NEW YORK (JIS) Sunday, April 26, 2009 – Jamaica’s preparation for the World Championship in Athletics in Berlin, Germany in August of this year, suffered somewhat of a slight setback during Saturday’s final day of competition here at the Penn Relays Carnival when ace sprinter Asafa Powell could only managed to hobble across the finish line in the Men’s Olympic Development sprint relay event.
Running the anchor leg from Lane 7, Powell appeared to step off on the wrong foot, aggravating an old ankle injury in the process and decided that the occasion was not worth it, despite a sold out stadium audience, estimated at just under 50,000.
Sports Minister, Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange who watched most of the day’s action from trackside, noted that despite the obvious disappointment, the sporting world got another taste of ‘Brand Jamaica’ and that our athletes and administrators are deserving of our support and praise at this time.
“Setbacks and disappointment aside, the more than 50,000 Jamaicans and friends of Jamaica and millions more watching at home on TV, got another taste of Brand Jamaica,” an obvious reference to the brilliance of the women’s quartet in the Olympic Development Sprint Medley event and Utech women going into the record books as the first local based collegiate team to win a relay championship.
The team of Sheri-Ann Brooks, Rosemarie Whyte, Moya Thompson and Kenia Sinclair were too much for the Rest of the World, winning in a world leading time of 3:34.56 seconds.
If the Americans were looking to avenge their poor showing at last year’s Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, they were right on, winning four of the six titles up for grabs. Kenya (9:22.04), denied them a win in the Distance Medley Relay event.
Edwin Allen High School (4×4, 4×8) and Vere Technical High School (4×1), shared the three Relay Championship of America (CoA)) titles for the girls with Calabar (4 x 1 m) and St. Jago (4 x 4 m), sharing the boys titles.
Senator, Dr. Ronald Robinson who has portfolio responsibility for the Diaspora, wrapped up his first official visit to the northeast USA at the relays, and expressed his gratitude to the Diaspora for its support of the event and the athletes.
“It was a tremendous opportunity on my first time. It reminded me of our boys’ and girls’ champs back home. You see the spirit of the Diaspora at work, really, the turn out and support was great and I am sure the youngsters feel very good that they have that level of support”, noted Senator Robinson after presenting the Team Jamaica Bickle champion girl prize to Nikita Tracey, who won two relay gold and a third gold for her impressive 57.44 clocking in the HSG 400 meters Hurdles, a time better than the winning collegiate time.
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Aubrey L. Campbell
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