A salute to our women
There is tremendous cultural significance to the women’s participation at the Winter Games. They have joined an elite team of Jamaican women who have created firsts at the Olympics
THIS WEEK, our nation was high with bobsled fever as Jamaica’s women were the “hottest team on ice” at the Winter Olympic Games. The most famous quote on everyone’s lips once again was “feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme. Get on up, it’s bobsled time.” This comes some 30 years after our bobsled men historically qualified for the Winter Olympics in 1988.
We dusted off our pot covers, reached f or our flags, and cheered for Carrie (Russell), Jazmine (Fenlator-Vic torian) and Audra (Segree) on Tuesday and Wednesday morning with a deep sense of national pride.
Famous Jamaican disc jockey Tr icia “Spark iebaby ” Spence even sent her now-famous “Steam Fish and Okra Body” Tshirts to our women all the way in South Korea, which they wore ahead of their third and fourth heats.
Jamaicans at home and abroad were raising a toast as well t o new sponsors Red Stripe, who saved the day last week by purchasing a $7million sled for the team. The team’s Olympic dreams were almost shattered after the resignation of one of their coaches, who claimed ownership of the sled. We know that teams competing in non-traditional sporting endeavours don’t always get the much-needed financial support as the justification in the boardroom for niche sports is difficult.
CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
All that aside, there is tremendous cultural significance to the women’s participation at the Winter Games. They have joined an elite team of Jamaican women who have created firsts at the Olympics.
I will use this space to publicly salute our other historic women on Jamaica Day, women who have contributed significantly to our Olympic successes over decades, but who don’t typically get a huge chunk of the spotlight.
I salute Jamaica’s first female Olympic finalist, Dr Cynthia Thompson, who travelled for 14 days, seasick and by boat, to the London 1948 Olympic Games and competed over the 100m and 200m.
I salute Merlene Ottey, who was Jamaica’s first woman to win an Olympic medal when she copped bronze in Moscow in 1980.
I salute Deon Hemmings, Jamaica’ s first female gold medallist, who set an Olympic record in the 400m hurdles in Atlanta 1996.
I salute Veronica Campbell Brown, the first woman to win an Olympic sprint title when she struck gold over 200m in Athens 2004. VCB also became the first woman to retain her title when she successfully defended her crown in Beijing 2008.
I salute Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce, who became Jamaica’s first woman to win 100m gold when she did so at only 21 years old in Beijing 2008. After winning bronze in the 200m in Rio 2016, Shelly also became the first woman in history to win 100m medals at three consecutive Olympic Games.
Lastly, I salute Elaine Thompson, who became the first and only female sprinter in Jamaica’ s history to win the Olympic sprint double (100 and 200m) when she did so in Rio 2016. That feat is rarely achieved globally and was last done by American Flo Jo (Florence Griffith Joyner) all the way back in Seoul 1988.
As we saw from the Black Panther movie released last week, having powerful visuals of role models, heroes, and achievers can do a lot to build the psyche of our people and to encourage self-appreciation and fulfilment.
There is a huge international wave of black pride, which is useful in empowering Jamaica’s girls. This wave comes at a time when some of our little girls are part of some horrific headlines as the sick scourge of crime that plagues our nation seems in many instances, to be directed at our women and children. We must thus counter that narrative with positive visuals of our women as victors. Empowerment is an essential aspect of success and a healthy national esteem.
It is thus more important than ever that our little girls have strong visuals of strong black women waving our flag on the global stage, women that look like us.
Effort and determination inspire everyone and gives solid examples of diversity. Big up our Winter Olympics women on Jamaica Day! One love!