Jamaica’s track and field icons Merlene Ottey and Deon Hemmings McCatty, as well as female football star Khadija Shaw and legendary jockey Emilio Rodriquez, are among several sporting personalities, who are to receive national honours in October.

Ottey, 60, won nine Olympic medals and 14 World Championships medals for Jamaica over a career that spanned more than two decades.

She had previously been conferred with the Order of Distinction but is to be upgraded to the Order of Jamaica, an award that will see her being referred to as the Honourable Merlene Ottey.

Hemmings-McCatty, 51, the first Jamaican woman to win an Olympic gold medal, is to be conferred with the Order of Distinction. Hemmings won the gold medal in the 400m hurdles at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Her winning time of 52.82 was an Olympic record.

Shaw, 23, captained Jamaica’s women’s team that historically qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2019. She scored 19 goals in helping Jamaica qualify for its very first world cup berth.

Howie Bell, a former national player who is now an administrator,  will be conferred with the Order of Distinction, an honour that JFF President Michael Ricketts described as being “so well deserved.”

Bell, a former national captain represented Jamaica’s national senior team until the age of 37.

He is currently the General Manager for all national teams with the responsibility of overseeing the managerial support given to all of Jamaica's national football teams. He was originally Manager of the Reggae Boyz.

Hel has worked at the Jamaica Football Federation in various positions since 1994.

For more than two decades, Rodriquez was among the top jockeys in Jamaica. He rode three Jamaica Derby winners during his career – Tudor Wit in 1975, Lucky Ole Son in 1979 and Thornbird in 1984.