The name Michael Frater won’t be the first on Jamaicans lips when they reminisce about the island’s sprinting dominance.

But a closer look at the records would reveal that Frater was pivotal in the rise of Jamaica’s sprinting dominance although Asafa Powell, Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake got most credit.

After Raymond Stewart won a 100m silver medal at the 1987 World Championship in Rome, Jamaica had to wait 18 years for another male to medal in the event and that came courtesy of Frater at the 2005 World Championship, where he too won silver and the renaissance began.

It was the beginning of great things as, two years later, Bolt would cop silver in the 200m before everything exploded in 2008 at the Olympics in Beijing.

Frater along with Bolt, Powell, Blake and Nesta Carter would form a formidable relay unit where they won gold at the Olympics and World championships and lowered the world record three times. Frater was a part of all three.

But having retired in 2017 at the age of 34 because of persistent injuries, Frater has been very active off the track and honed his skills as a coach at Jago High School.

Then, in 2020 he and Gregory Little formed the athletics club Titans (Training Intelligently Towards Athletes’ Natural Speed). Among their clients is Frater’s former Jamaica teammate Yohan Blake.

Frater has combined what he learnt from arguably the two best coaching minds in track and field — Stephen Francis and Glen Mills — and his athletes are getting the best of both worlds.

Francis is the coaching guru at MVP that guided Olympic champions Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson, along with former 100m world record holder Asafa Powell.

Mills guided the career of the greatest sprinter of all time Usain Bolt, and Yohan Blake to dizzying heights.

“It was formed on the vision of us giving back to the sport what we have learned and to help these young men and women accomplish their career goals,” Frater explained.

“For me, it’s a part of giving back. It’s a part of sharing my knowledge of what I have garnered over the many years,” Frater pointed out.

“I have been competing and it’s a situation where I can relate to the athletes. I have been in the position that most of them have been in. So for me, it is just understanding an athlete, knowing what they are going through, and passing on the knowledge,” he added.

But, for the first time, Frater will be heading to the Olympics not as a runner but a coach, of Blake and Jevaughn Minzie, and he is just as excited.

“Yes, different but same excitement. Now I just want the athletes to be confident and believe in the preparation we did for the year gearing towards this very meet,” he explained.

“I just want them to relax, enjoy and execute in the moment,” said Frater.

But the retired Olympian is not finished there. He has ventured into the cannabis business where he opened his 4/20 Sports Therapeutic Bliss — a medical cannabis dispensary — with the hope of exposing and solving injuries as experienced first-hand by him.

Frater, who is also third vice-president of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA), said marijuana was once forbidden, but after experiencing it’s medicinal prowess, he decided to expose others to its benefits.

But like all businesses, the coronavirus pandemic has had a debilitating effect.

“It’s coming along. Covid and the lockdown are not helping.  But staying the course,” said Frater.