President and chief executive officer of Sagicor Group Jamaica Chris Zacca has promised $1 million to charity should 400m hurdler Rushell Clayton win gold at the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.

Zacca made the committment at this week’s Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange, where stakeholders of this year’s Sagicor Sigma Honour Run discussed the event at the media house’s headquarters in St Andrew yesterday.

Clayton is one of this year’s patrons, with Reggae Boy Andre Blake, and FYAH 105 radio personality DJ Bambino.

This year’s Sagicor Sigma Run will take place in honour of late philanthropist R Danny Williams, who founded Life of Jamaica, which became Sagicor Life Jamaica.

It takes place on Sunday, February 18 on its usual course of the streets of New Kingston and Half-Way-Tree in St Andrew.

This year’s beneficiaries are the Savanna-La-Mar Public General Hospital in Westmoreland, the National Chest Hospital in St Andrew, and the Danny Williams School for the Deaf.

Registration for the race closes on Wednesday.

Clayton says that although she has never been to an Olympic Games, her aim this season is not just to get there, but to be a medallist.

“The focus is on the Olympic Games and, as always, I’m always aiming for the podium,” Clayton said. “I’ve never been to an Olympic Games. I’ve been to three World Championships; I have two medals, but I’ve never, ever been to an Olympic Games.

“The first aim is getting on the podium. I have to look at an improved time to get into that final,” she said.

Zacca then presented an incentive for this target.

“Here’s what I’m going to pledge today, listen carefully,” he said. “If we hear the national anthem at the Olympics when Rushell’s event is being medalled, we’re giving $1 million to a beneficiary of her choice.”

For an anthem to be played during a medal ceremony, an athlete must win gold.

If Clayton is to improve her time, as she hopes, she must go faster than the 52.81 seconds, which earned her the bronze medal at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, last August. But she is confident that it is possible with the work she has put in on the training ground in the off-season.

“Going into this season, oh my God, there’s going to be a lot more work to be done but I’m up for it,” she said.

Clayton’s first World Championship medal was also a bronze in the event at the 2019 edition in Doha, Qatar. There, she clocked 53.74s.

“I definitely had to work harder [last year],” she said. “In 2019, it was 53.7, last year was 52.8. It might seem like just a second, but it took maybe three times the work to get to that 52.8 and I know that it’s going to take a lot more to get on the podium in Paris because these ladies are running fast,” she added.

Clayton is among what many consider to be the golden generation of women’s 400m hurdlers. Femke Bol of the Netherlands is the reigning world champion and has a European record of 51.45s. This also makes her the second-fastest woman in history.

Last year’s silver medallist is the United States of America’s Shamier Little, who had a season’s best of 52.80s but a personal best (PB) of 52.39. Then there are Little’s compatriots, Dalilah Muhammad and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.

Muhammad is the third-fastest woman in history, with a PB of 51.58s but has set the world record twice. She has gold medals in the event from Doha and also the Rio Olympics in 2016.

McLaughlin-Levrone has broken the world record four times, with the most recent timed at 50.68s. She is the reigning Olympic champion and also won the World Championship in Eugene, Oregon, in 2022. She took time off last season for personal reasons but is expected to return this year.

“If she comes back, I’ll be there too,” Clayton said confidently. “It’s so crazy, I’ve always been in these fast races and I know that I can run fast. It’s just putting the race together and I’m working on that.”