Mentors hail Clarke’s achievement
MARTHA BRAE, Trelawny — “Always trying, never giving up, no matter what”, was how Lorna Thorpe, long-time head of the sports department at William Knibb Memorial High described newly-crowned Commonwealth Games men’s 100 metres champion Lerone Clarke yesterday.
Clarke became the third Jamaican male to win the gold at the event after Keith Gardner in 1958, Donald Quarrie — who won three straight titles between 1970 and 1978 — and Asafa Powell four years ago in Australia.
He is also the second past student of William Knibb to have won a Commonwealth Games 100 medal after Michael Green took the silver in 1994.
Thorpe, who was delighted when the Observer told her about the achievement, said she always followed his career and remembered him from his “humble beginnings” and his struggles.
Pablo McNeil, who coached Clarke at William Knibb, echoed Thorpe’s description of the athlete, saying he was always “determined, persistent, focused and works hard”.
The Olympian told the Observer he was “so happy, elated, ecstasy overwhelms my thinking”.
McNeil, who had nicknamed the slightly built Clarke ‘Sea Biscuit’ after the American thoroughbred, explained to the Observer that while Clarke got a lot of teasing from his schoolmates about his size, he saw the same speed and determination in the Martha Brae native.
Clarke, who lived about 100 metres from the William Knibb campus, was forced to work for a while after leaving school, Thorpe said, so he could afford to enroll at GC Foster College.
From there he earned a scholarship to Lincoln University, where he won the college men’s 100 in 2004.