Even before Independence Jamaicans held the spotlight on the global sporting stage, delivering world-beating performances that established the country as a powerhouse. Here is a list of some of the sportsmen and women who excelled and made Jamaica proud.

Usain St Leo “Lightning” Bolt, OJ, CD is currently the fastest human in the world. He is the first person to hold both the 100 and 200 metres world records since fully automatic time became mandatory. Bolt also holds the world record as a member of Jamaica’s 4×100m relay team. Because of the World and Olympic champion’s unprecedented dominance and achievements in sprint competition, he is widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time.

An eight-time Olympic gold medallist, Bolt won the 100m, 200m and 4×100m relay at three consecutive Olympic Games, before he subsequently lost one of the gold medals (as well as the world record set therein) nine years after the fact due to teammate Nesta Carter’s disqualification for a drug offence. Bolt gained worldwide popularity for his double sprint victory at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in world record times. He is the only sprinter to win Olympic 100m and 200m titles at three consecutive Olympics (2008, 2012 and 2016), a feat referred to as the “triple double”.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, OD rose to prominence at the 2008 Olympic Games when, at 21 years old, she became the first Caribbean woman to win 100m gold at the Olympics. In 2012, she successfully defended her 100m title, becoming the third woman to win two consecutive 100m gold medals at the Olympics. After winning bronze at the 2016 Summer Olympics she became the first woman in history to win 100m medals at three consecutive Olympic Games. Fraser-Pryce won the 100m gold medal in the 2009 IAAF World Championships, becoming the second female sprinter to hold both world and Olympic 100m titles simultaneously after the US’s Gail Devers.

After winning the 100m world title in 2015, she is the only female to be crowned world champion over 100m three times (2009, 2013, 2015). She is also the only female athlete to reign as both World and Olympic champion on separate occasions, when she won the 2008 Olympic and 2009 World titles, and then the 2012 Olympic and 2013 world titles. In 2013 she became the first female sprinter to win gold medals in the 100m, 200m and 4×100m in a single World Championship. Fraser-Pryce was the first woman to own IAAF world titles at 60m, 100m, 200m and 4×100m relay, and is the only woman ever to hold them all at the same time.

Deon Hemmings was the first-ever Jamaican woman to win an Olympic Gold when she took the 400m hurdles at the 1996 Olympics, breaking the Olympic record which stood until 2004. Hemmings also won two silver medals at the 2000 Olympics in the 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay.

She also won a silver medal at the 1994 Commonwealth Games, bronze medal at the 1995 World Athletics Championships, silver at the 1997 World Athletics Championships, and bronze at the 1999 World Athletics Championships, all in the 400m hurdles.

She retired from the sport in 2003.

Donald O’Riley Quarrie, CD was one of the world’s top sprinters during the 1970s. At the 1976 Summer Olympics he was the gold medallist in the 200m and silver medallist in the 100m. In all, he competed in five Olympic Games and won four Olympic medals during his career. He equalled the 200m world record in 1971 and equalled the 100m world record in 1976. He has lifetime bests of 10.07 seconds and 19.86 seconds for the events.

He won the 100m and 200m sprint double at the 1970 Commonwealth Games, 1971 Pan American Games, and 1974 Commonwealth Games. He was the first male to defend either the 100m or 200m titles at the Commonwealth Games, and a 100m win at the 1978 Commonwealth Games, which makes him the only person to have won that title three times. He won nine gold medals in the sprints at the Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics from 1971 to 1981.

Lennox V Miller won the silver medal in the 100m at the 1968 Olympics and the bronze in 1972. He and his daughter Inger are the first father-daughter tandem to win Olympic track and field medals. He was her coach prior to her winning gold at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Both ran for the University of Southern California.

Asafa Powell, CD held the 100m world record between June 2005 and May 2008, with times of 9.77 and 9.74 seconds. Powell has a personal best of 9.72 seconds being the fifth-fastest time in the history of the event. Powell has broken the 10-second barrier more times than anyone else — 97. He competed in the 100m at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics. In 2008, he won a gold medal and set the world and Olympic records as a member of the Jamaican 4×100m relay team.

At the 2007 Osaka World Championships he won a bronze and silver medal in the 100m and 4x100m relay, respectively, and he has been successful at the Commonwealth Games, winning two gold and one silver medal. At the 2009 World Championships he won 100m bronze and a relay gold.

