Brandon Simpson may not be one of Jamaica’s most memorable Olympians, but his story of rejuvenation is hard to ignore.

The former Ardenne High School star competed at the 2004 Olympics in Athens at age 22, where he ran a then personal best 44.76 seconds in the 400-metre final. However, it wasn’t enough to land him a medal, as he finished fifth. The experience at that age may have been nerve-wrecking for some, but not for Simpson.

“Whenever I compete, I don’t think negativity,” he said. “I literally just go there knowing that I’m going to win and whatever happens after that, I settle for it. Really and truly, confidence is never my issue.”

That summer in 2004, however, would be his only Olympic appearance.

He switched allegiances to Bahrain in 2006, hoping to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Games and make history as the first man to do so for the Asian country but it failed to materialise as injuries forced him to call time on his career in January 2008.

Seventeen years after Athens, he wanted a second chance and Tokyo was his goal.  The 39-year-old came out of retirement earlier this year following a revelation from his late mother. 

“She passed and came to me in a dream and said I should go back to what I was passionate about and honestly, I’m a born runner. I went away and started to do some film and so on but at the end of the day, my passion is running. I just wanted to see what I got left,” Simpson told Observer Online.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be as an off the track injury forced him to miss the National Senior Championships at the National Stadium.

Though his Tokyo dreams failed to materialise, Simpson isn’t returning to retirement life just yet. He plans to compete at next year’s trials and attempt to qualify for the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

“I stopped running when I was 24 so I’ve had 15 years of dormant muscles,” he said.

“I’m back. I have a ton of energy, my focus is way up and I have a lot of determination and discipline to achieve this goal, probably more than I had back then.”  

Whether or not he makes a successful return to the track, Simpson plans to be part of the sport in a different capacity, along with friend and fellow Olympian Maurice Smith

“We’re in the process of developing a track club. We want to give back while giving to the sport. That’s primarily what I’m going to be doing for the rest of my life. I love the sport and I’m never going to leave it,” he said.

Simpson, who was born in Florida, has a personal best of 44.64 seconds in the one lap event and won medals at the 2001, 2003 and 2005 world championships. He was also a gold and silver medallist at the World Junior Championships in 2000.