THE Games of the XXX Olympiad in London have been completed and the Jamaican athletes have certainly not disappointed. Fans all over the world have been glued to their televisions for over two weeks, watching Jamaica amass four gold, four silvers and four bronzes for a total of 12 medals.

The Olympic week began with Hansle Parchment surprising the world with a resolute 13.12 run to claim bronze in the Men’s 110m hurdles. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Veronica Campbell Brown were next on the track for Jamaica in the Women’s 200m finals against Americans Carmelita Jeter and Allyson Felix.

Unfortunately, Campbell Brown couldn’t defend her title as Felix earned the gold in 21.88 with Fraser-Pryce (22.09) claiming the silver and Jeter (22.14) the bronze.

It was then Jamaica’s flag-bearer and newly crowned ‘legend’ Usain Bolt, who ran out in the Men’s 200m, impressively securing the sprint double in 19.32 seconds in front of training partners Yohan Blake (19.44) and Warren Weir (19.84). This sealed a Jamaican and Racers Track Club rout as Jamaica became only the second nation to complete such a one-twothree after the US.

Blake’s time was also the fastest ever second place run. Bolt later traded celebrations with British favourite Mo Farah, doing the ‘Mo-bot’, while Farah borrowed Bolt’s famous signature pose. Farah earlier paid homage to Bolt, who did a few push-ups after completing his sprint double, by doing sit-ups after the Briton completed his own double in the 5,000m and 10,000m.

Jamaica later sealed the 4x100m relay in a blistering new world record of 36.84, setting Jamaica alight with euphoria. The US finished second equalling Jamaica’s previous mark of 37.04 and Trinidad & Tobago being elevated to third place after Canada was disqualified for having stepped on a line during the third leg.

The team of Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake, and Usain Bolt smashed their previous world record in stupendous style, although the USA team harried them throughout most of the race. This after Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Sherone Simpson, Veronica Campbell-Brown, and Kerron Stewart claimed silver in the Women’s 4×100 in a new national record of 41.41 behind USA who smashed the world record of 41.37 by running 40.85 seconds.

The Women’s 4x400m metre team of Christine Day, Rosemarie Whyte, Shericka Williams, and Novlene Williams-Mills earned the bronze medal, making up for the earlier disappointment in the Men’s 4×400-m relay after Jermaine Gonzales had to pull-up injured in the heats.

Jamaica were also represented this week by Kenneth Edwards in the Men’s 80kg Taekwondo who unfortunately could not progress past his first fight despite putting in a gutsy performance against the sixth-seeded Asian champion Liu Xiao. Richard Phillips and Andrew Riley also represented Jamaica in the 110m hurdles.

In other Olympic sports, Mexico pulled off a 2-1 upset against Brazil to claim the gold medal with Korea beating Japan 2-0 for the bronze. USA claimed the Male and Female Basketball gold beating Spain and France respectively.

The United States also ended up topping the Games’ medal count with 104 medals as Jamaica finished 18th on the overall table, but third in the athletics medal count.