Carifta: Which is Ja’s Most Successful Event?

[Historian]

Without question, our most successful event ever (in terms of complete dominance) at the Carifta Games has to be the Under-20 women’s 4x400-meter relay. The last time that Jamaica failed to win the gold medal in this event was way back in 1984 to a Bahamian 4x400-meter team that included Pauline Davis-Thompson.

Since the 1985 Carifta Games, Jamaica has won EVERY Under-20 women’s 4x400-meter relay event, sometimes by as much as 100 meters over the second place finisher!

[Jangle]

Sorry Histy, but the Carifta Games just doesn't get my blood boiling. The competition is too weak for us. It's like shooting fish in a barrel. I'll wait on the WJ.

[Assasin]

the other island them have a chance this year as 3 of our top sprinters chose to leave before their final year. The class 2 youth from Bridgeport and others out with injuries. If they don't come close this year they will we weeping next year.

[Mosiah]

and our second rate athletes still setting records!

and what about the next Usain Bolt, Grenadian Kirani James? Is he living up to expectations? Can he?!

[Willi]

Yuh mean Aldane Skeene! 20.84s on his own.

[Mosiah]

Odane, I believe.

Yes! Jazeel Murphy, the former record holder is injured. Imagine if he were there!

[Historian]

Why I Support the Carifta Games

Sorry Histy, but the Carifta Games just doesn't get my blood boiling. The competition is too weak for us. It's like shooting fish in a barrel. I'll wait on the WJ.

Jangle, I fully agree with you about the weakness of the competition . If Jamaica, with its own weakened team could win a grand total of 72 medals in Grand Cayman, with almost 40 of those being gold medals, then this does not say a lot of good things about the rest of the region!

Our highest ever medal tally is either 75 or 76 (in fact, we won 75 medals on TWO occasions, with the first time, if my memory is correct, being in 2003 in Trinidad & Tobago), and so this 72 that our weakened team won over the weekend supports your statement about the weakness of the other countries.

Of course, this is not to mean that there are not improvements elsewhere, particularly (and not surprisingly) among athletes from Trinidad and the Bahamas. For example, I am still surprised at how hard the Jamaica Under-20 girls had to fight to win that 4x400-meter relay medal!! Regardless of what we might say about absent athletes, in the past we have on more than one occasion won this event by as much as 100 and even 110 meters! I cannot recall us fighting as hard during the past decade to win this mile relay event!

Now, why will I always support the Carifta Games and insist that Jamaica always brings its best athletes? There are THREE reasons for my unwavering support.

First, this exposes our athletes to competition outside of Jamaica before placing them in the harsh glare of the global meets (that is, the World Junior Championships and World Youth Championships). As such, Carifta acts as a sort of buffer and so “eases” them gradually onto junior competition’s biggest stages.

Secondly, the psychological factors cannot be overlooked. While Champs in Kingston provides a sort of “high” for victorious athletes, competing against the 20-plus Carifta Games countries, and winning, surely must do immense things for the morale of our youngsters! This feeling of “superiority”, in turn, can indeed help the athletes along as they compete on the global stages in Europe.

Finally, a Carifta gold medalist is “forever” a Carifta gold medalist. Since for many athletes this might be the only medal they’ll ever win outside of Jamaica, it will be an important memento that they can look back on with pride as they say to their children, “See what mom (or dad) accomplished?”

[Jangle]

Using a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest (in terms of agreement), I give you an 11 for point #1, a 6 for #2 and a 2 for #3. Caricom, Carifta and any other caribbean union is fast becoming irrelevant today and will be meaningless in a few years time.

[Historian]

Agree With You On Caricom, But....

Using a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest (in terms of agreement), I give you an 11 for point #1, a 6 for #2 and a 2 for #3. Caricom, Carifta and any other caribbean union is fast becoming irrelevant today and will be meaningless in a few years time.

I fully agree with you that Caricom will “be meaningless in a few years time” . In fact, Caricom is ALREADY meaningless, and has been for some time now, but the aging authorities refuse to admit it. Their mishandling of everything ranging from the CSME to the EPA speaks volumes, and Caricom’s unimportance in the real world/grand scheme of things was made clear yet again during the recent Haiti earthquake.

Yes, Caricom, that expensive Caribbean talk shop, will be irrelevant soon.

However, Jangle, Carifta is another matter as even if Jamaica starts sending its second string of athletes, Carifta is a very important development meet for the rest of the region! The regional athletes NEED Carifta for their personal athletic development and for other opportunities like scholarships, and so I strongly believe that it will still continue even if Jamaica withdraws. I don’t for a minute believe that Jamaica is “indispensible” to Carifta .

[Jangle]

So true, but Carifta is indispensible to Jamaica.

[Historian]

In Addition....

So true, but Carifta is indispensible to Jamaica.

By the way, Jangle, there are some Jamaican track and field enthusiasts who continue to live in a fantasy world that sees us as being indispensable to the Carifta Games. Trust me, the main drawback to Carifta if Jamaica withdraws is that there will be much less support from the Jamaicans who (inevitably) live in whichever island the Carifta Games is being held.

