For many years, Jamaica has been known in the track and field world mostly producing historically great sprinters.
Recently, however, the country has seen its success at the global level spread to many other disciplines in the sport such as the jumps and the throws.
President of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA), Garth Gayle, is encouraged by this trend and hopes to see it continue.
“This all came about under the leadership of the late Howard Aris,” Gayle told SportsMax.TV at the launch of the Racers Grand Prix at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on Tuesday.
“I was the honorary secretary at the time and I remember several of our executive meetings where he made it clear to all of us, in such simple terms, that there will come the day when other countries will challenge us successfully in the sprints,” Gayle said.
“He went on to say that sprinting is a base for many other disciplines in track and field and that we need to start to venture and provide training grounds for coaches and competitions for the athletes in the different disciplines. That is why we have seen the improvement in the throws and in the jumps. I believe it has done us well,” Gayle added.
Over a short period of time, Jamaica has seen the emergence of the likes of Tajay Gayle, Shanieka Ricketts and, more recently, Jaydon Hibbert among others in the jumps as well as names like Fedrick Dacres and Danniel Thomas-Dodd in the throws.
Gayle became Jamaica’s first ever long jump World Champion when he jumped a National Record 8.69m, the 20th longest jump in history, to win gold at the 2019 World Championships in Doha.
Ricketts is a two-time World Championship silver medallist in the triple jump from Doha in 2019 and Eugene in 2022.
Jaydon Hibbert, who is only 18, won triple jump gold at the World Under-20 Championships in Cali in 2022 and, earlier this season, set a World Junior Record 17.54m to win at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Albuquerque.
We also saw the likes of Carey McLeod and Ackelia Smith win long jump medals at those same NCAA Indoor Championships.
Lamara Distin is undefeated this season in the high jump and broke her own National record earlier this season while, at last year’s World Under-20 Championships, another Jamaican, Brandon Pottinger, took home high jump gold.
In the throws, Dacres and Thomas-Dodd won silver medals in the discus and shot put, respectively, at the 2019 World Championships in Doha.
Gayle also outlined that clubs around the country have systems in place to ensure this trend continues.
“Our club systems are growing stronger and they too are of that similar mindset and we are seeing the benefits. GC Foster College must never be left out of the equation because they, in a similar way, are speaking that language.”
“We must continue to raise the bar. Jamaica has, without doubt, an abundance of sporting talent. We just need to continue to harness it and develop it,” he added.