The situation is that the track at the Stadium East and the one inside the National Stadium are being repaired as they have become badly worn from ‘overuse’.

Jamaica is a track and field nation. We have a flood of meets at the start of each outdoor season and we have the largest high school track meet in the world.

This year we have come to realise that the tracks have become worn; the two at the stadium complex and the other at the GC Foster College.

This weekend the Queens/Grace Jackson meet will be held under trying circumstances because the national stadium will be shared with a Jehovah Witness Convention that had been booked for the weekend.

Why did it come to this? Why did we not have an alternative venue, a suitable alternative venue to host a meet where most of our senior athletes, the very best in the world, will start their seasons?

The leaders of government and the sport, in my opinion, still see sport a only recreation and not a business. With the success of our athletes this country has leverage to accomplish many things.

Each year more and more international athletes are seeking to visit Jamaica to train even as winter maintains its strangehold in their respective homelands.

For these countries the cost to lay a running track is relatively miniscule and is something we could have negotiated years ago had we the foresight. We need to start seeing sport as business and not only as recreation. Should we start doing that we can use the leverage that our athletes have given us to have better facilities for our athletes to train, better facilities which we can use to develop our young athletes, and better facilities which we can use as lure to attract athletes from overseas as well as their families to come here to spend their winters training and living in tropical sunshine.
What have now are broken down palaces, that limit our opportunities for growth in the respective sports and are nothing short of a national disgrace.

 Fraser was also a member of the gold-medal winning 4×100 metres relay team.

Melaine Walker could also have easily been the choice too. After setting a new Olympic record in winning gold in Beijing, she came to Berlin in even better form, winning over the favoured Lashinda Demus in 52.42s, the second fastest time in history.
Foster Hylton, however, did something that neither Fraser nor Walker, managed last season. She became the first, the very first sprint hurdler in Jamaica’s history to win a gold medal at a global event.
She also did it after returning from retirement. The attractive wife of Patrick Hylton, the CEO of the National Commercial Bank, having stepped away out of the frustration of failing to win a medal in Beijing, was perhaps looking at finally starting a family, but was convinced to return by her coach Stephen Francis. And even when she did return, coaxed into giving it one last shot, she did not look as convincing leading up to the world championships.
Yes, she was in the thick of things in most of the races she ran leading up to the world championships, but going into Berlin, Foster Hylton was not even considered a medal contender.
The American Dawn Harper, who surprised the world by winning gold in Beijing, was favoured to win again and based on what she did in the semi-finals, it seemed that she would once again relegate Foster Hylton to the minor placings; sending the Jamaican back into retirement well short of her career goals.
We all saw what happened next.

Brigette did not lose a race after Berlin, seven straight wins, including the World Athletics Finals, dipping below 12.50 seconds a few times in the process.
Fraser lost several times to American Carmelita Jeter and looked a tired athlete as the season wound down. Foster who is older by a decade, looked refreshed and rejuvenated, confident that she was the best sprint hurdler in the world, and that’s why she deserved to be the female athlete of the year.

Gatlin has obviously been away too long because there are several things that he has obviously not yet taken into consideration.

When Gatlin clocked 9.77 in Doha, it made him the joint fastest man in the world at that time. Since then Powell, his main nemesis then, lowered his personal best to 9.74 (the world record that Usain Bolt broke) and eventually to 9.72s.
Bolt came along in May 2008 and amazed the world with a 9.76s clocking in Jamaica and then 9.72 in New York later that same month.

Bolt would smash that record in Beijing and smash it again in Berlin this past August. As of August 2009, Bolt is officially .19 seconds faster than Gatlin has ever run, even faster .27 if you consider Gatlin’s best legal time of 9.85s since his 9.77 record has been stripped.

Powell and Gay, too, are .13 and .14 faster as well. If Gatlin and Bolt should race at their best, then Gatlin would be about the distance Powell finished behind Bolt in Berlin, a city block and a half.

But will it even come to that? Gatlin is not even certain to get a chance to race against the world’s best sprinters. Like Englishman Dwayne Chambers, Gatlin may be overlooked as the Diamond League gets underway this season. Meet organisers, especially those in Europe, are not inclined to invite Gatlin because they do not want the press about the meet to be about the drug-tainted American. In a time of recession, who needs the negative publicity?

As it turns out Gatlin may only get to race against Bolt et al in South Korea in 2011 and again in 2012, and that is if he makes the top three in the sprints in his own country.

Gatlin has not raced competitively in more than three years and at a US trials he would be up against a healthy Tyson Gay, a healthy and focussed Walter Dix, Mike Rodgers, and perhaps a few new threats to Tyson Gay’s crown.
Life is not going to be easy for Justin Gatlin when he returns. I would suggest that he learns to creep once more before he starts thinking about running with lightning.

