain Bolt in the men's 100m in China, made approximately $1.5 million from the track in 2006.

Jamaica's track program starts as early as the kindergarten level with children as young as four running in championships at the country's national stadium.

Sprint queen Merlene Ottey, who now runs for Slovenia, first ran at a girls' championship barefooted before she reached her teens.

Ottey, along with the likes of Juliet Cuthbert, Herb McKenley, Bert Cameron and Donald Quarrie have all helped to hoist the Jamaican flag.

But it was not until Jamaica's dominance in the short sprints that the world was forced to take a serious look at the Caribbean country.

As always, however, there have been questions over what fuels the recent successes.

Adrian Lorde, head of the Caribbean Regional Anti-Doping Organization, recently lambasted Jamaica for not doing enough doping tests.

However, locals have scoffed at suggestions that drugs may be the reason for the country's recent success.

In fact, many argue that the heavy consumption of yam, banana and breadfruit have helped power the sprinters.

AFP

(China Daily 08/19/2008 page7)

Gold and Silver for Marcus Mosiah!

www.marcusgarvey.com

Happy Birthday Marcus Mosiah Garvey!

It is Monday in Beijing, but still Sunday, August 17, in Jamaica where we are also celebrating the birthday of the Rt Hon. Marcus Mosiah Garvey, National Hero and founder of the UNIA, the powerful Black organisation which inspired the great Black leaders of America including Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

I want to believe that our Gold and Silver medals are special birthday gifts to this great Jamaican who declared, "Up you mighty race, you can accomplish what you will!"

Below are a poem and quote by Marcus Mosiah from

www.marcusgarvey.com

- now you know why Bolt is so cool!


Keep Cool

Suns have set and suns will rise
Upon many gloomy lives;
Those who sit around and say:
" Nothing good comes down our way."
Some say: "What's the use to try,
Life is awful hard and dry."
If they'd bring such news to you,
This is what you ought to do.

Chorus
Let no trouble worry you;
Keep cool, keep cool!
Don't get hot like some folk do,
Keep cool, keep cool!
What's the use of prancing high
While the world goes smiling by.
You can win if you would try,
Keep cool, keep cool.

-- Marcus Garvey

“So few of us can understand what it takes to make a man - the man who will never say die; the man who will never give up; the man who will never depend upon others to do for him what he ought to do for himself; the man who will not blame God, who will not blame Nature, who will not blame Fate for his condition; but the man who will go out and make conditions to suit himself.”

With great nation-builders like Marcus Mosiah Garvey, no wonder Jamaicans are so confident!

It was Marcus that Bob Marley quoted when he sang, "Emancipate yourself from mental slavery - none but ourselves can free our minds."

One Love, One Heart
Jean

'Nobody jams like the Jamaicans'

Jamaica sweeps women's 100; Lauryn Williams 4th

From Detroit Free Press
BY MICHAEL ROSENBERG • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST •

August 17, 2008 BEIJING –- Sometime today, American sprinters should corner the Jamaicans in the athletes' village and demand that they jump in a pool. What else can the U.S. do?

The Olympics have shifted from swimming to track, and the Bird's Nest has been a Hornet's Nest for the Americans.

First Jamaica's Usain Bolt won the men's 100 while running the last 20 meters on his hands. Then, today in the women's 100, the Americans had to look up at the scoreboard and see this:

JAM
JAM
JAM

Nobody jams like the Jamaicans. This is true in the sprints, after the sprints and as far as I can tell, in life. I've heard a lot of athletes say they are "just happy to be here."

I've never seen anybody show it like Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser, the women's champion.After crossing the finish line, Fraser jumped up and down while she was still in fifth gear. She wrapped herself in her flag. If she stopped at all, it was only to pen a reggae song about her accomplishment.

Meanwhile, Lauryn Williams stood on the track and stared, and I was sure she was staring at Fraser's celebration. But Williams, who spent a good portion of her childhood in Detroit, said afterward that she was just trying to see where she finished. (The scoreboards are often in Chinese.)

Williams knew there was a photo finish and thought she was part of it.

No such luck. Williams, who win silver in Athens in 2004, finished fourth. "I got on that line to win," Williams said. "At the end of the day, I'm not upset. I put my heart on the track. It wasn't a stellar time for me either, but I did well today."

The photo finish was between Jamaica's Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart for third. Somehow, the Jamaicans did better than sweep. They got a gold and two silvers out of one event.

Did they talk about a sweep beforehand?

"No, we didn't," Simpson said. "But we had the times … it was about time that Jamaica did it."

