SANTIAGO, Chile — When Jamaica begins its athletics campaign at the Pan American Games this afternoon, many of its established stars will not be present.

This, however, presents an opportunity for a number of Jamaica’s lesser-known athletes to make a name for themselves.

Two of these are 100m sprinters Odaine McPherson and Mickaell Moodie. They both represent the Sprintec Track Club and the GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sport. Although their names might not be common in most Jamaican households, Moodie has already represented the nation at the World University Games in Chengdu, China, while McPherson is the 2021 North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) U-23 Championship 100m silver medallist and gold medallist from the men’s 4x100m and 4x400m relay events.

Trained by Jermaine Hamilton and Maurice Wilson, they take the track with some assurance that they have been conditioned to the best of their abilities under the guidance of coaches who have prepared a number of Jamaica’s elite athletes for competing at this level.

“I’m feeling well, confident, excited to be at these Games, I’m mentally and physically prepared for this,” McPherson told the Jamaica Observer on Sunday. “The coach gave us the instructions to just run the semi-finals as best as we can and get ready for the final.”

Moodie is equally grateful for the opportunity to represent Jamaica at another major senior meet.

“It is nice, this is very good,” she said. “I’m really enjoying the experiences when I get them. I just hope to go out there and do what I have to do.”

Moodie says she is motivated by the achievements of Jamaica’s top female sprinters Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Elaine Thompson-Herah, and Shericka Jackson.

McPherson, like Moodie, is motivated to do well for his family and his coaches, who have prepared him for the Pan Am Games, but he is also thinking about protecting the reputation of where he represents.

“It would be great for me, the college, and Jamaica,” he said. “I would just go out there and put my all into it and try to be successful.”

Both sprinters have been preparing in the spring here and both, like their teammates, have described it as being “really cold”. But McPherson says he is used to these conditions and his focus is just on what his coaches have told him to do.

“I’ve been to the Penn Relays many years now, so my body has acclimatised to the weather,” he said.

One area in which Jamaica does have depth and experience at the highest level of track and field, heading into Pan Am athletics, is the throws. Joined by shot putters Rajindra Campbell, O’Dayne Richards, and Lloydricia Campbell are discus throwers Samantha Hall, Kai Chang, and Fedrick Dacres, who is looking to defend his 2019 title.

“Mi nuh know, it cold, it cold bad,” Dacres, who spent a period of his training session shirtless, joked when asked about his title defence.

He is proud to see the talent Jamaica has acquired among its throwing unit.

“Wi a grow, yuh nuh,” he said. “It shows that our little throws group has gotten really big, so it just shows progress, and the country is opening up to more possibilities, so we’re just thankful.”

Dacres was joined on the podium in 2019 by silver medallist Traves Smikle, who did not make this trip. Instead, he has Kai Chang, who is seen as the future of Jamaica’s discus throws, to contend with. Chang previously trained with Dacres under Coach Julian Robinson before moving to the University of Florida, where he is trained by Coach Eric Werskey.

“I never really thought about it, but yeah, it’s a good feeling,” he said. “You’re always there with your close teammates, so it’s a familiar situation, and it’s all about good vibes and good feelings.”

Unlike many other athletes who represented Jamaica on the World Athletics Diamond League circuit and World Athletics Championships last August, Dacres decided to extend his season into October.

“Really and truly, this is prep season for me,” he said. “We have not really been training for this, but we were asked to, so we came to do the work for the nation. It is what it is.

“All my guys are here, so we just affi deh yah wid dem. Wi just deh yah a work.”

Jamaica, led by Head Coach Marlon Gayle, will get its campaign started on Monday afternoon in athletics, but its starting lists had not been finalised at press time. Each track event will start at the semi-final round and then the final, while the field events take the format of a straight final.