Photo by Anthony Minott
Winthrop Graham (right), national record holder for the 400m hurdles, accepts his plaque from Victor Lopez, president of the Central American and Caribbean Athletics Confederation (CACAC), during the CACAC Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Hilton Kingston hotel in New Kingston on Friday. Graham was one of six Jamaica athletes inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Anthony Minott, Freelance Reporter
Six Jamaican Olympians - Bertland Cameron, Juliet Cuthbert, George Kerr, Devon Morris, Winthrop Graham and Raymond Stewart - were inducted into the Central American and Caribbean Athletics Confederation (CACAC) Hall of Fame at the Hilton Kingston hotel in New Kingston, on Friday night.
The six joined elite Jamaican athletes such as the late Herb McKenley, Donald Quarrie and Grace Jackson.
Cameron was the first global champion among the new inductees. In 1983 he became the first Jamaican and Caribbean athlete to win a World Championship gold medal, when he captured the 400m in 45.05 seconds in Helsinki. However, he is best known for his gritty performance at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. In that Olympics at the semi-final stage, Cameron pulled his hamstring at around 120 metres, literally slowing down to stop as others pulled away. But he kept going and eventually finished fourth to advance to the final. However, he could not recover and had to miss the final.
Sprinter Juliet Cuthbert and 400m hurdler Winthrop Graham had their shining moments at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. Cuthbert was a double silver medalist in the 100m and 200m and got bronze in the 4x100m. She has won three Olympic and four World Championship medals.
Graham copped silver in his pet event the 400m hurdles, and a bronze in the 4x400m in Barcelona 1992. He captured two Olympic and three World championships medals.
He stayed among the world's top 10 over the barriers for nine consecutive seasons (1987-1995). He retired in 2001 and still holds the Jamaican record with a 47.60 run in Zurich, in 1993.
Devon Morris, now a born again Christian was known as a 'team man', because of his work with the men's 4x400m relays. As a relay runner, he also won a world championships medal (bronze) in Tokyo 1991. He also collected medals at the 1987 Pan American Games, the 1990 CAC Games and the 1987 and 1989 CAC Championships. His best individual showing was when he copped the 400m World Indoor title in Sevilla 1991.
George Kerr, the oldest of the inductees, is one of Jamaica's finest 400m/800m runners of all-time. His defining moment was in his third Olympic Games. Even though he failed to get a medal, as he finished fourth in the 800m and the 4x400m relay in Tokyo 1964, he was able to break the Olympic record in the semi-finals, before losing the bronze by less than one tenth of a second, with 1:45.9. Kerr has won a number of Commonwealth medals, the last one came in 1966 in Kingston, an 800m bronze.
Stewart most consistent
Raymond Stewart was Jamaica's most consistent sprinter.
Overall, he made it to three consecutive Olympic finals (1984-1992) and four world championships finals in a row (1987-1995).
At the world championships in Tokyo 1991, he was a part of one of the fastest races ever as six men went under 10 seconds. He stopped the clock in 9.96 to improve his own Jamaican and CAC record.
Stewart copped the first world championships medal for a Jamaican male sprinter when he took silver in the 100m in Rome in 1987 following the disqualification of Ben Johnson. He also anchored his team to the 4x100m bronze.
Victor Lopez, president of CACAC, lauded the achievements of the inductees.
He said Jamaica has done exceptionally well in track and field at the highest level, considering the size and population of the country.
Guest speaker of the function was Mike Fennell, president of the Jamaica Olympic Association.