I don't know if Fraser's celebration was over the top, any more than Bolt's dance around the National Stadium Saturday was over the top. Certainly, it would be hard to argue that it was understated.

But this is Jamaica, mon. It is the island of Rastafarians and Red Stripe beer. Jamaica is known for its fun-loving culture. Did you really think one of the greatest sporting weeks in Jamaican history would be met with polite applause?

The conversation about showboating in sports reminds me of George Carlin's line about driving. Carlin said anybody driving slower than you is an idiot and anybody driving faster than you is a jerk.

I think showboating is like that. Anybody who celebrates too much for your taste is a jerk, and anybody who celebrates too little is dull.

Watching Bolt's race live, I did not for a moment think he was being unsportsmanlike. Yes, he posed beforehand, but half the guys in the race did some sport of pose – that kind of buildup is just part of the men's 100. It's sort of like an underground freestyle rap competition or a heavyweight fight. This is part of its appeal.

When Bolt held his hands out 15 meters from the finish, then pounded his chest as he crossed the line … well, he was amazed, like everybody else in the Bird's Nest. I mean, at least he wasn't running up the score.

While the Jamaican women celebrated Sunday, the American women were miffed. They were sure that Torri Edwards had false-started, but it was not called. Several runners, especially American Muna Lee, got off to slow starts because they were thrown off.

So a race that probably should not have started ended with three Jamaicans on a medal stand. And if you're an American, what's worse than three Jamaicans on a medal stand?

That's right: four Jamaicans on a medal stand. The women's 400 relay final is Friday."We are confident," Simpson said. "I think we are the team to beat."

Beijing Olympics Women 100M - One-Two-Two!

China Daily photo










We're going crazy in Beijing!! Our girls are 1-2-3 in the 100 metres! Shelley Ann Fraser was vindicated as she stormed to the finish with Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart in close pursuit, leaving their competitors in the dust!! The Stadium went wild and everyone was congratulating us. What a glorious Olympics - what a glorious set of girls!!!

STOP PRESS!! It's 1-2-2 - we get one Gold and two Silvers!

Usain's Moment - Our Moment

It is 8.50 pm in the Beijing Olympic Stadium and Usain Bolt has just received his Olympic Gold. He sang along as the National Anthem played. Jamaica's Teddy McCook, IAAF Western Hemisphere Representative was a member of the presentation party.
90,000 on their feet while Jamaica's flag was proudly raised - sweet!!

USAIN "Battered them. Stunned them. Humiliated them"

- Michael Dodge photo

Usain Bolt blows 'em away in 100m final
Mike Colman in Beijing | August 17, 2008 12:00am

THE record books will say last night's Olympic men's 100m final lasted 9.69 seconds. They're wrong. It will last for ever in the memory of anyone who saw it.
How can one man - no, make that one kid not yet 22 years-old and as laid-back as a teenager - run that fast? It was a performance that was, at once, staggering and shocking.

Usain Bolt didn't just beat the fastest 100m fields ever assembled. He battered them. Stunned them. Humiliated them.

This, after all, was a young man who didn't even consider himself a specialist 100m runner. The 200m is his race. It is better suited to his long legs and slow wind-up.

That's the theory anyway, a theory that Bolt threw into the top deck of Beijing's Birds Nest in the most extraordinary sprint in history.

It wasn't that he wasn't expected to win. The Jamaican's form in the heats and semi-final in which he seemed to be toying with both his opponents and the stopwatch saw him lining up for the final as hot favourite.

But this was the Olympics. The biggest stage in world sport.

Plus there was the question mark over Bolt's countryman Asafa Powell.

Powell had beaten him last time they ran, just a few weeks ago in Munich. Surely he too was holding something in reserve during the preliminary rounds. After all, this was Powell big chance. His last chance.

Twice in the last four years he had gone in to major championships expected to win. Twice he had come up short. If Jamaicans have an equivalent of the term "choker", that's what Powell faced being called for the rest of his life.

There were others in the field too of course, but not the great American hope Tyson Gay. He failed to make it through the semi-final.

He said he was disappointed, bitter even. After watching what Bolt did to the seven other runners who did make it to the final, he might consider himself lucky.

No-one could have predicted what happened at precisely 10.30pm Beijing time.

It started with the announcer's voice booming around the stadium.

"And now the last event on tonight's programme. The men's 100 metres final."

He could have saved his breath and just used one word. "Showtime."

As Bolt was introduced to the crowd he waved and pretended to pull back an imaginary bow and arrow. He smiled and danced to the music. He was so relaxed he might have been lining up for a race with his mates on a beach back home in Jamiaca.

In comparison his fellow finalists were reserved to the point of appearing scared.

