KINGSTON, Jamaica— Sprinter Kemba Nelson who joined the Jamaican delegation in Paris for the 2024 Olympic Games, said she is grateful for the opportunity, in spite of the ups and downs that brought her to the world class event.

Days before the team left for Paris, Nelson had revealed in a series of posts to X, formerly Twitter, that she was not selected to be a part of the Olympics squad.

However, late last week, Jamaica’s team manager, Ludlow Watts, confirmed that the sprinter would join the country’s contingent to make up the women’s 4x100m team.

“[I am] grateful for the opportunity. It has been an emotional rollercoaster, I won’t lie but I am here and I have a job to do, I just have to do that,” she told Observer Online.

She added that when she learnt that she was not included in the list of athletes going to the Olympics, she took her frustrations out on the track and ramped up practicing.

“I think going to practice after not being named it was more of ‘I need to train to not let this happen again’ so it was more of me taking it out on the track in a sense and not trying to suffocate in a room. I can’t really change it so I was more taking it out on the track,” she recalled.

Now that she is in Paris Nelson said she is enjoying the atmosphere, though she is not with the Jamaica team in the Olympic village.

“Great atmosphere, great environment. I am not in the village so kinda not getting the experience 100 per cent but just being here is a great feeling. I went to the stadium for the 100m finals and it was incredible,” she said.

This is Nelson’s first Olympic Games and she is expected to participate in the 4x100m with three other members who have not yet been named. Nelson revealed however that training for the event has begun, though she did not disclose who the other members of the squad are.

She told reporters that it is a young group, but they are driven to represent well in the highly anticipated event.

“We are a young group of ladies and I think that alone gives us a lot of drive. I mean we don’t have the ‘Big 3’ as you guys would say but there is still hope, and we still have to believe in the team that we have, and work together. We are hungry, always hungry and we are going to make use of the opportunity. We believe in ourselves and we will see what happens on Thursday and Friday,” she declared.