Yohan Blake won 100m gold at the 2011 World Championships to become the youngest world champion ever in that event, and silver medals at the 2012 Olympic Games in London in the 100m and 200m.

Blake is the second-fastest man ever in both 100m and 200m. He has a personal best of 9.69 seconds after Usain Bolt in the 100m. His personal best for the 200m (19.26 seconds) is the second-fastest time ever after Bolt. He holds the Jamaican national junior record for the 100m, and was formerly the youngest sprinter to have broken the 10-second barrier (at 19 years, 196 days).

Trecia Smith competed for the University of Pittsburgh from 1996 to 1999 and was a seven-time NCAA national champion (two outdoor and three indoor long jump titles, and one outdoor and one indoor triple jump title), 15-time All-American, a 14-time Big East Conference champion, and a 15-time Eastern College Athletic Conference champion. Smith was named to the NCAA Division 1 Silver Anniversary Indoor Team and was an “NCAA Division 1 Most Outstanding Student-Athlete”. Her personal best is 15.16m in the triple jump, and she almost equalled that result at the 2005 World Championships, where she won the gold medal with 15.11m.

Smith retained her Commonwealth triple jump title at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Bertland “Bert” Cameron mainly competed over 400m and represented Jamaica at three consecutive Olympic Games. Cameron won the 400m title at the first World Championships in Athletics in 1982. He was also the 1982 Commonwealth Games champion in the event. He helped the Jamaican runners to a silver medal in the 4×400m relay at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

He carried the Jamaican flag at the opening ceremony of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, and was chosen as the Jamaica Sportsperson of the Year three times consecutively, from 1981 to 1983. He is currently a coach in Jamaica.

Merlene Joyce Ottey, OD began her career representing Jamaica before representing Slovenia from 2002 to 2012. She is ranked fourth on the all-time list over 60m (indoor), sixth on the all-time list over 100m, and fourth on the all-time list over 200m. Her world indoor record of 21.87 seconds for the 200m, set in 1993, still stands. Ottey has had the longest career as a top-level international sprinter, concluding with her anchoring the Slovene 4×100m relay team at the 2012 European Championships at the age of 52.

A nine-time Olympic medallist, she holds the record for the most Olympic appearances (seven) of any track and field athlete and for winning the largest number of World Championships medals — 14. Her career achievements and longevity have led to her being called the “Queen of the Track”. Her consistency at winning bronze medals in major championships also earned her the title of “Bronze Queen” in track circles.

Michael “Mike” McCallum is a former professional boxer who competed from 1981 to 1997. He is a three-weight world champion, having held the WBA super welterweight title from 1984 to 1988; the WBA middleweight title from 1989 to 1991; and the WBC light heavyweight title from 1994 to 1995. A slick, hard-hitting technician in the ring, McCallum was known for his iron chin and toughness, and was never stopped in any of his five losses. He earned his nickname “The Body Snatcher” due to his ability to land vicious body punches in fights. McCallum was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2003.

Michael Anthony Holding is a former West Indies cricketer and one of the fastest bowlers ever to play Test cricket. He was nicknamed “Whispering Death” by umpires due to his quiet approach to the bowling crease. His bowling was smooth and very fast and he used his height to generate large amounts of bounce and zip off the pitch.

He was part of the fearsome West Indian pace battery, together with Joel Garner, Andy Roberts, Sylvester Clarke, Colin Croft, Wayne Daniel, and the late Malcolm Marshall that devastated batting line-ups throughout the world in the 1970s and early 80s. Early in his Test career, in 1976, Holding broke the record for best bowling figures in a Test match by a West Indies bowler — 14 wickets for 149 runs (14/149). The record still stands. During his first-class cricket career, Holding played for Jamaica, Canterbury, Derbyshire, Lancashire, and Tasmania. In June 1988 Holding was celebrated on the $2 Jamaican stamp.

Alia Atkinson first competed for Jamaica at the 2004 Olympics, and four years later at the 2008 Olympics she finished 25th in the women’s 200-metre breaststroke. She carried the flag for her country at the opening ceremony of the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she set the Jamaican record in the 100-metre butterfly; and the 2006 Commonwealth Games. She also competed at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. She placed first in the 200-yard breaststroke at the 2010 NCAA Championships, swimming for Texas A&M.

