Leighton Levy, Gleaner Writer
TRACK AND Field News, a magazine long considered the bible of the sport, has picked Jamaica to win 12 medals - including three gold - on the track at the Beijing Olympics, which begins in less than two weeks.
Some of the predictions are surprising as the magazine does not forecast any gold medals for Jamaica's women and three for the men. There was also one notable omission. It also does not consider last year's World Championships silver medallist, Maurice Smith, who is a medal contender for the decathlon.
In the predictions released last week, and said to be based upon the 'best data available up to Friday, July 25', the magazine picks Usain Bolt to win three gold medals - the 100 and 200-metre sprints, and as a member of the men's 4x100-metre relay team, that should include former world record holder Asafa Powell, Nesta Carter, who this week clocked a personal best 9.98 seconds in the 100m in Stockholm, and Michael Frater, who has a season best 10.04.
Other fancies
Powell has been put down for the silver medal and Tyson Gay the bronze in the highly-anticipated men's 100m sprint.
American sprinters Walter Dix and Shawn Crawford, T&F News expects, will snare silver and bronze, respectively, in the 200m.
The Jamaican male 4x400m relay team is being predicted to win the bronze medal behind the United States and the Bahamas.
On the women's side of things, American Lauryn Williams is being picked to win the women's 100m sprint over Jamaica's Kerron Stewart and Muna Lee.
Lee is also being tipped for the bronze in the longer sprint behind Jamaican and defending Olympic champion, Veronica Campbell-Brown and Alyson Felix, who is the gold medal fancy.
Campbell-Brown recently said her world-leading 21.94 would not be enough to win the gold medal in Beijing.
Novelene Williams, who was upstaged at the national trials at the end of June by newcomer to the international circuit, Rosemarie Whyte, has been selected to take the bronze medal in the women's 400m, finishing behind the United Kingdom's Christine Uhurougo, the world champion (silver), with American runner Sanya Richards taking the gold.
Deloreen Ennis-London is being picked as the only Jamaican female sprint hurdler to medal - a silver behind American Lolo Jones and ahead of Sweden's Susanna Kallur.
Melaine Walker is also being tipped for a silver medal in the women's 400m hurdles, behind China's Xiaoxiao Huang and ahead of Tiffany Ross-Williams of the United States.
Difficult calls
In what must have been a difficult call, T&F News picks the Jamaican women 4x100m relay team to lose to their US rivals, despite the fact that the Jamaicans have on their team four women capable of times under 10.90 over 100m. Great Britain have been picked to win the bronze medal.
The final medal prediction involving Jamaicans is the expected bronze finish for the women's 4x400m. That race is expected to be won by the Americans with the Russians finishing second.
