DONALD Quarrie, the five-time Jamaican Olympian, is to be honoured by noted USA-based athletic organisers Team Jamaica Bickle at its pre-Penn Relays Carnival reception in New York on April 12.

The annual reception brings together the media, track and field aficionados and sponsors, united in their support for the athletes, the organisers stated in a media release yesterday.

However, Quarrie, regarded as one of the finest sprinters in history, having made all of his country’s Olympic teams from 1968 through to 1984, will be recognised for his sterling contribution to the growth and development of the sport, on and off the track.

“This year’s event will see Team Jamaica Bickle honouring five-time Olympian Donald Quarrie, CD, for his numerous gold and silver medal performances on the track, which cemented his place in the annals of track and field history; his contribution to the development of track and field and for helping to propel Jamaica’s stellar reputation as a force to be reckoned with on the world stage,” read a statement, in part, from Team Jamaica Bickle.

The 60-year-old Quarrie finished his Olympic career with one gold, two silver and a bronze medal, while a glittering display at the Commonwealth Games saw him becoming the first male athlete to attain six gold medals in that competition.

In the 1970s, Quarrie also held both 100 and 200 metres sprint record simultaneously, which places him in an elite group which includes countrymen and current icon Usain Bolt.

A statue erected at the National Stadium and a high school named in his honour is indicative of the positive effects Quarrie has had on Jamaica and Jamaicans at home and abroad.

Other persons from the Diaspora to be honoured on the night at Sullivan Hall for their contribution to community are Anton Tomlinson, founding member of UJAA (Union of Jamaica Alumni Associations) and executive director and former chairman of the NAACP New York City Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO), an enrichment programme for African American and Latino high school students, and Alsion Roach of Greylock Capital Management, a successful venture capital firm that serves emerging markets, while fostering entrepreneurial ideas and investment opportunities.

Roach has been particularly influential in securing investments for persons in her home country, Jamaica, and is an ardent supporter of not-for-profit charities and philantrophy.

A special award will be presented posthumously to Beryl Levi of Tower Isle Patties. Tower Isle has a long history of supporting Team Jamaica Bickle.

The Penn Relays is scheduled for April 28-30.

Meanwhile, in continued support of Team Jamaica Bickle’s long-standing supporters TJB, New York shipping magnates Dennis Hawthorne of Dennis Shipping and Bob DeSouza of Trans-Continental Shippers will host sponsors and members of the sports and media fraternities at the Alhambra Inn, in Kingston on April 4.