1 year ago
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EVEN AS the island recorded its lowest Olympic medal tally since the 2004 Athens Games along with heartbreaking setbacks on the track, the sport of track and field could not call the season a loss with new stars emerging throughout.
Jamaican athletics had started the year strong with yet another dominant display at the Carifta Games. The nation’s juniors tallied 84 medals at the regional meet - 45 gold, 23 silver, and 16 bronze, topping the standings for the 38th year in the row.
With the Paris Olympic Games standing as the marquee competition in the 2024 calendar of events, expectations were high for a nation accustomed to punching above its own weight.
However, it was not the best showing from the athletes clad in black, green and gold as Jamaica tallied six medals at the international competition - one gold, three silver, and two bronze.
It was an injury-plagued outing for the team which suffered several setbacks throughout the days of competition. Chief among those injuries was the withdrawal of Jamaican icon Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who suffered a muted end to her Olympic career.
Fraser-Pryce had been battling injuries throughout the last calendar year which led to her opening her season in June, just one month before the Paris Games.
Despite her worrying start, fans were enthused when she had turned up in France and clocked a time of 10.92s to advance to the semi-finals of the women’s 100 metres.
Those cheers were soon turned to dismay, however, when, just before the start of the semifinal rounds, it was announced Fraser-Pryce had withdrawn from the competition due to injuries.
Her absence only added to the void felt in women’s sprinting as national champion Shericka Jackson had also been forced to withdraw before the competition, again an injury, the issue.
Women’s 100m and 200m double Olympic gold-medallist Elaine Thompson-Herah was also absent in Paris, forced to call an end to her 2024 season a month before the Games.
On the men’s side, last year’s world leader Kishane Thompson had to settle for silver in the 100 metres, having been edged to the line by American Noah Lyles by five-thousandths of a second while Rasheed Broadbell earned bronze in the men’s 110m hurdles.
Thompson and Broadbell’s medals were Jamaica’s only medals on the track as the field athletes burst into the limelight in a perfect case of ‘silver lining’ for Jamaican athletics.
Leading the medal charge undoubtedly was Rojé Stona, the multi-faceted sportsman, who dominated the men’s discus throw, winning the nation’s lone gold medal and setting an Olympic record of 70 metres as well.
Wayne Pinnock, who battled injury to make it to the Olympics, also found himself on the podium in his event as his leap of 8.36 metres was enough to take home the silver medal in the men’s long jump final, behind Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou, 8.48.
Jamaica also earned a silver medal through the enduring Shanieka Ricketts, who fought through a less-than-impressive season to find 14.87 metres.
She finished behind Thea LaFond, who hopped, skipped, and jumped to 15.02 metres and a place in history with Dominica’s first-ever Olympic medal.
In the men’s shot put, national record holder Rajindra Campbell took home bronze in the men’s shot put with a throw of 22.15.
Jamaica closed out the year as they started – with the juniors – this time at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima, Peru. There, the Jamaicans earned a five-medal haul – four gold and a bronze.
The bulk of the accolades came in women’s sprinting as Alana Reid stamped her class in the 100 metres, taking home gold in 11.17 seconds, finishing ahead of British Virgin Islands starlet Adaejah Hodge.
Reid’s win was Jamaica’s fourth consecutive hold on the title, following Tina Clayton’s back-to-back wins in 2022 and 2021 and Briana William’s triumph in 2018.
Kerrica Hill also defended her 100-metre hurdles title, racing to 12.99 in the final. It was also Jamaica’s third consecutive hold on the sprint hurdles title with Hill having previously won in 2022 and Ackera Nugent 2021 performance.
Shanoya Douglas finished on the podium in the women’s 200, placing third in her event to add Jamaica’s lone bronze medal on the medal tally.
Reid, and Deandre Daley would later lead Jamaica’s quartets of men’s and women’s sprint relays to gold.
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