As the nation eagerly awaits the starts of the Champs centenniel next week, those who can should try to get hold of a copy of the book that chronicles the creation of the legacy of the most successful high school track meet in the world, Jamaica’s version of the Junior Olympics.
Written by Hubert Lawrence, perhaps the best track and field analyst in the world today, Champs 100 takes us back to the years when only a handful of schools contested for the title right through to current renewals, from the days when it required only 35 points to win it all, to a time now when 35 points might not guarantee a school a top-10 position.
The book sheds light on the student athletes who excelled then and who went to to become leaders of this wonderful nation.
It speaks of the exploits of Norman Manley, who missed out on an opportunity to compete in the Olympics because of a world war, but who held a 100-yard sprint record for more than 40 years, to the amazing accomplishments of Usain Bolt, who has been wowing the world ever since he first set foot on the track as a skinny teenager from William Knibb.
What makes this book really special is that for all that is right about Jamaica on the track, this country has been equally bad documenting its history. The challenges that were encountered putting this book together are as legendary as the performances of the athletes.
The book is also a good read. From the beautifully written foreword by writer Colin Channer to the appendices, Champs 100 is worth its weight in gold.
You also get the see never-before seen pictures of Ali McNabb, who made his name locally as a footballer blessed with incredible kicking power, racing against Olympic silver medallist Lennox Miller. It makes you remember that before Kerron Stewart and Sherone Simpson battled to a historic second-place tie in the 100 metre finals at the 29th Olympiad in Beijing, China, they had been locked in battle for St. Jago and Manchester High respectively. Also, who remembered that Simpson used to run the hurdles as well?
We get to relive the exploits of Trevor TC Campbell during the early 1970s. Campbell never lost an individual race at Champs.
There is so much valuable information in this book, every library, every school, every media house, every person – whether you are a fan of track and field should have one. Because this is a book not just about the history of champs, it is a book about an important piece of the tapestry that makes this nation great.

If Veronica Campbell Brown was to retire today, her legacy would be secure as Jamaica’s greatest ever Olympian. Not even the shiny stardom of Usain Bolt can outshine Campbell Brown’s success at the Olympic Games.

The thing is Campbell Brown isnt at the end of her career, she is in her prime and even though by comparison, 2009 was not a stellar year for Veronica, she seems well on her way to creating an even greater legacy.

She has begun 2010 in a fashion that not many would have envisioned but who could have asked for better. Laverne Jones and Carmelita Jeter had dominated the 60 metre sprints all indoor season with respective personal bests of 6.97s and 7.02s.

VCB meanwhile, last ran indoors six years ago, while she was still a Razorback and her PR was 7.04s. So realistically, heading into the World Indoors, outside of VCB’s camp, not many would have picked her to be champion. In fact, she was not even among the conversation surrounding who was going to claim the 60-metre title. A few eyebrows were raised when she dropped a 7.07 in the semis but still, 6.97s was still a-tenth of a second away; perhaps she would earn a medal but certainly not gold.
However, as they say, you can never discount a champion and that is what Veronica Campbell Brown is, a champion. She went into that final on Sunday, a two-time Olympic Champion 200-metre champion, a 100 metre World champion, an Olympic 4×100m relay champion, as well as a multiple junior World champion. She had more pedigree than anyone else in that race and she made it count.
A personal best seven-seconds flat is what it took, but she got it done over Ferrette 7.03 and Jeter, who has been described as the female Asafa Powell by American champion sprinter Maurice Greene. Jeter finished in 7.05 seconds.
It was another display of why VCB is Jamaica’s greatest female champion sprinter. Merlene Ottey may have more medals, a World Indoor 200-metre Record and an IAAF Athlete of the Year Award -feathers that VCB do not have in her cap – but when it comes to winning against the odds, for all of Ottey’s greatness, VCB is the true queen.

It is not often in life that one gets to witness a special performance like the one we saw from Usain Bolt at the Gibson Relays on Saturday.

That special performance was not the easy 9-second anchor leg ‘jog’ put down by the triple world and Olympic Champion as his Racer’s track club won the Clubs and Institutions 400-metre relay in a world-leading 38.08seconds. No, that mind-boggling piece of work came in a losing effort in the 4×400 metre relay.

Bolt, running for the Racers Lions, a team that included Yohan Blake, and Alonzo Barrett, found himself far behind on the anchor leg and proceeded to show the stuff we all know champions are made of. He uncorked a 43.6s anchor leg that dropped the jaws of all who saw it.

 His team finished second but that was secondary to the recognition now that Bolt – if he so chooses – can be a world beater at the 400 metres as well.

We all know he has the potential. Those of us who have been following his career saw his 45.35 at Champs, we have also seen the ease at which he produces 45-second runs to start each season.