Most of our major stars of track and field have not yet committed to the Commonwealth Games, which having been scheduled for October, looks certain to go ahead without many of the sport’s major draws who will by then be preparing for Daegu in 2011.

However, long before that are the indoor meets that will see at least two Jamaicans participating – Veronica Campbell Brown and Ricardo Chambers.

Campbell Brown under new coach Anthony Carpenter will be venturing back indoors after a six-year hiatus. For her it is as good a time as any to be back. She will need lots of time to adjust to whatever new programs Carpenter will have her on and there is nothing like competition to work out the kinks.

VCB knows she has fallen behind in the sprints and will have to refocus and relaunch to get back among the medal contenders in the 100 metre sprint.

Beset by injury thoughout the last season, VCB will be looking to rebound strongly, building momentum going into 2011.

Chambers, the national 400 metre champion, also had a challenging 2009 season. Allergies derailed any attempt he had planned to make at a medal at the world championships in Berlin.

His goals for this coming season include winning a world indoor medal at the World Indoor Championships in March and he also hopes to break Roxbert Martin’s 12-year-old national 400 metre record.

Armed now with the experience of how to control the allergies that messed him up this past season, Chambers should be a much stronger and better 400 metre runner when he emerges this coming season.

2010 is also a year when we expect to see Yohan Blake emerge even further as a world class sprinter. After his 9.93s clocking in Rome, the world waited to see what Blake was going to bring to the world championships in Berlin but that was not to be thanks to the Methyhexamine scandal that truncated his promising season.

Now that he has served his three-month ban arising from that situation, track and field fans will no doubt be eager to see what Blake brings to the track in 2010.

2010 will also witness the dawn of the new Diamond League that replaces the Golden League. We get to see just how it plays out, we get to see what happens with the lesser athletes and most importantly, we get to see what happens when the elite of the elite clash.

Usain Bolt, Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell will do battle at least three times this coming season and those races can’t come fast enough. Will Bolt break his world records in amazing fashion once more? Can Tyson Gay take Bolt, who has not lost in two years? Or, will Asafa Powell overtake them both and regain his place atop the heap of world’s greatest sprinters?

Yes, the Diamond League is going to be worth watching this coming season.

But the Diamond League is not only going to be about Bolt, Gay and Powell. The women are going to make some noise too.
Shelly Ann Fraser, Kerron Stewart and Carmelita Jeter are going to resume their electric clashes, and when you throw in a healthy Sherone Simpson, a determined Lauryn Williams, Muna Lee, and perhaps VCB into the mix, what you get are mother-watering battles in the female sprints like the world has never seen.

And how could I forget Melaine Walker aiming to break the world record in the 400 metre hurdles even while inflicting further mental damage to sore loser American Lashinda Demus.

The 400 metre battles between Jeremy Wariner and Leshawn Merritt are also sure to be tantaliszing.

Locally, Champs celebrates 100 years and that too is shaping up to be special as defending champions Kingston, Calabar, Jamaica College, Wolmer’s (under new coach Paul Francis), and St. Jago resume their intense rivalries at the national stadium the week before Easter.

We also get to see what surprises Jazeel Murphy is going to spring on us this coming season.

On the women’s side Holmwood, Manchester, Vere and all the usual suspects will be make Champs for this coming season, a must-see event.

And of course, there are going to be some real surprises as there are sure to be a handful of athletes who are going to raise eyebrows and grab the attention of the world of track and field.

So, what are we waiting for bring on 2010. Please.

Asafa Powell, who not so long ago, was the fastest man in history setting incredible world record times -  9.77, which he equalled three times, and 9.74, the time that Bolt broke to become the world record holder.
Since then Powell has lowered his personal best to 9.72s and he promises to run even faster.

Bolt is 23, Powell, 27, so we can expect them to remain among the best for at least the next four years. After that Bolt is expected to continue on for perhaps another four years, by which time he is expected to cement his place as the greatest icon in the sport.

Who stands ready to replace Bolt and Powell? Both men are extremely talented but does Jamaica have more of that talent coming up ready to fill the breach when Powell decides to walk away in three or four more years as he has said he will?

The immediate answer would seem to be yes.