All except for American Walter Dix. With his cornrow braided hair, white framed sunglasses and brash attitude, the former US college champion looked more like we have come to expect from a world class 100 metre sprinter. A combination professional wrestler, rock star and finely tuned machine.

Powell didn't have the confidence or the personality to play any pre-race games. He had what appeared an overly contrived air of indifference. Maybe it was fright.

Maybe he already knew what the rest of us were about to find out. Powell had nothing more to give.

And Bolt? Well, he was just having a ball.

As the rest of the field took their blocks, he continued to stand and rock from side to side in time with the music, a big smile on his face. The race was delayed as the starter waited.

Then the gun went off and it was all over. Bolt kept his big frame hunched for 30 metres then stood and those long legs ate up the track. He didn't just run, he flew.

With two metres left he was so far in front that he spread his arms and lifted his knees, like an NFL star hot-dogging in the in-zone.

He was throwing kisses to the crowd by the time Powell crossed the line, out of the medals.
Then Bolt took off his gold shoes and kissed them.

Look closely at those shoes when you see the photos. Hard believe, but there are no wings.

Photos of triumphant Usain

Usain acknowledges his screaming, flag waving tribe in Beijing! - Hubie Chin photos

Usain 'no linger!'

Cool, confident Usain had the entire Olympic Stadium on its feet as we watched him practically waltz to a new World Record - 9.69 seconds! What joy to be a Jamaican in the Beijing Bird's Nest Stadium - we sunned ourselves in Bolt's reflected glory!
Bolt literally danced around the Stadium track, waving the flag, draping himself in it, and treating us to a few steps of the "No Linger" dance.
The crowd showered Bolt with pure adulation - imagine, in a few short seconds, Bolt has made homo sapiens faster!
On our way out of the Stadium, we waved our flags and paused to take photos with various fans of Jamaica - Bolt had made us into celebrities.
God bless the good parents from Trelawny that kept their son well grounded and the wonderful guidance of Coach Glen Mills and Manager Norman Peart.
Jamaica's National Anthem will ring out in Beijing - Thank you Usain Bolt for taking us higher!

In the Olympic Stadium

It is 9.45 pm in Beijing and the Bird's Nest Olympic Stadium is packed as the world waits to see who is the fastest man in the world.
Asafa and Usain both won their semis in fine style - Bolt made it look like a walk in the Park! My heart went out to Tyson Gay who ran 2nd to last in his semi - so now it's between the two Jamaicans!
Sherrone Simpson, Kerrone Stewart and Shelley Ann Frater all won their quarter finals - fabulous!

Beijing is all dressed up

Garden of "Harmony and Glory" in Tian'Anmen Square

Hubie in Tian'Anmen Square

Well friends, here we are in Beijing and we're overwhelmed by the size of the place.

Beijing is modern and huge!! 20 million people - nearly ten times the size of Jamaica.

Our travel agent, Juliet Moss-Solomon made excellent arrangements - Cartan Tours greeted us at the airport, whisked us off to the Marco Polo Parkside, about 10 minutes drive to the Stadium. Our welcome kit included a cell phone with our tour reps numbers keyed in - important in a city where English is not widely spoken.

It is a bit of a homecoming for Hubie -- mother was born here and his father was sent back here at age six to be raised in the Chinese way by his grandfather. We visited Tianamen Square and the Mao Zedong Memorial, and were struck by the resemblance of Hubie's late Dad, Ralph Chin, to Chairman Mao!

It poured at the Square and getting a taxi back was not easy - we ended up in rush-hour traffic, great for us because we could see the beautiful gardens and flowers. Beijing is certainly all dressed up.

I forgot my umbrella in the taxi, and would you believe the hotel security was able to radio the post at the exit and personally went there to retrieve my little 10 yuan umbrella (about J$100)! We have found everyone to be kind and courteous and our tour reps took us for - you guessed it - authentic Peking duck - delicious!

Our tickets are for all the major athletic events so we start attending on Saturday evening.

Awesome! Beijing 2008 Olympics off with a bang
published Gleaner: Saturday | August 9, 2008

Elton Tucker, Assistant Sport Editor

Jamaica's Veronica Campbell-Brown carries the flag for her country's Olympic team during yesterday's opening ceremony of the 29th Games in Beijing, China. - AP

BEIJING, China:

A spectacular opening ceremony, witnessed by over 90,000 spectators at the Beijing Olympic Stadium, heralded the start of the 29^th Olympiad in the Chinese capital last night.