A few weeks ago during the unveiling of his piece of the Berlin wall, a memento of his amazing exploits at the world championships in Berlin, Bolt revealed that he has not done any work with regards to the 400 metres this off season. That revelation made his performance on Saturday even more remarkable.

The 43-second relay split is equivalent to between a 44.2 and 44.5 over the flat 400 metres. This, without any 400 metre work. Incredible. The flat times are already good enough to challenge World Champion Leshawn Merritt, who says he would welcome Bolt stepping up to his event.  Based on what we have seen Merritt should be careful what he wishes for.
There has been debate about how fast Bolt can run a 400 metres if he actually trains for it. Many, including many-time champion Maurice Greene feel that 41 seconds is not out of the question, given the ease at which Bolt can produce 20-second runs for the 200m.

Based on what we saw on Saturday, we have now come to understand that such an accomplishment will come. It is only a matter of time.

There is no one reason why over the past two years more and more kids are turning out for track training. It could be that they were inspired by the success of Asafa Powell, Sherone Simpson, Brigette Foster, Veronica Campbell Brown and others on the Grand Prix circuit. It could also be the incredible success of Usain Bolt and company at the Beijing Olympics, and last year’s World Championships, Jamaica’s best global performance ever.
Whatever the reason, this country is witnessing a remarkable rate of turnout of kids wanting to become the next track star, but are we equipped to deal with it?
Going through the high school system is challenging enough but many of our kids will now want to stay here in Jamaica to pursue their academic and athletic careers.
Will Jamaica be able to support this? There are many local coaches who are now qualified to take our athletes to the next level but only a handful have that established reputation that will attract potential stars to their already overburdened clubs.
Stephen Francis and Glen Mills are easily among the best coaches in the world but they wont be around forever. The time has come for the governing bodies to start improving on the coaching talent available, whether that means making available more advanced courses to the current crop of coaches or hand-picking a few of the more outstanding coaches and helping them hone their specific skills, is up to the authorities but there has to be more options available to the growing number of athletes who want to be trained by home-grown talent.
The University of Technology, for example, may end up putting another campus in Trelawny, surely they dont expect Stephen Francis to be at two places at the same time.
Clearly there needs to be other high quality coaches available to help develop the available talent out west.
We cant wait, we have to start acting now. Improving the quality of our track and field coaching can also have the effect of attracting athletes from overseas to come here to train – sports tourism.
If we dont act fast we can easily lose claim to being the sprint factory of the world in less than a decade from now when we run the risk of returning to the days when we were producing one or two world-beating athletes every four years or so. We have long gone past that stage and its now time to build onto greater things.

I was watching a video on TrackAlerts.com this week of former world record holder Asafa Powell being interviewed. Among other things, he was asked what he thought of Justin Gatlin’s comments that he is returning from his drug ban ready to challenge the top three sprinters of all time – Powell, Gay and Bolt.
Powell responded to the question by saying Gatlin wont be able to cut it when he returns and he said it with venom. I like that.
Asafa has always been meek. It’s one of the traits many people like about him. He is humble and never usually has a bad word to say about anyone.
The only trouble is Asafa is a sprinter and that requires a certain amount of bravado. Many people might not have liked Maurice Greene’s antics, or Ato Boldon’s cockiness, or Donovan Bailey’s arrogance, but these guys were successful not only because of the talent they possessed but also because they got under the skins of their opponents by being brazen.
Intimidation is a critical tool that successful athletes use to get to the top and Asafa, as one of the three fastest men of all time, needs to add it to his arsenal. He has the speed and he has the times but he lacks the venom.
We saw him relax a bit more during the last World Championships in Berlin and he ran his best race in a final despite suffering from an ankle injury.
He has tried to do it the ‘nice’ way and I hope he now sees that his way is not necessary the best way.
The ankle is about 80 percent better he said in the interview, so we suspect that by the time the Diamond League starts in May, he will be ready to rumble with Gay and Bolt, men who have surpassed him over the past three years.
That fire that he exhibited, if he can maintain it from now on, should serve him well because they are many sprinters gunning for his number three slot. If he is to keep them at bay and possibly return to the top he has to show more of it. He has to unleash the beast within because for all his passive upbringing Asafa needs to remember that there is a reason they say nice guys finish last.

