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