Olympic silver medalist Shanieka Ricketts and her husband and coach Kerrylee.
Shanieka Ricketts Instagram
In a groundbreaking moment for Jamaican athletics, Shanieka Ricketts soared to win her first Olympic medal, a silver, in the women’s triple jump at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Her season-best leap of 14.87m not only secured her place on the podium but also marked the first-ever Olympic field event medal won by a Jamaican woman. Dominica’s Thea LaFond claimed gold with a personal best of 15.02 m, creating a historic moment for both athletes and their nations.
Coach Kerrylee Ricketts, the guiding force behind Shanieka’s journey, reflected on the meticulous preparation and decades of experience that culminated in this historic achievement. “Both of us are really happy, elated to be on the podium, first Olympic medal. We are so happy and over the moon,” he expressed, capturing the joy and fulfillment of their shared success.
Like all elite coaches, Kerrylee’s coaching philosophy centres on peaking at the right moment. “In terms of getting her ready, the programme is always written for her to peak at major championships. For the most part, we target whichever major championship, so we train through most of our competitions,” he explained.
With 20 years of coaching experience, Kerrylee has honed his craft through trial and error, learning valuable lessons along the way. “This year is my 20th anniversary of coaching jumps, and I have had time to practice, to get things right. I’ve made mistakes and learned from them both at the senior and junior levels," he recalled. "I’ve coached at St Elizabeth Technical High School, which is where I am back at the moment, having returned from England after living there for more than a decade.”
His foundational years at the high school level, particularly at St Elizabeth Technical High School and Manchester High School, provided him with the insights needed to succeed. “One of the things I learned at the high school level was to get it right for Champs. Champs is basically the level where I first got it right, got the knowledge and understanding of how to get it right when I want to get it right for the athletes.”
Transitioning to coaching professionals, Kerrylee applied his tried-and-tested methods to Shanieka’s training regimen. “When I started coaching pros with Shanieka, I basically had a programme structure already in place, a formula of how to get this done", he said. "And I have learned along the way as well even with Shanieka because sometimes it hasn’t been perfect all the way, but what I have learned is how and when to tweak the programme or when to prepare her to get her best at these major championships.”
Despite facing less-than-ideal weather conditions in Paris, Kerrylee maintained focus on their goal. “This year was no different. We were targeting her to get a season-best, a personal best, or whichever came at the Olympics. Sadly, the weather wasn’t conducive. We are grateful for the silver medal. It was our first Olympic medal, Jamaica’s first female field events medal as well, so we appreciate the fact that we did that and that she contributed to the overall medal tally for Jamaica.”
The emotional victory brought tears to both Shanieka and Kerrylee, who have been married for the past eight years. “Shanieka is happy, she is elated. Both of us cried. A lot of people counted us out, but we never counted ourselves out because we knew what we were doing and what the plan was. Medals are never won in May but major championships are always in August or September, and that is when we peak,” he said.
Kerrylee highlighted their disciplined approach, focusing on their own performance rather than early-season results from competitors. “We never want to look at who is jumping big early. We stay in our zone and keep our eyes on the target," he said. "Last year (at the World Championships in Budapest), it wasn’t a good World Championships for us when she was fourth, even though she really had some good jumps. She had a season-best there, she had jumps that could have seen her on the podium, but she was giving up too much (distance) on the board.”
In Paris, despite facing a challenging negative breeze during the competition, Shanieka’s preparation paid off. “That was something we tried to fix (Saturday), but we had a lot of negative breeze in our faces, and that restricted us from getting some good jumps, but it was a good night. We are happy. We came here for a medal, and we got a medal, and we are grateful for that.”
Leighton Levy is a journalist with 28 years’ experience covering crime, entertainment, and sports. He joined the staff at SportsMax.TV as a content editor two years ago and is enjoying the experience of developing sports content and new ideas. At SportsMax.tv he is pursuing his true passion - sports.
Durant makes Olympics history as USA steamroll into semi-finals
Kevin Durant became the United States' all-time leading scorer at the Olympic Games in a 122-87 rout over Brazil to reach the semi-finals on Tuesday.
He added 11 points for Team USA in just 21 minutes, surpassing Lisa Leslie's tally of 488 to make him the top-scorer of any American basketball player, male or female, at the Games.
Joel Embiid, greeted by a chorus of boos from the French fans after passing on the chance to play for their national team, was the star though, as he got 14 points and seven rebounds in the first half to set the USA on their way to victory.
LeBron James also orchestrated the game, for 12 minutes at least, making snapshot passes as he piled up nine assists and 12 points. However, his game came to an early end when he took an elbow to the face from Georginho De Paula.
Devin Booker top scored for the USA with 18 points as they shared the load, and though Bruno Caboclo got 24 points for Brazil, he could not inspire a shock upset against the reigning champions.
Steve Kerr's team are chasing a fifth consecutive gold medal but will have to face Serbia, who they beat in their competition opener, for a place in the final.
Brazil 4-2 Spain: Selecao through to Olympics final with resounding win
Brazil cruised into the final of the Olympic Games with a 4-2 victory over Spain at the Orange Velodrome on Tuesday.
Salma Paralluelo netted two late consolations, but the damage was already done as Irena Paredes' own goal, Gabi Portilho, Adriana and Kerolin denied the world champions a place in the gold-medal match.
Brazil were still without legend Marta after she lost her appeal over a two-game ban, but her team-mates ensured she would bow out of Olympics action with the chance to play for the top prize.
Spain were behind after just six minutes as Cata Coll's poor clearance struck the unfortunate Paredes on the side to send it cannoning over the line.
La Roja struggled to gain a foothold, and Brazil doubled their advantage on the stroke of half-time thanks to Portilho's composure when one-on-one with Coll.
Adriana made sure of their progress off the bench in the 71st minute – she struck the bar but was then on hand to head Portilho's nod-down in from close range.
That sparked Spain into life and Paralluelo's looping header snuck in at the far post before Alexia Putellas rattled the crossbar and forced Lorena into a smart stop to slow down the comeback attempts.
Kerolin delivered the hammer blow in the opening seconds of stoppage time by sliding her low shot through Coll's legs, though Paralluelo would have the last say, poking in her second of the match from close range in the 112th minute.
Data Debrief: World champions denied
Spain were aiming to become the first side to win Olympic gold after lifting the Women's World Cup, but they just fell short at the final hurdle after being outplayed.
La Roja's late flurry of chances meant they finished with more shots than Brazil (26 to their 17) and more on target (11 compared to seven).
Brazil's dominance showed in other ways though, as they created an expected goals (xG) of 3.27 and had a total of six big chances, as they secured a meeting with the United States in the final on Saturday.
St. Lucia’s Alfred adds 200m silver to 100m gold; USA’s Thomas claims first Olympic title
St. Lucia’s Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred continued her brilliant showing at the Paris Games with silver in the final of the Women’s 200m at the Stade de France on Monday.
The 23-year-old recovered from a less than ideal start with a strong finish to cross the line second in 22.08.
Gold went to American Gabby Thomas who ran 21.82 while another American, Brittany Brown, took bronze in 22.20.
Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita ran 22.22 and 22.23, respectively for fourth and fifth while Nigeria’s Favour Ofili ran 22.24 in sixth.
American McKenzie Long (22.42) and Ivory Coast’s Jessika Gbai (22.70) rounded out the top eight.
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