Vice-president of the Jamaica Amateur Body Building and Fitness Association (JABBFA) Kirk Frankson is still beaming with pride after Jamaica’s performance at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships in the Dominican Republic last weekend.

Two gold medals and an overall impressive team performance underpinned one of the best performances the island has ever produced at the regional championships.

Frankson pinned down some of that success to the coming of age of some of the athletes.

“Overall, the executive and the country are very proud of the performance and the success of the team at the 47th Central American and Caribbean Championships. What resonates with the team is really the transition team. It is actually a case of youth being served.

“Of significance is the fact that the team placed in the top five overall and this is the first time in the last 20 years that we have actually placed in the top five in the best National Team category. In fact, we were only beaten by the larger Latin American countries. Jamaica is the highest placing Caribbean country,” he said.

What makes the performance even more impressive in the eyes of the vice-president is the fact that there was a limit on preparation ahead of the competition.

“Generally, over the years, persons have an opportunity to compete at the two competitions locally, the Novice and the National Championships to prepare them for representing the country internationally and regionally.

“This year we had a cadre of persons who had no or limited opportunities to prepare, no opportunity to participate locally and those persons did very well. So, for us as an association, standing out or worthy of mention are persons like Kashne McFarlane, Kemoy Maine who placed in the top six, having actually had no previous face to face competition or interaction,” Frankson noted.

He highlighted some of the outstanding performers and performances of both veterans and novices in the Dominican Republic.

“Also important for us is the participation and success of Ricky James and Ashane Gordon-Morrison. Ricky James has actually transitioned very well and is now moving into being seen as a senior member of the team, having placed fourth last year at the CAC Championship and now moving up to first and challenging for that overall title.

“Likewise, we look at the success of Ashane Gordon-Morrison, Deidre Lewis and Deana Wheatle. This being one of the largest teams that we were actually able to field persons across the different categories including Bikini Fitness, Wellness, Physique, Body Fitness, gave us an opportunity to try new classes, likewise in terms of the males we were now looking at one of the larger men’s physique category.

“Several persons were new to the team; these included persons like Akeem Hinds who placed second in his first competition at the regional level. We also saw the participation and success of persons like Daniel Haughton and for us, this success is very impressive given the challenges that persons had during a pandemic as we recognise gyms were closing, persons didn’t have an opportunity to train as much, many persons were challenged in terms of their diet,” Frankson shared.

Female gold medallist Gordon-Morrison, who says she has been a gym addict since 2016 and only started competing last year, explained that she has had to ignore the noises from the “penny-section” on her journey to success.

“With all the negatives that I get from those who don’t understand the sport, I have never lost focus because I have a strong support system. My ‘why’ is strong enough, so my ‘how’ has no doubt become easy,” she reasoned philosophically.

Ricky James was a man on a mission in Santo Domingo, going after gold and winning it.

“Listening to the instructions of my coach and trainer and following them to the T was important. I moved from fourth to fifth with discipline and consistency and a good trainer and a good coach. Knowing that all that hard work paid off, I feel great.

“It was challenging because knowing that the virus is out there, you have to be on your guard at all times. But I knew I looked the part and I know that I can pose plus I was motivated by my team and my friends and family so the energy was there. I felt like a giant going on stage, so I did what I came to do and let the judges decide,” he said

The JABBFA has certainly raised the bar in the most difficult of circumstances and will be looking to grow the sport even more on the island.