TOKYO, Japan — Bert Cameron has carried Jamaica’s 400m torch for decades — as an Olympic and World Championship finalist, as the nation’s first global quarter-mile champion, and now as a mentor to a new generation of athletes.

As Jamaica’s current cohort of quarter-milers get ready to line up in the men’s 4x400m relay at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Cameron is convinced that the team, though seen as underdogs, has both the history and the hunger to deliver something special.

“I can say, I might be a little bit biased, but they are looking awesome,” Cameron said, smiling. “These boys know what they are here for. They are going into this competition as an underdog but they believe that they have the unit to do something special.”

Cameron, who guided Jamaica to an unlikely silver medal in the event at the 2022 Eugene World Championships, is leaning on both experience and history as he drives his charges.

“Jamaica is a quarter-mile country and the mile relay is one of our best events but for the past couple of years we have not been doing as well. I am here now to push them, to support them, to help them understand, and I believe that they are going to do well,” Cameron explained.

Jamaica has never won gold in the men’s 4x400m at the World Championships, but with 11 medals (eight silver, three bronze), the country has the second most medals in the event behind the United States with 14 (12 gold, two bronze).

“We want to win, but if we don’t win we can finish second, if we don’t finish second we can finish third. We don’t want to go any lower than that,” Cameron stressed.

At the last World Athletics Championships in Budapest, the Jamaican team of Rusheen McDonald, Roshawn Clarke, Zandrion Barnes and Antonio Watson finished in fourth position. The country also failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics a year later, and Cameron says he has been hammering home the importance of accountability and responsibility among team members.

“I drive in their heads that each person has to do their own job,” he said. “They must never depend on the next person. At the end of the day, no one should be saying, ‘Coach, I could have done a little better.’ No. Leave it all on the track. That’s the attitude we are taking.”

“The vibe is strong because they see what the boys have done in the first and second rounds and the final. All three of them broke 45 seconds in both rounds even though two did not make it to the final,” he pointed out. “So you have three people in your squad, plus the other person who will come in… all of them can run below 45 seconds. You stand a good chance of getting to the final and when you do that, you can then decide who will carry us home so that we can share this medal.”

For Cameron, who was the first 400m world champion and has lived through Jamaica’s greatest quarter-mile moments, a relay medal in Tokyo would be more than just silverware — it would be a statement.

“If these boys receive a medal, to me it would be a great joy,” Cameron said. “Because Jamaica is a quarter-mile nation.”