Jamaica perfects art of developing sprinters
KINGSTON, Jamaica: When Usain Bolt hangs up his running spikes after the World Championships in August, the athletics world will bid farewell to arguably the greatest sprinter the sport has ever seen.
But while athletics contemplates life without its biggest superstar, Anthony Davis will already be working hard to unearth the next young Jamaican sprinter capable of following in Bolt’s blisteringly fast footsteps.
Davis is the director of sport at Kingston’s University of Technology, or UTech, the de facto sprint factory which produced Bolt and virtually every other major Jamaican sprinter of significance.
The modest facility’s alumni reads like a who’s who of Jamaican sprinting, including Bolt, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Asafa Powell, Nesta Carter and Elaine Thompson, the 100m & 200m 2016 Olympic champion.
“Everybody wants to be the next Usain Bolt because he is a superstar,” Davis told AFP.
Jamaica is considered the sprint capital of the world following a decade of dominance at successive Olympics and World Championships, a success which
Everybody wants to be the next Usain Bolt because he is a superstar. — Anthony Davis, director of sport at Kingston’s University of Technology, or UTech
belies the Caribbean nation’s population of just 2.7 million.
Sprinter Tyquendo Tracey attributes Jamaica’s success to national character.
“Most of us are born with sheer determination. It is hard to beat a Jamaican,” Tracey said.
“The determination comes from the high level of competition including high school. We always have this level of competitiveness.”
In fact Jamaica’s success can be traced back several decades, from the moment that Herb McKenley won gold and three silver at the 1948 London and 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
McKenley served as coach of the Jamaican national team from 1954 to 1973 and was awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit in 2004, three years before his death.