Chairman of the RJR Group Gary Allen made an eyebrow-raising statement earlier this week that I think sends a message that all is not right in athlete land.
The Chairman revealed that the media group, the primary sponsors of the JAAA’s Sportsman/Sportswoman of the Year Awards, is considering withdrawing its sponsorship from the annual awards that recognise the accomplishments of our local athletes.
He claims this came about following the disrespectful behaviour of some of the island’s top athletes at the most recent awards, and prior to the event, a rumoured boycott by some of the track and field athletes in a mystifying protest of guest speaker 400-metre world champion Sanya Richards, Jamaican by birth but who represents the United States of America.
According to the RJR Chairman the behaviour of the athletes was disappointing in that the group spends millions of dollars staging the event as well as flying in and putting up athletes at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel.
The ‘disrespectful’ behaviour Allen says included the late arrival of recipients of the respective athlete of the year awards.
It also included the hour-late arrival of an athlete booked at the hotel. In one other reported slight against the sponsors, one of our primary athletes, after arriving late at the function, was seen walking around with her shoes in her hand, and when an opportunity arose for her to greet the RJR Chairman, extended her elbow to him.
Such behaviour is not only unbecoming, it is downright rude.
The reality is our athletes are a reflection of society’s deterioration and the disappearance of values, etiquette, and social graces. However, our multi-millionaire athletes have managers; managers who are supposed to help them make the transition from relative poverty and obscurity into the world of fame and fortune; managers, who are also supposed to be aiding the holistic development of the athlete.
I find it quite intriguing that these very same athletes would not exhibit this kind of behaviour when they are invited to international awards ceremonies.
Is it because they have no respect for the local administrators and the people who helped lay the foundation for their success?
We often hear that Jamaica does nothing for its athletes but expects much in return but is this really true or just a myth spouted by the athletes and their management teams to justify their selfish behaviour?
I will just mention the Boys and Girls Athletic Championships without which many of our talented athletes would never have a stage on which to perform enabling them to get scholarships and to be seen by potential sponsors. I’ll stop there.
What is also interesting to note is that Jamaica’s lesser known athletes are not the ones showing the disrespect. They are the ones who are at the award ceremonies on time even though they know that they will not win awards but they do appreciate the fact that they are being recognised for their contribution to sport.
It is these athletes for whom I will grieve if there are no sponsors for the event which will most likely mean that the awards ceremony will disappear from the landscape like so many other events of its kind.
Maybe that is what is needed. After all, if the athletes dont seem to care why should anybody else? Or, maybe its time for the athletes to check themselves and realise that the behaviour they exhibit not only slights the sponsors and the JAAA, it also slights the Jamaican people whom they represent. If they have lost sight of this fact, let me just say this, if it was not for Jamaica they would have no home to represent, no colours to don.
If that happens, who does it hurt the most? Think about it.

In recent times track meet organisers have had to be scrambling trying to find venues to hold development meets in suitable venues.

The Stadium East is under repair, and the national stadium is also due for repair soon. The track at GC Foster College is also in a very bad state. Meanwhile, up in Sligoville, St. Catherine, not that far from GC Foster, a ‘brand new’ facility sits idle overrun by weeds.

The facility, built a few years ago by the Chinese government at a cost of US$3 million, is a perfect example of how myopic our leaders have been. The complex has facilities for basketball, football, and a six-lane running track that could have been used now to host a few development meets this year and in the years to come, but as of right now, it just sits there gathering dust.

Wouldnt such a facility built in a more strategic location be more beneficial to many more people? One would have to ask the Member of Parliament KD Knight since the complex was his idea. I am sure meets could be held there but I doubt if it is even open to the public.
The last time I passed there the gates were chained and padlocked so I doubt anyone could get in except perhaps to steal something.

The thing is we dont even see or hear of any attempts to make use of the facility. Perhaps schools in St Catherine could stage track meets, football matches, and even basketball games there.

Its instances like these that make one understand why more wealthy countries are reluctant to do much to help us.

Why isnt the facility being used? If we did not have a vision for the complex why get the Chinese to build it there as opposed to, say, Manchester. If it was built in a more central location – Kirkvine, for example – it would have been fully operational and athletes, schools and organisations could have made good use of it.
But as it is right now, it’s yet another white elephant on the Jamaica landscape, US$3million down the drain.

What a pity. What a tragedy.

If someone would have told me that in a country where the people are so passionate about sports, there is a sports complex that is on its way to ruin even though its never been used, I would have had a hard time believing.
But, this is Jamaica today – a place where truth is much stranger than fiction.

Organisers of the many of the development track meets being held inside the Corporate Area this season are being confronted with the challenge of finding an appropriate venue to host their events.

The situation is that the track at the Stadium East and the one inside the National Stadium are being repaired as they have become badly worn from ‘overuse’.

Jamaica is a track and field nation. We have a flood of meets at the start of each outdoor season and we have the largest high school track meet in the world.

This year we have come to realise that the tracks have become worn; the two at the stadium complex and the other at the GC Foster College.

This weekend the Queens/Grace Jackson meet will be held under trying circumstances because the national stadium will be shared with a Jehovah Witness Convention that had been booked for the weekend.

