This is the conclusion of a two-part Sporting Pro series on the sporting exploits and professional career of Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn

THE end of a decorated athletics career in the late 1990s left Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn with plenty to ponder about her future.

The sprinter-turned-politician and entrepreneur went to five Olympic Games — and competed in four of them — between 1980 and 1996, claiming major accolades along the way.

She also enjoyed success at the World Championships and the World Indoor Championships, cementing her status among Jamaica’s iconic sports men and women.

When the curtain fell she could look back on silver medals won in the 100m and 200m at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, in 1992, and bronze as part of the 4x100m relay team at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

At the World Championships, Cuthbert-Flynn collected all her medals from the 4x100m event. She was a member of the gold medal-winning team at the 1991 event in Tokyo, Japan.

She claimed silver in 1995 in Gothenburg, Sweden, and another second-place finish in the same event two years later in Athens, Greece. In 1983, her relay team took bronze in Helsinki, Finland.

Her World Indoor standout moment came at the 1997 Championships in Paris, France, where she won silver in the 200m.

“Track and field was my life,” she told the Jamaica Observer when asked about the rare feat of making it to five Olympics.

“That was all I knew. And I enjoyed competing. If there is one thing I love it is a good competition, no matter what. As long as it is something I enjoy I just love to compete,” Cuthbert-Flynn, who hails from Port Morant, St Thomas in eastern Jamaica, said.

“I am very competitive in anything I do, I am very competitive. And especially if it’s something I love I’m not going to give up until I win or until I achieve what I want to achieve. My competitive spirit and my absolute love for the sport kept me going,” she passionately reiterated.

That mindset surely cleared the path for what was to come.

“I had to think about my life after track and field, and one thing I knew I didn’t want to do was to work for somebody. I also knew that after working outside in the sun and being free like a bird for 20-something years I didn’t want to work in any office setting,” said Cuthbert-Flynn who lived in the United States for many years during which time she attended University of Texas at Austin.

“I wanted to become my own boss, I wanted to become an entrepreneur, and I wanted to do something in the health, fitness and wellness area. I started setting up myself, took the personal training course, I wanted to own my own gym,” she recalled.

“I always wanted to come back home, so after retiring from track and field. I got an opportunity, I came back to Jamaica and after working for [sports goods outlet] Western Sports (as marketing and promotions manager for Puma) for two years, I decided to open my own gym.”

Cuthbert-Flynn, the Member of Parliament (MP) for St Andrew West Rural, even had a stint in radio broadcasting as a co-host of a sports talk show.

She shut down the gym a few years ago, but said she remains connected to the realms of health and fitness with her new business venture.

“I closed the gym after running it between 2005 and 2018. I had a sour deal — something happened and I just came out of it,” she recounted.

“I have a business, it’s called Therapeutic Essentials — selling rehabilitative and recuperative [products].”

For the past six years, the two-term MP has been serving the people of St Andrew West Rural, driven, she said, by the urge to continue to give back to Jamaica.

“I’ve been serving my country since I was 13 and I thought in this capacity since I have a very big mouth and a loud voice I could use it to speak up for the people,” said Cuthbert-Flynn, also the state minister in the Ministry of Health and Wellness.

“It was just me wanting to serve, me wanting to give back to my country. I’ve always given back, whether it’s to my school or just helping somebody. I thought I had a very loud mouth, and not afraid to really speak up… I thought I was just the perfect voice to really speak up for those who couldn’t speak for themselves.”

Though politicians oftentimes take a bad rap — and some would argue rightfully so — for the many ills in Jamaican society, Cuthbert-Flynn, who turned 58 on Saturday, said she remains committed to the cause.

“There are many things we do for people — you just have to have a heart for a fellow Jamaican. Despite all the noise and people cussing us out, we are touching more lives than we could ever imagine. I feel good about serving and serving my people.

“When it comes to training people I think those achievements are what I would be proudest about… to show people another way how they can actually get out of poverty. As a Member of Parliament I’m able to touch many lives in many different ways,” she explained.

Cuthbert-Flynn, who sees herself as a devout family woman, said there is a limit to the time she will spend in representational politics.

“I’m not making this a profession or a career, I’m not going to be a career politician. I’d like to come in and serve for a few terms and then go do something else,” she said.

As her parting shot, Cuthbert-Flynn returned to where it all began for her — on the track.

Against the background of Jamaica’s exceptional exploits in athletics in more recent years, with the likes of Usain Bolt, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson-Herah dominating the sprints on a global scale, she gave her view on the years ahead.

“I think our future has always been bright. We are doing exceptionally well and I think Jamaica is always going to do well,” she told the Observer.

“I think it has to do with genetics, just physiology and the body make-up. The body is made up a particular way for you to function and I think genetically we are predisposed to fast-twitch fibres in our bodies.

“Just think about, in 1948 we were able to make a mark in that era, winning Olympic medals, gold and silver medals. And we’ve only got better with technology and able to get the same type of training and facilities so we are going to be on par with the world,” Cuthbert-Flynn said.