On the other hand, Jamaica’s absence might indeed give the competition a boost as other countries will probably now see themselves free from Jamaica’s stranglehold and therefore standing a much better chance of winning the event. I can see athletes probably stepping up their game in order to give their respective countries a chance at last to win the Carifta Games.

On another note, do you realize that Jamaica was lucky to have won the Under-20 boys’ 4x400-meter relay? This was Trinidad’s race to win, and not only because of Jehu Gordon on the final leg. The guy on the third leg ran a good race but suffered a cramp several meters before handing off the baton, and this most definitely benefitted Jamaica.

Also, do you realize that the Bahamas almost won this event over Jamaica? I know that the final leg is 400 and not 405 meters, but I’m sure that with another 4 meters or so, that Bahamian anchor runner would have passed our anchor man.

As far as the Carifta Games swimming is concerned, Jamaica, despite the home turf advantage, coud not manage to place in the first three!! Trinidad, not surprisingly, won by a tremendous margin!

[Gamma]

somebody should just put jamaica outta wi misery .... almost, should have, it is a relay .... those things happen! jamaica was lucky to win the relay. i am sure most jamaicans are happy for the win instead of who should have and who might have won....

historian, with all due respect (and i do have a lot of respect for you) sometimes you overdo the beat down...just my humble opinion. We dominate track and do not dominate swimming. t&t put thier emphasis on swimming we do it with track. we won track and field by a large margin too don't forget.

please also remember that the majority of the 20odd wins in a row in track and field was away from home...i.e. we bat the host nations and by large margins!

[Historian]

Historian Is Too Greedy!

somebody should just put jamaica outta wi misery .... almost, should have, it is a relay .... those things happen! jamaica was lucky to win the relay. i am sure most jamaicans are happy for the win instead of who should have and who might have won....

historian, with all due respect (and i do have a lot of respect for you) sometimes you overdo the beat down...just my humble opinion. We dominate track and do not dominate swimming. t&t put thier emphasis on swimming we do it with track. we won track and field by a large margin too don't forget.

Thanks for the kind comments (about respect), Gamma .

However, making critical comments is not about “beat down” or putting down Jamaica. I still feel that Jamaicans can achieve even more, and so where I think we lapse or we fail to have the required “heart” I will criticize on a Jamaican forum. Are my standards too high? Maybe….

First, I started this thread by commenting on the Under-20 girls’ dominance of the 4x400-meter relay since 1985. This fills me with satisfaction, as it is the Jamaican dominance in sports that I wish to see. In fact, Monday’s race was the first time in many years that the Jamaican Under-20 girls were challenged in a close 4x400-meter relay. Now, why can the Under-20 boys not dominate this event like the girls do? After all, we are a population of some 2.7 million, and a track and field power! Yes, it’s a relay, but while anything can happen in a 4x100-meter relay, there is slightly more room for recovery from error in the mile relay. Boys from powerhouse Jamaica should have been displaying a 4x400-meter consistency similar to the Under-20 girls!

Secondly, and speaking of 4x400-meter “luck”, this was not the first time that “luck” has helped Jamaica prevail against Trinidad (who you claim does not put emphasis on track and field). Just reflect, for example, on the 2007 Carifta Games in the Turks & Caicos Islands and that ugly stunt on the curve by 4x400-meter anchor leg runner Ramone McKenzie followed by the closest of finishes between both countries. We were damn fortunate that the judges ruled in favor of Jamaica over Trinidad in that relay! Personally, I did not agree with the judges in that ruling.

Thirdly, despite what you said above, Trinidad has actually been placing emphasis on track and field over the past several years. That twin-island state with a population less than half that of Jamaica, consistently challenges us, and sometimes beat us, in the Carifta Games Under-20 boys’ 4x400-meter relay. (Likewise, at the senior level, did you watch the men’s 4x100-meter relay in Beijing and again in Berlin last year?)

Fourthly, in the case of swimming, do you expect me to be happy when Barbados, Guadeloupe, the Bahamas and Trinidad outperform us on a regular basis in swimming? But then again, Gamma, I guess either my standards are too high or else I’m just plain greedy.

I could say more, but I won’t prolong this friendly exchange of opinions except to say this: Please do not take my critical concerns as “putting down Jamaica”! I’m entitled to be critical when conversing with fellow Jamaicans! The simple truth is that I post on track and field regularly, as opposed to soccer, because I’m a diehard track and field fan, and have been all my life. As such, there are certain things that are unacceptable to me, not the least being our boys’ inconsistency in winning the 4x400-meter relay at the Carifta Games level. It is this same lack of consistency that sees the poor performance nowadays of our 4x400-meter men at the global level.

[Willi]

You forget that Jam threw away this race last year????

[Willi]

No way...

Its a bit more important now that the iaaf have lower age limits on WY an WJGs, but how can shooting fish in a barrel be indespensible for us?