BY JUDY HAUGHTON-JAMES
I am big fan of athletics and recently I have had reason to focus on this. First I had a visit from my cousin who was a coach of one of my former high schools. As I interviewed him for the school's website we recalled the wonderful achievements of athletes from that school.
Now in full focus are many of our top athletes with our 4 day Jamaica National Athletics Championships being held at the National Stadium. These Championships will determine the athletes who will represent our country in the World Championships in August .
Wonderful memories flow as I remember August/September 2008 when my twin sister and I sat in our living-room watching the Beijing Olympics. She was not feeling well but was still able to enjoy Jamaican athletes winning medals and parading with our black, green and gold flag! Right now I can picture her seated in our gold living-room chair with a smile on her face and there was certainly a lot to smile about. Just look at the achievements of our small country at those games:
Usain Bolt - Gold in the Men's 100m with a world record - 9.69 seconds
Usain Bolt - Gold in the Men's 200m with a world record - 19.30 sec.
Men's 4x100m relay - Gold - world record 37.10 seconds
Shelly-Ann Fraser - Gold in the Women's 100m
Sherone Simpson & Kerron Stewart - Silver in the Women's 100m!
Yes! That is right! Two Jamaicans won silver medals in the race!
Veronica Campbell-Brown - Gold in the Women's 200m
Kerron Stewart - Bronze in the Women's 200m
Shericka Williams - Silver in the Women's 400m
Melaine Walker - Gold in the Women's 400m hurdles - 52.64 seconds
Olympic Record
Women's 4x400m relay - Bronze
The time that we spent together revelling in the great performance of our athletes is among the many special moments that I will treasure. It is still hard to believe that only 2 months later in that year she departed this life. One thing for sure, great memories live on forever.