She also qualified for the 2012 Olympics 100m women’s breaststroke final after defeating Canadian rival Tera van Beilen in a head-to-head race for the final position. She subsequently placed fourth in the finals of the 2012 Olympics 100m women’s breaststroke, finishing with a time of 1:06.93. Atkinson won the 100-metre breaststroke at the 2014 Short Course World Championships in Doha, equalling the record set by Ruta Meilutyte in 2013 and becoming the first black woman to win a world swimming title.

David Weller is a track cyclist who won a bronze medal in the 1000m time trial at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, becoming the first (and still the only) Jamaican to win an Olympic medal in a sport other than athletics (track and field). At the next Olympic Games in Los Angeles 1984, Weller finished sixth as a result of a serious pre-Olympic competition injury received in a crash in Medellin, Colombia, two months before.

George Alphonso Headley, OD played 22 Test matches for the West Indies mostly before the Second World War. Considered one of the best batsmen to play for the West Indies, and one of the greatest cricketers of all time, Headley also represented Jamaica and played professional club cricket in England. Through most of Headley’s playing career he carried a heavy responsibility and the team depended on his batting. It was no surprise therefore that he was called “Atlas”. He batted at number three, scoring 2,190 runs in Tests at an average of 60.83, and 9,921 runs in all first-class matches at an average of 69.86. He was chosen as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1934.

Headley made his Test debut in 1930, against England in Barbados, and was instantly successful. Further successes followed in a series against Australia and in three more against England, as Headley dominated the West Indian batting of the period. Following his tour of England in 1933 Headley signed as a professional at Haslingden in the Lancashire League, where he played until the outbreak of war in 1939.

He was chosen as West Indies captain in 1948 against England, the first black player to be appointed to the position, although a combination of injuries and politics meant he only led his team for one Test match.

Courtney Andrew Walsh, OJ represented the West Indies from 1984 to 2001, captaining the West Indies in 22 Test matches. He is best known for a remarkable opening bowling partnership along with fellow West Indian Curtly Ambrose for several years. Walsh played 132 Tests and 205 ODIs for the West Indies, taking 519 and 227 wickets respectively. He shared 421 Test wickets with Ambrose in 49 matches.

He held the record of most Test wickets from 2000, after he broke the record set by Kapil Dev. This record was later broken in 2004 by Shane Warne. Walsh was the first bowler to reach 500 wickets in Test cricket. His autobiography is entitled Heart of the Lion. Walsh was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1987. In October 2010 he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

Christopher Henry Gayle captained the West Indies Test side from 2007 to 2010. Considered one of the greatest batsmen in limited-overs cricket, Gayle has set and tumbled numerous records across all three formats of cricket. He is known as a big hitter, very often hitting sixes. In 2012 he became the first player to hit a six off the first ball of a Test match.

He is one of only four players to have scored two triple centuries at Test level — 317 against South Africa in 2005, and 333 against Sri Lanka in 2010. Gayle became the first batsman in World Cup Cricket history to score a double century when he reached 200 off 138 balls against Zimbabwe during the 2015 World Cup. He finished on 215 runs, the record for highest score in a World Cup until it was broken by Martin Guptill against Gayle’s own team.

He is one of five players to score a double century in ODIs. In March 2016, Gayle became only the second player (after Brendon McCullum) to hit two Twenty20 International hundreds, scoring 100 not out against England.

Lawrence George Rowe, also known as “Yagga”, made his debut for Jamaica in 1968–69. He then made history on his Test match debut vs New Zealand at Sabina Park, Kingston, in 1972, scoring 214 and 100 not out, the first time that a cricketer had scored a double and single century on Test debut. It also gave him a batting average of 314 after his first Test match. He played 30 Test matches, scoring a total of 2,047 runs at an average of 43. He played 30 Tests between 1972 and 1980 and played 11 One-Day Internationals. He is one of only four West Indian batsmen to have scored a triple century, the others being Garfield Sobers, Chris Gayle and Brian Lara.

Stafanie Roxann Taylor is the current captain of the West Indies women’s cricket team, which she has represented over 80 times since her debut in 2008. A right-handed batswoman and off-break bowler, Taylor was selected as the 2011 ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year — the first West Indian to receive the accolade. Taylor broke into the West Indies squad in 2008, aged 17, and immediately inserted herself as a key member of the team.

She scored her highest Twenty20 total on debut, striking 90 runs from 49 balls. In the 2016 World Twenty20 she was the highest run-scorer and was named player of the series. She played in her 100th Women’s One-Day International match when the West Indies played India in the group stage of the 2017 Women’s Cricket World Cup on June 29, 2017.

