Track and field dominated 2008
Among western Jamaica sporting personalities, triple World record-holder Usain Bolt and Herbert Morrison High School student Dexter Lee, both sprinters, dominated the sporting calendar last year.
Bolt’s exploits in Beijing, China during the Olympics are well documented as he broke individual records in the 100 and 200m and was part of the 4x100m team that smashed the world record.
The 22-year-old instantly became one of, if not the most recognised face on the planet and made the transition from sports to popular culture.
Whether he can come anywhere near emulating that magical week in August is left to be seen.
Lee is nowhere near the personality that Bolt is and while Bolt needed no invitation to dance his way into the hearts of the world in Beijing, Lee had to be coaxed into indicating his remarkable victory at the World Junior Championships with a single finger.
Lee, who became the first Jamaican male to win a global 100m sprint in 2007 when he won the World Youth Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic, became the fourth male to win the double when he created an upset in Poland this summer.
Add to this we had yet another outstanding staging of the Western Relays at Catherine Hall where some of the top athletes in the island once again showed off their skills.
Against this all other sports paled significantly.
Football was once again a sad joke, Seba United was relegated from the Premier League leaving St James without a team in the island’s top club league for the first time in decades.
In Trelawny, Paul ‘Tegat’ Davis managed to keep Village in the league with a near miraculous last third of the season when they were among the best teams in the country.
Wadadah, a club rich in history, fell to their lowest when they were kicked out of the Western Confederation Super League for failing to pay a paltry $20,000 entry fee but were allowed back in after a successful appeal.
St James High created history winning the Ben Francis KO and daCosta Cup titles, but their season ended in disgrace when idiotic fans pelted officials near the end of the Olivier Shield return leg played at Jarrett Park.
This is the second year that St James High ended the season in less than desirable conditions after a brawl against Rusea’s High in the Inter-zone round last season.
We can only hope for a better 2009.