Jamaica, led by flag-bearer Veronica Campbell-Brown, the 2004 200 metres champion, was the 19th country to march into the hot, humid giant stadium known here as the Bird's Nest because of its unique shape.

Teams marched in based on the number of strokes of the names of the National Olympic Committees as written in simplified Chinese characters. Traditionally, however, the previous hosts, Greece, came in first while the current hosts entered the stadium last to tumultuous applause.

fine tradition

There was colour, pageantry and style as China showcased its varied and fine tradition. The hour-long first segment was highlighted by the performances of colourfully dressed dance and drum troupes from all across this vast country.

There were many famous names among the flag-bearers. Tennis star Roger Federer carried the Swiss flag while basketballer Manuel Ginobili was the flag-bearer for Argentina. Other basketball stars featured for their countries. Chinese megastar Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets brought the house down when he entered with the Chinese flag. For Germany it was Dallas Mavericks standout Dirk Nowitski.

Regional countries also featured famous athletes. Olympic relay gold medallist Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie of the Bahamas carried her country's flag while Felix Sanchez, the 400m hurdles gold medallist of four years ago, marched with the flag of the Dominican Republic.

President of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, hailed China's role in bringing the Olympic dream to life. He said Beijing was "a host to the present and a gateway to the future".

The IOC president added: "You have chosen as the theme of these Games "One World, One Dream'. That is that we are tonight.

peaceful gathering

"Remember that they are about much more than performance alone. They are about the peaceful gathering of National Olympic Committees - regardless of ethnic origin, gender, religion or political system. Please compete in the spirit of the Olympic values: excellence, friendship and respect."

Chinese President Hu Jintao declared the Games officially open in front of more than 80 world leaders including American President George W. Bush.

Competition, which began on Wednesday with preliminary matches in football, officially starts today with seven gold medals to be decided - two each in judo and shooting and one each in road cycling, fencing and weightlifting.

Jamaica's main interest is in Hong Kong where Samantha Albert competes in eventing, the most complete equestrian discipline. Today and tomorrow the rider, both individual and team, will compete in the dressage with the cross-country, the most demanding of the three eventing segments, set for Monday.

Meanwhile, the track and field athletes who travelled from Tianjin for the opening ceremony travelled back to the camp on Friday night. They will enter the village on Monday to await the start of the track-and-field events on Friday at the Bird's Nest Stadium.

We leave for Beijing on Monday!

Hi readers

We leave for Beijing on Monday August 11. We have tickets for all our major track and field events.

Will be blogging faithfully after arrival.

One Love

Jean

Young Ja footballers excel in Norway

Members of the the Alpart/Essex Valley football squad swamp Alpart's managing Director Alberto Fabrini (back row, centre) and Alpart Community Council Representative Leroy Whitely (back row, right). Also in the back row of the picture (from left) are Lance Neita (manager), Andrew Bent (coach), players Tafari Smith, Kaneil Harrison (captain), Kaya Beckford, Alberto Fabrini, Levaughn Baker, Simon Barnes, Toshroy Turner and Adrian Smart. Middle row (from left) are other players Jason McLean, Okeen Blanford, Kaycee Bromfield, Dunar Smith, Luciel Banton, Raheen Jones, Kevon Farquharson, Khesanio Hall, Mark Parchment, while Ackeem Nelson (left) and Enrique Rochester occupy the front row.

Jamaica Observer - Monday, August 04, 2008

The curtain came down Saturday on the 36th Norway Cup football tournament with the Jamaican Alpart/ Essex Valley football team finishing second in Zone C after bowing 0-4 to Pequeninos of Brazil in the final.

The Brazilians, who have won the Cup 18 times, played better football under wet conditions and after leading 3-0 in the first half, went on to clinch the match with a penalty five minutes into the second half.

Ademilson Dos Santos with a brace, and Mattheus Morelli scored for the winners.

Essex Valley placed second out of 128 teams in the zone. The tournament attracted a record 1,500 junior club teams from 50 countries.

Alpart's managing director Alberto Fabrini has congratulated the Under-14 boys "for being excellent ambassadors for Jamaica on and off the field".

The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) president Captain Horace Burrell had earlier addressed the team in Jamaica, extending best wishes on behalf of the federation.

It's Bolt at the double

published: Sunday Gleaner | August 3, 2008


KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC):

WORLD RECORD holder Usain Bolt will run the sprint double at the Olympic Games in Beijing, China, his coach Glen Mills confirmed yesterday.

Bolt had expressed his interest in running both events at the August 8-24 Games, but said he would leave the decision up to his coach.

"He will run both," Mills said in a statement, ending weeks of speculation over the issue.