Herbert Henry “Herb” McKenley, OM competed at the 1948 and 1952 Olympics in six events, and won one gold and three silver medals.

Born in Pleasant Valley, McKenley enrolled at the University of Illinois and won the NCAA championships in 220 yards (200m) and 440 yards (400m) in 1946 and 1947. He was also the AAU champion in the 440-yard dash in 1945, 1947 and 1948, and headed the list of world best times in 100m (10.3), 200m (20.4) and 400m (46.2) in 1947. He is the only person to ever have achieved this feat.

Just before the 1948 London Olympics, McKenley ran the new world record in 440 yards (400m) of 46.0, a record he broke again a month later, clocking 45.9. But at the Olympics itself, McKenley finished second in the 400m, behind team-mate Arthur Wint and was fourth in the 2oom. He is the only person to have made the final in all three sprinting events — the 100m, 200m and 400m — at the Olympics.

At the first Pan-American Games in Buenos Aires in 1951, McKenley was third in the 100m, 200m and 400m, the only person to ever perform this feat. At the Helsinki Olympics he was second in the 100m and also second in the 400m. He finally got his Olympic gold when he helped the Jamaican 4×400m relay team to win the race with a new world record of 3.03.9. His remarkable 44.6 leg is credited with pulling Jamaica into contention. It is considered one of the greatest relay legs in history.

Arthur Wint, known as the “Gentle Giant” , ran sprints and did both the high jump and long jump at Calabar High School. He later transferred to Excelsior High School where he finished his secondary education. In 1937 he was the Jamaica Boy Athlete of the Year, and the following year won a gold medal in the 800 metres at the Central American Games in Panama. At the 1948 London Olympic Games, Wint won Jamaica’s first Olympic gold medal in the 400m (46.2 seconds), beating his teammate Herb McKenley. In the 800 metres he won silver, after American Mal Whitfield took gold. Wint missed a probable third medal when he pulled a muscle in the 4x400m relay final.

In Helsinki 1952 he was part of the historic team setting the world record while capturing the gold in the 4x400m. He also won silver in the 800 metres, again coming second to Mal Whitfield. Wint ran his final race in 1953 at Wembley Stadium, finished his internship, and graduated as a doctor. The following year he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by The Queen.

George Vincent Rhoden won two Olympic gold medals in 1952. Rhoden was one of the successful long sprinters from Jamaica in the late 1940s and early 1950s, along with Arthur Wint and Herb McKenley. He competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics but did not win a medal, being eliminated in the heats of the 100m and the semi-final of the 400m. He was also a member of the heavily favoured Jamaican 4×400m relay team, but when Wint pulled a muscle in the final, their chances at a medal were gone. On August 22, 1950 at Eskilstuna, Sweden, Rhoden set a new world record of 45.8 seconds in the 400m. At the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Rhoden was more successful. He was one of the pre-race favourites in the 400m as the world record holder. He won a close battle with his compatriot McKenley, who had also been second in the 1948 Olympic 400m. As the anchor runner of the Jamaican relay team Rhoden added a second Olympic gold, edging the United States by a 10th of a second, and setting a new world record (3:03.9).

Marilyn Fay Neufville was active between 1967 and 1971. She broke the world record in the 40m and won four gold medals and one bronze in various regional championships. Despite being the world record holder and Commonwealth champion when she was 17 she did not make her Olympic debut until she was 24 years old.

Richard “Shrimpy” Clarke was a Jamaican professional fly/super flyweight boxer of the 1980s and 90s who won the World Boxing Council (WBC) Continental Americas flyweight title, WBC International light flyweight title, and British Commonwealth flyweight title, and was a challenger for the WBC flyweight title against Sot Chitalada, and North American Boxing Federation (NABF) flyweight title against Ysaias Zamudio.

George Leslie “Bunny” Grant was a Jamaican professional feather/super feather/light/light welter/welterweight/light middleweight boxer of the 1950s, 60s and 70s who won the Jamaican lightweight title, Jamaican welterweight title, Central American light welterweight title, Latin American junior welterweight title, and British Commonwealth lightweight title, and was a challenger for the WBC light welterweight title and World Boxing Association (WBA) World light welterweight title against Eddie Perkins, and Commonwealth welterweight title against Clyde Gray.