Last Sunday, August 7 saw the curtains come down on the Games of the XXXII Olympiad that was filled with all the thrills and spectacle of previous years, minus the ecstatic spectators.

The Tokyo Olympics came very close to cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic but, despite protests from many in Japan, the event was ‘successfully’ staged after being postponed in 2020 (the first such instance in the history of the Olympic Games).

The Olympic Games serve as an international celebration of sports that began in ancient Greece somewhere around 776 BC. The original Greek games were staged every four years for several hundred years, until they were abolished in the early Christian era. After a 1,500-year hiatus, the Olympic Games returned to Athens, Greece in 1896, and since then they have been staged every fourth year, except during World War I (1916) and World War II (1940 and 1944) when the Games were cancelled.

Thirteen countries competed at the 1896 Games in Athens. Nine sports were on the agenda: cycling, fencing, gymnastics, lawn tennis, shooting, swimming, track and field, weightlifting and wrestling. The Games were a success, and the second Olympiad was scheduled to be held in France. Olympic Games were held in 1900 and 1904, and by 1908 the number of competitors more than quadrupled the number at Athens — from 311 to 2,082.

In the 2016 installment of the games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, there were 28 different sports and Tokyo welcomed an additional five this year, with the introduction of skateboarding, surfing and karate, as well as the return of baseball and softball. Additionally, there were 206 nations and 10,305 individual athletes competing in Tokyo — 13 nations had just two athletes in their team, while the largest team was the United States with 657 followed by host Japan with 615.

Beyond the difference in the number of sports and athletes, perhaps the most significant difference between the ancient and modern Olympics is that the former was the ancient Greeks’ way of paying homage to their gods, whereas the modern Games stand as a salute to the athletic talents of mere humans. And the athletic talents have always found a way to provide performances envied, even by the gods.

Without delving too deep into history, Jamaica has had its lion’s share of glorious Olympic moments. From the time Arthur Wint became Jamaica’s first Olympic sprint star in 1948, the Olympic stage has been littered with a slew of memorable moments by the talent sifted from an island with less than thrww million inhabitants.

Some of the others who have helped to maintain (and improve) the standards are: Herbert McKenley, George Rhoden, Leslie Laing, Keith Gardner, Una Morris, Lennox Miller, Colin Bradford, Donald Quarrie, Bertland Cameron, Merlene Ottey, Juliet Cuthbert, Raymond Stewart, Grace Jackson, Deon Hemmings, Michelle Freeman, Gillian Russell, Beverly McDonald, Veronica Campbell Brown, Sandie Richards, Aleen Bailey, Sherone Simpson, Michael Frater, Brigitte Foster, Asafa Powell, Kerron Stewart, Usain Bolt, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Shericka Williams, Nesta Carter, Melaine Walker, Hansle Parchment, Yohan Blake, Omar McLeod and Elaine Thompson-Herah.

The list has been immense over the years but there are those whose Olympic star shine brightest.

Arthur Wint was the first Jamaican Olympic gold medallist, winning the 400 metres at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London in 46.2 seconds. In the Helsinki Games in 1952, he was part of the historic Jamaica 4X400 men’s relay team that would win gold and set a world record.

Merlene Ottey is the first Jamaican and Caribbean woman to win an Olympic medal and is also the only track and field athlete to participate in seven different Olympics: Moscow, 1980; Los Angeles, 1984; Seoul, 1988; Barcelona, 1992; Atlanta, 1996; Sydney, 2000; and Athens 2004 (where she represented Slovenia). In total, Ottey captured nine Olympic medals (bronze 200 metres (3), 100 metres (2), 4×100 metres relay (1) and a silver each in the 100 metres, the 200 metres and the 4×100 metres relay).

Deon Hemmings at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics became the first woman from the English-speaking Caribbean to win an Olympic gold medal and the first Jamaican female to win gold in the 400 metres hurdles with a record-breaking time of 52.64 seconds — a record that would stand until 2004.

Asafa Powell has broken the sub-10 second barrier in competition more than anyone else in athletics history at an amazing 97 times. His personal best of 9.72 seconds makes him the fourth-fastest human in history and he was also part of the world record-breaking 4X100 Jamaican men’s relay team that won gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Veronica Campbell Brown is a seven-time Olympic medallist and is also the youngest Jamaican woman (at 18 years old) to win an Olympic medal. At the 2012 Olympic Games, she became the second woman in history to win two-consecutive Olympic 200 metres events and is also one of only nine athletes to win World Championships at the youth, junior and senior level of athletics.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce became the first Jamaican (and Caribbean) woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the 10 -metres at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She won her second-straight 100 metres gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics, becoming the first woman to repeat 100-metre victories since American Gail Devers (in 1992 and 1996). She won bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics, becoming the first female sprinter to win 100-metre medals at three consecutive Olympics then added a silver medal in the 100-metre event at this year’s Games. She is ranked fourth on the list of the fastest 100-metre female sprinters of all time.

Usain Bolt is considered the greatest sprinter of all time and has shattered many world records in his wake. He is the only sprinter to have won gold medals in the 100-metre and 200-metre races in three-consecutive Olympics (2008, 2012, 2016) and currently holds the world and Olympic records for both events in addition to being part of the record-breaking 4X100 quartet at the 2008 Bejing Olympics.

Elaine Thompson-Herah completed a rare sprint double (100-metre & 200-metre) at the 2016 Rio Olympics and returned to the Tokyo Games this year to break the Olympic 100-metre record set by Florence Griffith Joyner in 1988, then blew away a talented field in the 200 metres to successfully defend both titles and secure an unprecedented women’s sprinting “double-double”. She completed her second-straight Olympic sprint sweep recording 10.61 seconds in the 100 and 21.53 seconds (the second-fastest time in history) in the 200.