The plan at the start of the season was to focus on the 200 metres, a race Bolt won a bronze medal in at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan last year.

However, things took off for the lanky sprinter in May when he produced three sub-10 clockings in the 100-metres, including a world record of 9.72-seconds.

Fast and strong

"From his training and racing performances, coach Mills feels that Usain is fast and strong enough to do both races," one of Bolt's managers, Ricky Simms, told CMC Sports yesterday.

Bolt replaced Asafa Powell as the world record holder at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York on May 31 when he destroyed a strong field, which included American world champion Tyson Gay.

He went on to take the sprint double at the Jamaican National Championships in June - beating Powell in the 100 metres - though it was evident that neither sprinter extended himself.

Powell defeated his countryman in Stockholm on July 22 when he out-leaned Bolt at the tape to win by .01-seconds.

The inclusion of Bolt in the 100m for Beijing sets up a huge showdown with Powell and Gay, the latter of whom is expected to be fit for the race despite a hamstring scare four weeks ago.

Olympic Medals Won by Jamaica

Howard Aris (right), President of the JAAA, Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association, presents the 2007 Sportsman of the Year award to Maurice Smith at their annual awards ceremony. Howard Aris, past Insport Chairman, is well-known for his fatherly guidance of athletes and his quiet acts of philanthopy.- Ian Allen/ Gleaner Staff Photographer



Hon Neville 'Teddy' McCook - Intrepid past JAAA President and Americas-Caribbean Representative for the IAAF - he has stood for discipline and uncompromising adherence to the highest international standards - one of the most significant contributors to Jamaica's dominance in athletics

From the website of the Jamaica Olympic Association
http://www.jamolympic.org/games/olympics/index.aspx

* Gold: 7
* Silver: 21
* Bronze: 16
* Total: 44

Meet Gold Silver Bronze Total
Athens 2004 2 1 2 5
Sydney 2000 0 4 3 7
Atlanta 1996 1 3 2 6
Barcelona 1992 0 3 1 4
Seoul 1988 0 2 0 2
Los Angeles 1984 0 1 2 3
Moscow 1980 0 0 3 3
Montreal 1976 1 1 0 2
Munich 1972 0 0 1 1
Mexico City 1968 0 1 0 1
Tokyo 1964 0 0 0 0
Rome 1960 0 0 2 2
Melbourne 1956 0 0 0 0
Helsinki 1952 2 3 0 5
London 1948 1 2 0 3


Olympic Champions
Games Competitor Medal Event Sport Performance
2004 Athens Veronica Campbell Gold 200m Women Athletics 22.05secs
2004 Athens Veronica Campbell
Tayna Lawrence
Aileen Bailey
Sherone Simpson
Beverly McDonald Gold 4x100 Relay Women Athletics 22.05secs
1996 Atlanta Deon Hemmings Gold 400m Hurdles Women Athletics 52.82secs
Olympic Record
1976 Montreal Donald Quarrie Gold 200m Men Athletics 20.22secs
1952 Helsinki George Rhoden Gold 400m Men Athletic 45.9secs
Olympic Record
1952 Helsinki Arthur Wint
George Rhoden
Herb McKenley
Les Laing Gold 4x400m Relay Men Athletics 3.03.9
World Record

1948 London Arthur Wint Gold 400m Men Athletics 46.2
Equal Olympic
Record

JAMAICA'S DELEGATION TO THE BEIJING OLYMPICS

Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell - two Jamaicans - fastest men in the WORLD!!



From the website of the Jamaica Olympic Association http://www.jamolympic.org/beijing2008/delegation.aspx

Games of the XXIX Olympiad Delegation

Management Team

ANDERSON, Donald Chef de Mission
RODNEY, Compton Deputy Chef de Mission
TAVARES, Marie Assistant Team Manager ( Women)

Athletics (Women)
Name Event(s)
STEWART, Kerron 100m, 200m, 4 x 100m
FRASER, Shelly-Ann 100m, 4x100m
SIMPSON, Sherone 100m, 200m, 4x100m
CAMPBELL-BROWN, Veronica 100m(reserve), 200m, 4x100m
BROOKS, Sheri-Ann 4x100m
ANDERSON, Nickeisha 4x100m
BAILEY, Aileen 4x100m
FACEY, Simone 200m(reserve)
WHYTE, Rosemarie 400m, 4x400m
WILLIAMS, Novelene 400m, 4x400m
WILLIAMS, Shericka 400m,4x400m
LLOYD, Shareefa 400m(reserve), 4x400(reserve)
LEROY, Anastasia 400m(reserve),4x400m
WILKINS, Bobby Gaye 400m(reserve),4x400m
SINCLAIR, Kenia 800m
FOSTER-HYLTON, Bridgette 100m hurdles
ENNIS-LONDON, Deloreen 100m hurdles
DIXON, Vonette 100m hurdles
BLISS, Andrea 100m hurdles(reserve)
HYMAN, Mardrea 3000m Steeplechase
HINDS, Korine 3000m Steeplechase
WALKER, Melaine 400m hurdles
WILSON, Nickiesha 400m hurdles
STODDART, Shevon 400m hurdles
HAMMOND, Chelsea Long Jump
MCKOY, Olivia Javelin Throw
SMITH, Trecia-Kaye Triple Jump
NORTHOVER, Zara Shot Put

