Corve DaCosta – coast to coast ~

Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, Melaine Walker, Sherone Simpson, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Shelly Ann Fraser are just few of the many celebrated athletes in Jamaica. Before the Beijing Olympics in China, Jamaica would have always been the country to watch. We’d always be seen as the country that could bring an upset from the United States of America who ruled athletics for decades. Jamaica has a rich tradition in athletics going back as far as the 1930’s. Fast forward to 2010 and any expert in this field will say that this dominance of Jamaican athletes is here to stay. After the upsurge in triumphs on the track, media crews and researchers rushed to the island to investigate what was making Jamaicans so fast. We found it flattering. We cannot answer that question forthright, just to say it is a combination of factors that make our athletes run so fast on the track.

Weeks ago I was privileged to attend an event at our National Stadium, a festival of relays dubbed the Gibson Relays. One might say it is the local equivalent to the Penn Relays held in Philadelphia, USA annually. More recently, Jamaican high schools have been travelling to the sixth-populous city in the USA to compete with their American counterparts at what they do best. At this event in Kingston, Jamaica children from as young as eight (Prep schools), high schools and professional athletes compete in relays. With almost a full house, the excitement is high and the adrenaline rush is on. Although many were out to be entertained, the hardcore athletic fanatic was there to cheer on the young talents and some applauding the exuberance in the youth. I sit before my laptop and I am now thinking that we are not in athletics to prove that we can dominate the track with our talents. Jamaicans are not our there to prove a point. On the contrary, this is genuinely what we love and enjoy doing. If we have taken it seriously, it is just in the past five or six years that we have begun to fully understand how powerful we can be on the world stage. Over the years what would happen is that our best athletes would be granted American scholarships; during this time in the States they would lose their focus – which could be for several reasons. It is just recently that under the leadership of the University of Technology, Jamaica that they have instituted a process where they offer the best athletes’ scholarships to study at the university and a structured area here at home to train. This has proven to be the best avenue to keep our athletes as they seem to be performing much better than if they left for universities overseas. To this end more high school athletes today are choosing local universities to study and train because they have seen the success it has garnered. For this week our high school championship called Boys and Girls Athletics Championship is on with the culmination this Saturday at the National Stadium. The entire country is a buzz as they are celebrating its 100^th staging. For 100 years Jamaica with private sector assistance has been staging this successful event where young talents are on show. It is huge because it has divided the country each year around this time; because every Jamaican (even if you’re not interested) is supporting a school to win the championship. This Video below is from last year’s Championship and the race is won by my alma mater Munro College. Check it out.

Jamaica has a long history and tradition in athletics. The men and women that paved the way for today’s athletes are still celebrated. The tradition of sports in this country is phenomenal. Jamaicans are indelibly glued to sports. If it is an international event like World Cup, authorities can expect fewer criminal activities because at that time they would be busy keeping tab on the scores. As they say the devil finds work for idle hands. I remember growing up in St. Elizabeth, a rural parish and we ran in the streets. I love athletics but because of religious beliefs I was not able to continue or even to pursue my passion. Mark, set, go, my cousins and I would run on that street as fast as we could. In other countries, if you do not have the right gear, you are not given the opportunity to explore a sport. On the contrary, in Jamaica, most of our young athletes at some point in their lives would have run with no spikes on. I am positive that if an athlete at the National Championship today steps out without the proper shoes, they are seen as different, because everyone would have the proper gear. It is the same with the bobsled team years ago at the Winter Games. We have never seen snow here but the shared passion to be the best does not limit our people in striving towards excellence.

After Usain Bolt smashed the records on the world stage, it was a huge debate about what made him do it – apart from the raw talent. With the many reasons provided, food made the list. Usain Bolt is from the parish Trelawny, known for its yams. The Jamaican diet is unique. Unlike other countries like America and more developed ones Jamaica has a culture of eating healthy foods – although some would think we are becoming fast food driven. We love our yams, pineapples, oranges, dasheens, bananas, breadfruits, fish, chicken, callaloo etc. These foods are filled with the right nutrients our body needs for optimum performance. It is not surprising that Jamaicans are naturally fit apart from the ‘fluffy divas’ among us. For any athlete here to do well, finding the right food is easy and simple to prepare. Talk about a food revolution, Jamaica is filled with the right foods to complete the perfect diet. Jamaican athletes have been found with enhancing drugs in the past. The public reaction to stories like this has never been positive. They question the athlete’s judgement when they resort to measures like that. They question it because once an athlete goes pro, Jamaicans believe you have the raw talent and once you see drugs as an alternative they may question how good you are as well. Overall, Jamaicans do not have a long history of dabbling in banned substances, which sets a good precedence for young athletes who sees them as role models.

The passion we have for sports will never go away. We like to celebrate and share the joys that sports bring to our lives. With the rich tradition, the foods that make our athletes strong and a culture that supports our athletes, the world can continue to see Jamaica dominating athletics for many years. The next time you see Jamaicans on the track, you are seeing the finished product. There has been years of hard work, struggles and certainly the triumphs. There are many factors that make us so fast on the track; one thing for sure its all in the blood.