JAMAICANS ARE today celebrating a fantastic new world 100 metres record by Asafa Powell, adding to the lustre of world-ranking achievement by our athletes over several decades.
The 22-year-old sprinter follows in the tracks of superstars such as the great Herb McKenley, among the men, and Merlene Ottey, among the women, who have carried the name of Jamaica to the pinnacles of athletic glory across the world.
In setting a new world record of 9.77 seconds, Powell lowered by one-hundredth of a second the 9.78 set by American Tim Montgomery in Paris, France, September 2002. And he did it in the very same arena, the Athens Olympic Stadium, where he had such huge disappointment in the men's final at last year's Olympic Games in the Greek capital.
Powell joins a select group of outstanding Jamaican male sprinters who have either set or equalled individual world outdoor sprint records. McKenley, in 1947, became the first man to run the 400 metres below 46.0 seconds. He also was the first to run the old 440 yards in 46.0 seconds. George Rhoden, who won Olympic gold in 1952, also set a world 400m record in 1950. Dennis Johnson equalled the world 100 yards record, 9.3 seconds, three times in 1961. Donald Quarrie also equalled the men's 200m and 100m world records in 1971 and 1976 respectively.
Powell's performance is a big fillip for Jamaican coaches, local coaching methods and facilities. Unlike all of the aforementioned sprinters, Powell set the world record while being coached locally by Stephen Francis.
Francis has been making quite a name for himself in recent years. He is the man responsible for the world class performances of national 100m hurdles record holder Brigitte Foster-Hylton. Then in less than two years, he transformed Sherone Simpson from an average high school sprinter to Olympic relay gold medallist and 100m finalist.
Powell's grand display underlines the quality of Jamaican coaches. They have been producing outstanding athletes at the junior level for a long time, but many of these young stars have been trekking to American colleges and universities after high school in pursuit of better competition and facilities.
Facilities have improved here in recent years and Powell's record has shown in no uncertain manner that local coaches can produce senior athletes who can excel at the highest levels. We salute this superb athlete, for like Veronica Campbell in the Athens Olympics last year, he has given a much-needed boost to national spirit and pride.
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