Athletics (Men)
Name Event(s)
POWELL, Asafa 100m, 4 x 100m
BOLT, Usain 100m, 200m, 4x100m
FRATER, Michael 100m, 4x100m
ANDERSON, Marvin 100m(reserve), 200m
WILLIAMS, Christopher 200m
CARTER, Nesta 200m (reserve)
THOMAS, Dwight 100m (reserve), 4x100m
WELLINGTON, Andre 4x100m
WIGNALL, Maurice 110m hurdles
PHILLIPS, Richard 110m hurdles
BLACKWOOD, Michael 400m, 4x400m
CHAMBERS, Ricardo 400m,4x400m
AYRE, Sanjay 400m,4x400m
FOTHERGILL, Allodin 4x400m
ESSOR, Marvin 4x400m
SPENCE, Lansford 4x400m
SAPPLETON, Aldwyn 800m
MCGREGOR, Herbert Long Jump
SCOTT, Dorian Shot Put
MCFARLANE, Danny 400m hurdles
PHILLIPS, Isa 400m hurdles
BUCKLEY, Markino 400m hurdles
FINDLAY, Adrian 400m hurdles
SMITH, Maurice Decathlon

Athletics Officials
Name Role(s)
WATTS, Ludlow Manager
HAMILTON, Gregory Assistant Manager
GAYLE, Garth Assistant Manager
QUARRIE, Donald Technical Leader
MILLS, Glen Head Coach
CAMERON, Bertland Coach
CLARKE, Michael Coach
COLEMAN, Fitzalbert Coach
HECTOR, Edward Coach
WILSON, Maurice Coach

Medical
Name Role(s)
SINGH, Primanand Head of the Medical Team
BLAKE, Warren Team Doctor
ELLIOTT, Herbert Team Doctor
LUE-CHIN, Patricia Physiotherapist
DOWNER, Gaynor Physiotherapist
DOUGLAS, Michael Chiropractor
EDWARDS, Everald Masseur
JAMES, Gavin Masseur
RICHARDS, Kadija Sports Psychologist

Equestrian
Athlete Event(s)
ALBERT, Samantha Eventing
Name Role(s)
HYSLOP, Brian Groom
BROWN, Elizabeth Veterinarian
PASSMORE, Anthony Manager

Cycling
Athlete Event(s)
LYNCH, Ricardo Kerin
Name Role(s)
SCHIMDT, Renee Coach
PHANG, Vaughn Manager

Swimming
Athlete Event(s)
ATKINSON, Alia 100m Breaststroke, 200m Breaststroke
ATKINSON, Jevon 50m Freestyle
MOODIE, Natasha 50m Freestyle
Name Role(s)
WALTER, Jacqueline Coach
JAMES, Brian Manager

What about Chris’ rights?

Dwayne "Chris" Maitland at his graduation from Holy Trinity High School


Observer column - Mon 28 Jul 08
Jean Lowrie-Chin

Despite a sad encounter last Thursday morning, we know we have to keep the faith. We drive through Shortwood Lane to save time on our way to work, and also to feel the vibe of Grants Pen, one our favourite places. It is usually pleasant – we see cute little babies in the arms of their Moms and Dads enroute to the clinic, neat children on their way to school, a few lads leaning on a fence. We smile and nod – we’re a part of their landscape.

But last Thursday was different – the yellow police tape, the curious crowd peering down the side street, police officers on their walkie-talkies. We called the Stella Maris Foundation office to check and heard the strain in the usually upbeat voice of manager Omar Frith, “It’s Chris who does bearer work for us – gunmen shot him dead. Imagine, he was just about to sign up for one of our training programmes.”

Never prejudge a murder report. We use our defense mechanisms to interpret every inner city murder as gang-related. From all accounts, Dwayne “Chris” Maitland was a hardworking, gentle person. This is what Foundation director Anne Marie Thomas wrote about him: “Chris did all our deliveries for our fundraising 10th Anniversary dinner at a reduced cost, saying this was his way to help the Foundation. Some days he came to my house for pick up and was quite a gentleman. He was for the most part a volunteer.”