Why did it come to this? Why did we not have an alternative venue, a suitable alternative venue to host a meet where most of our senior athletes, the very best in the world, will start their seasons?

The leaders of government and the sport, in my opinion, still see sport a only recreation and not a business. With the success of our athletes this country has leverage to accomplish many things.

Each year more and more international athletes are seeking to visit Jamaica to train even as winter maintains its strangehold in their respective homelands.

For these countries the cost to lay a running track is relatively miniscule and is something we could have negotiated years ago had we the foresight. We need to start seeing sport as business and not only as recreation. Should we start doing that we can use the leverage that our athletes have given us to have better facilities for our athletes to train, better facilities which we can use to develop our young athletes, and better facilities which we can use as lure to attract athletes from overseas as well as their families to come here to spend their winters training and living in tropical sunshine.
What have now are broken down palaces, that limit our opportunities for growth in the respective sports and are nothing short of a national disgrace.

I dont  know why, but some people in this country forget that the name of the sport in Track and Field, not Track and definitely not Sprints.
But that is the way we behave; as if the sprints are the other thing that matters. But the people who do the field events deserve the attention too.
Dorian Scott, a 20-metre shot putter, who missed the Olympics through injury, is perhaps Jamaica’s best thrower ever, but he is treated like an outcast. Travis Smikle last year became the first Jamaican thrower in more than 80 years to win a medal in global competition, when he secured a bronze medal at the World Youth Championships in Italy yet you never see hardly see his name in the papers like you would a Dexter Lee.
Jamaica currently sits on a gold mine of potential world-beating throwers and all they need is a little attention and support.
Yet, as journalists all we want to do is focus on the stars and not those who could become stars. We have become such fans of our sprinters we forget that there are other disciplines within the sport.
The administrators also have short-changed the throwers and field events people. Smikle, for example, sources said, was almost left off that team to Italy last year. If he had been, Jamaica would have come home with one medal instead of two, 50 per cent of our medal count.
Isn’t it time then for us to recognise that throwers should get some pride of place.
Last weekend I watched a talented bunch of young men throw at the Big Shot Invitational at the St Hugh’s High School and seen that there is a lot of talent just waiting to be developed into world beaters, but somehow you get the feeling that those who really should care really don’t.
But it has to change.
It would be an injustice of monumental proportions if kids like Ashinia Miller, Randale Watson, Chad Wright, Smikle, Canniga Raynor, Oshane Harris, and girls like Candicea Bernard and Vanessa Levy, are not given the opportunity to be the best they can be.
Like the sprinters they want to represent and make Jamaica proud so why are they being afforded the opportunity to do so on a level playing field?
Sport should not always be only about the glamour, it should more oftentimes be about the substance as well.

There has been much debate since the selection of Brigette Foster Hylton as Female Athlete of the Year; was she the right choice? I say she was.
For the first time in our long and storied history on Track and Field Jamaica had three world champions to choose from and those choices could not have been easy.
Shelly Ann Fraser, the Beijing Olympic 100 metre champion did even better in Berlin. In Beijing the pint-sized sprinter clocked 10.78, the fastest time in the world to win that title. In Berlin, she was even faster, taking the world title in 10.73, eclipsing Ottey’s national record of 10.74.

 Fraser was also a member of the gold-medal winning 4×100 metres relay team.

Melaine Walker could also have easily been the choice too. After setting a new Olympic record in winning gold in Beijing, she came to Berlin in even better form, winning over the favoured Lashinda Demus in 52.42s, the second fastest time in history.
Foster Hylton, however, did something that neither Fraser nor Walker, managed last season. She became the first, the very first sprint hurdler in Jamaica’s history to win a gold medal at a global event.
She also did it after returning from retirement. The attractive wife of Patrick Hylton, the CEO of the National Commercial Bank, having stepped away out of the frustration of failing to win a medal in Beijing, was perhaps looking at finally starting a family, but was convinced to return by her coach Stephen Francis. And even when she did return, coaxed into giving it one last shot, she did not look as convincing leading up to the world championships.
Yes, she was in the thick of things in most of the races she ran leading up to the world championships, but going into Berlin, Foster Hylton was not even considered a medal contender.
The American Dawn Harper, who surprised the world by winning gold in Beijing, was favoured to win again and based on what she did in the semi-finals, it seemed that she would once again relegate Foster Hylton to the minor placings; sending the Jamaican back into retirement well short of her career goals.
We all saw what happened next.

Brigette did not lose a race after Berlin, seven straight wins, including the World Athletics Finals, dipping below 12.50 seconds a few times in the process.
Fraser lost several times to American Carmelita Jeter and looked a tired athlete as the season wound down. Foster who is older by a decade, looked refreshed and rejuvenated, confident that she was the best sprint hurdler in the world, and that’s why she deserved to be the female athlete of the year.