Jamaica's sustained 20-year period of success in Track & Field, which includes notable achievements such as Usain Bolt's world records and Olympic gold medals, the achievements of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Elaine Thompson-Herah, and the likes of Veronica Campbell-Brown, has been a source of tremendous National pride. However, the question remains as to whether the Jamaican authorities have made full use of this period of success in laying a solid foundation for future generations of athletes.
Clearly captivated by the spellbinding exploits of sprint sensation Usain Bolt, a senior political representative out of the United Kingdom (UK) Grant Schnapps, on a visit to Jamaica in 2015, declared that it was time to urge local interests to be more creative in exploiting the value of the famed Jamaican brand to enhance the country's economic fortunes.
"It's not for me to tell Jamaica what to do, but for all practical purposes, Bolt has just secured a magnificent victory in the 100 metres at the IAAF World Championships," declared Grant Shapps, UK's minister with responsibility for the Caribbean.
One could argue that the Jamaican government and sports authorities invested in infrastructure development, such as the construction of the Usain Bolt Track and Field Centre at the University of the West Indies. Additionally, programs like the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association's (JAAA) Talent Identification and Development Program aimed to identify and nurture young talent.
Critics on the other hand, argued that more could have been done to create a sustainable system for athlete development. Issues such as inadequate coaching, limited access to resources and funding, and a lack of transparency in governance have hindered the growth of the sport. It is even clearer that we have been relying on individual talent rather than building a robust system, an argument that has raised huge concerns about the long-term viability of Jamaica's track and field success.
For the record, when the curtains come down at the end of Champs in April, many schools stop paying the coach and the nutrition programme is stopped.
Jamaica needs to know that athletes who want to be selected for international events need to continue training. Since June of this year, there was no training program in place for young athletes. I would have thought that athletes that are selected, ought to have been brought together after exams in a camp organized by the JAAA until time for departure to these late summer games. Such a camp should be properly set up to provide the necessary physical and mental training, not to mention the provision of proper nutritional support.
It should be of concern that despite Jamaica having its long-tenured reputation in the sprints, our male sprinters had been unable to defend that reputation over the last seven years. This seems to suggest that very little scientific effort has been applied to our program beyond our island's reliance on Champs as a developmental and talent identification tool. Thanks to Kishane Thompson who spared our blushes in France with a Silver medal to break the seven-year drought since Bolt departed in 2017.
While the island mined 6 medals at the Paris Olympic Games and another 5 medals at the just concluded U-20 World Championships in Lima, Peru, any analysis will show that as a nation we seriously under-performed, given our reputation and the island's talent pool. It is clear to me that other countries have been studying our activities and are applying the findings, resulting in the leaps and bounds that their improvements have shown.
Something is hopelessly wrong with our administration of Track & Field back home and this requires serious inquiry and analysis in order to address the problem.
The sooner, the better.
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