And so I want to ask our goodly friends who are using human rights concerns to batter Bruce Golding’s reasonable, rational crime plan: What about Chris’ human rights? What about the rights of those cute babies on the way to the Edna Manley Clinic and those sweet-faced children on their way to school? Do they have to sacrifice their rights because known, feared criminals cannot be kept under lock and key, while the police research the evidence to bring them to book?

We should make it clear that this column is absolutely pro-human rights. In a conversation on the country’s challenges, businessman Wayne Chen stressed that law and order had to be the country’s first priority even as he believes quite rightly, that suspects should be remanded under humane, orderly conditions.

Do our human rights activists really understand the tribulations that are being visited upon defenceless inner city communities by gangs? Bear in mind that there are now ordinary people in communities who must pay “rent” to extortionists in order to enter their own front door! How can a frail old lady live under such conditions? What about her human rights?

How we wish that our human rights activists would cry out as loudly for these terrified citizens, the schoolchildren who scamper under their desks if a door slams, the taxi driver who must hand over a sizeable part of his earnings to thugs, the schoolgirl who is “sent for” by the don. It cannot be that human rights groups care only for people on the wrong side of the law.

We in media should be very sensitive at this time about keeping a balance in reporting on crime fighting. It is beyond me how certain basically unproductive organisations can occupy as much air time and column inches as the Ministry of National Security, the JCF and the PSOJ. We should be using our voices to support the efforts of our courageous security forces, encouraging citizens to speak up and quit shielding criminals. Let us beware that we are not tearing down our security forces even as we say we would like to build a better country.

Our heroic nurses

by Jean Lowrie-Chin

Without missing a beat on the job last week, our nurses still found the time to volunteer. Their celebration of Annual Nurses Week included a summer school and expo to promote primary healthcare. Jamaica’s nurses are heroes – they are among the most sought-after professionals worldwide, yet they choose to continue to work and volunteer in a country that pays them at one of the lowest scales in the hemisphere.

Anyone who has ever been treated at a hospital or a clinic, knows that the nurse is the heartbeat of our healthcare system. Indeed, it is a very special individual who chooses a profession that is up close and personal with disease, violence and death. No wonder our nurses can be such wise philosophers, Syringa Marshall-Burnett being a fine example.

The Nurses’ Week theme, “Nurses leading Primary Health Care - Delivering Quality, Servicing Communities” should echo in every walk of Jamaican life. Just think of the kind of country we would have, if every single professional group were as zealous in ensuring that their work would redound to the common good.

At the VPA Peace March earlier this year, the Nurses Association of Jamaica was the largest professional group to lend their support. While many others could not tear themselves away from their air conditioned offices, our nurses were adding five miles in the afternoon sun, to the many they had already walked in the hospital wards.

This is the heart of our nurses, and it would be a very hard-hearted nation that would take advantage of their spirit of generosity and compassion. This current economic crunch will affect our nurses terribly, as breadwinners whose schedules do not allow them to take second jobs.

By dint of perseverance and hard work, the NAJ has been able to make some progress in the revision of their salaries, but even with these increases, the salary of the Registered Nurse in Jamaica is often less than that of a nine-to-five receptionist at many New Kingston offices.

In a recent Forbes magazine survey, five Florida locations – Cape Coral, Naples, Sarasota, Port St Lucie, and Ocala - ranked in the top 10 for U.S. cities with the highest job growth. Guess which professional was the most wanted in these five cities – just a hop and a skip from Jamaica – none other than the registered nurse. The starting salaries being offered range from $3.1 to $3.3 million Jamaican dollars per annum. And incidentally, these are salaries which are still being described by US presidential candidates as being at a lower middle class level.

We know that Jamaica is still a developing country, but in the same way that our Government made the inspired decision to introduce free high school tuition and free health care, there is a compelling case for our exceptional nurses.

Ten years ago, my company PROComm proposed to our then client Lasco that they sponsor various aspects of Nurses’ Week.  We were concerned that it was not receiving the attention that it deserved. Our committee discovered that not only are our nurses professionals in healthcare, but they are also solid planners. The top brass of the NAJ attend meetings and – the sure sign of productivity – they take notes and do what they agree to do. Refreshingly, there are no issues of position and ego as we huddle to make each year better than the previous.

Jamaica’s nurses are guided by the International Classification of Nursing Practice which requires: IT , information and evidence, human resource planning, innovations in practice and advocacy.

Beyond study, they are actively researching, planning and implementing – inspiring for a country of too many promises and too few deliveries. It is painful to see nurses getting disrespect from some surprising quarters. To the arrogant and aloof we say, remember, sooner or later you will need the care of a nurse!

Imagine what a wonderful state our country would be in, if like our nurses, we learn to be at once professional and humble, dignified and caring, knowledgeable and noble. We should join them in their advocacy for the advancement of primary health care, and support their cause for just compensation.

“By the sweat of thy brow…”

The late Douglas Chambers partner of Simber Productions, as he celebrated the 100th episode of the Susan Show.



by Jean Lowrie-Chin
Jamaica Observer 7 July 2008

How can you fathom the casual comment of a so-called educated person on Douglas Chambers’ cold-blooded murder: “that’s what happens when you take away man food.” Such comments are as dangerous as they are ridiculous. In short, we should just send the cashiers home and let the thugs raid the stores. As a Bible-reading nation, how can we forget the basic tenet of honest living: “By the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat bread.”

People who insist on “eating bread” without producing one bead of sweat are the creators of chaos in family, community and nation. Last week on her “Today” programme, Beverley Anderson Manley interviewed a security official, who disclosed that building contractors and taxi drivers are at the mercy of extortionists. “As soon as you start buying even a little sand and some blocks to extend your house, the extortionist is there, demanding envelopes on regular paydays,” he said.

And yet as far as I am concerned, the grim-faced gun-toting extortionist is not the biggest thief in this country. The biggest cons in Jamaica are those who have used the façade of passionate words and political status, access to the hard-earned taxes of this country, to fool our ghetto youths into thinking that the might of the gun gives them the right to other people’s hard earned bread.

With every interview on the renewed efforts to make JUTC and NSWMA viable, we are hearing stories of some of the most blatant abuses of power. To paraphrase Bob Marley, the night has turned to day. We have duped ourselves into feeling vindicated when we see a truckload of suspects hauled away from a wake in Clarendon. We should not rest until those suspects sing like canaries about who gave them those expensive guns that they hide in their raggedy clothes.

Joint security operations in inner city communities are now necessary, because those who begged us for our votes so they could bring hope to the people have been the harbingers of desperation and dependency. We should be very concerned about how our parliamentarians and members of our Cabinet spend their waking hours. Commissioner of Customs Danville Walker has also put members of the private sector on notice about exposing those who play cute with the system.

We had another heartbreaking moment watching a CVM interview with a young girl who has had to seek refuge in the witness protection programme. Like Shakespeare, the reporter should have warned us, “If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.” This traumatized girl was allegedly raped by a don and because her life is in danger, she must now be in hiding, isolated from her family. But it has got worse for her, because the wait for the trial seems interminable. She suspects that the don is being shielded by political friends. “The politicians are not fighting crime, they are helping crime,” she says. In the meanwhile, both her parents have become literally sick with worry. But she is resolute. “Even if I die,” she sobs, “I am not giving up. I want justice.”

Earlier this year, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made a moving apology to the “stolen” aboriginal children of Australia, snatched from their parents and “given” to white families. I had suggested then that Jamaica’s politicians, PNP and JLP should apologise for their complicity with thugs who have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on their fellow Jamaicans. But an apology should only be the start of a fresh, honest approach to this albatross of crime hanging around our nation’s neck.

We are told that a State Funeral will be held for Douglas Chambers. No doubt, we will see the parade of pious faces. If they are asked “who killed Doug Chambers?” we will get a chorus of “Not I” just like the nursery rhyme. That will not help us solve the mystery of how semi-literate inner city dwellers obtain the expensive weapons that ended the life of Douglas Chambers. They almost did the same to MoBay’s ex-mayor and political commentator Shalman Scott – we pray for the quick and full recovery of this exceptional gentleman.

If ever there was a moment in our history when we should demand from our leaders a genuine spirit of patriotism and a demonstrated will to rid us of this endless bloodshed, this is the moment. We, the people want them to know in no uncertain terms that it wasn’t just those wretches who pulled the trigger that killed Douglas Chambers. It was every single politician, public servant, businessperson who gave an activist a “bly” and who made him believe that he could “eat a food” without producing the requisite sweat.

In tribute to Douglas Chambers and those who are working honestly for the national good, let us be emboldened by the timeless words of our beloved Claude McKay, the poem used by Sir Winston Churchill to galvanise his people in wartime England:

If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accurséd lot.
If we must die, O let us nobly die,
So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honour us though dead!
O, kinsmen! We must meet the common foe!
Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,
And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!
lowriechin@aim.com