Yohan Blake, the former St. Jago High athlete, who for the last year has been training with Glen Mills, is only 20 years old and he has already clocked 9.93s, a time which makes him the third fastest Jamaican ever. We can assume that Blake will go even faster in the coming years. His training partner, Bolt, has spoken publicly about his hard Blake works and once he manages to overcome to stage fright, will become a legitimate contender to becoming one of the fastest men of all time.
We await with some eagerness, the 2010 season and the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea in 2011, to see if Blake can develop into a world class medal contender. He, Powell and Bolt, should also form a relay team that will go even faster than the 37.10s that was set in Beijing in 2008.
Dexter Lee, formerly of Herbert Morrison is currently training with ‘mystery’ coach Anthony Carpenter in Atlanta, Georgia alongside countrywoman Veronica Campbell Brown, the two-time Olympic 200 metre champion. Lee, a world junior champion, promises much, so we will see what he produces on the track come next season. Perhaps we might get a glimpse of what is to come. Will he be a revelation or a bust? That is the question that awaits an answer.

Similarly, Nickel Ashmeade, who has been inconsistent having braved injury and adversity in recent times.
He trains with Campbell Brown’s former coach Lance Brauman in Florida, alongside his former high school rival, the talented Ramone Mckenzie.  Ashmeade has shown great promise as a junior but there are still too many unknowns where he is concerned. I eagerly await 2010/2011 to see what he produces.

Jazeel Murphy is only 14 years old but he seems to possess talent similar to those of Usain Bolt. 10.4x over the 100m without the benefit of proper fundamentals suggests that he can go much, much faster, as he continues to develop his talent.

So, on the surface, it would seem that Jamaicans are standing by to fill whatever breaches are created when our current world beaters step aside. We can only hope that they  fulfill the wonderful promise they currently have on display.

The triple Olympic and triple  World champion was this week named the BBC’s Overseas Sports Personality of the Year. The British Broadcasting Corporation, I believe, has an entire bureau dedicated to the man many already believe is the greatest sprinter of all time and if they could have found a way to make him the British Sports Personality of the Year, they would.

Bolt was also this week nominated for Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. He is currently fourth in the voting but should he even have a shot at being the Person of the Year?

Let’s look at what Bolt has done. He ran fast, very fast. He is re-defining sprinting as the world has come to know it. He has also brought the sport of track and field virtually from the dead. His accomplishments have proven to be great public relations for a country that once used to be known for his sun, sand and sea but has come now to be considered the country with the highest murder rate in the world. Bolt has also positioned Jamaica to capitalise by developing a sports industry that could have significant benefits to Jamaica’s economy in the long term.

These are significant accomplishments but in a world hit hard by economic recession, is the feel-good story that is Usain Bolt worthy of him being named the Person of the Year?

Millions have no jobs, famine rages in some continents, while nations are rattling sabres over the use of nuclear technology. Rising seas caused by the melting of the polar ice caps threatens the existence of some islands while rising oil prices pose a more immediate threat the economies of some smaller nations. When you put all that in context, Usain Bolt has not accomplished much.

Sport is an important thread in the construct of modern civilization but given the tenuous state of the world today, making Bolt the Time Magazine Personality of the Year would be to trivialise just how much a dangerous place the world is today.

That tradition continued over the years and gave rise to other talents like Seymour Newman, Bert Cameron, Gregory Haughton, Roxbert Martin, Michael McDonald, and Davian Clarke. On the women’s side Marilyn Neufville, Sandie Richards, Lorraine Graham, Novelene Williams and now Shericka Williams have kept the torch burning bright.

However, the brilliance among the men has dulled just a bit in recent times. Jamaica’s mile relay team has failed the medal in the last two major championships and there really has not been an outstanding 400 metre runner from the Jamaican ranks in very recent history. Well, it would be more accurate to say, not many.

Germaine Gonzales, who has gone below 45 seconds over the distance, has been beset by injury and last season, though he was relatively healthy, looked a shadow of himself. Maybe he needs another season to get back to the shape where he will once again put his hand up as a premier 400 metre runner but we’re hearing him talking about taking up the 400 metre hurdles so maybe he has given up on himself. If that is the case it would be pity if he did because I think he still is still capable of being more than a decent 400-metre runner.

That being said runners like Lansford Spence and Sanjay Ayre are not going to raise any eyebrows with their talent so it comes down to two kids, who I believe could make an impact by 2011.

Two-time national champion, Ricardo Chambers has vowed to go after Roxbert Martin’s national record of 44.49s next season and there is no reason why he will not get there. Chambers, 25, has run as fast as 44.62s but illness derailed his season. He only managed a season’s best of 45.13s in the quarter-finals. However, given that he ran 44.80 in 2008, shows that he has still got it and now under the guidance of Glen Mills, whom he said, has helped him immensely in understanding how to run the 400 metres, 44.30 or faster should not be out of the question for 2010. If he gets there it would be the perfect launching pad for him to contend as a medallist in Daegu come 2011.

Another promising prospect is 23-year-old Dwight Mullings, the younger brother of world championship sprint relay gold medallist Steve Mullings, who was also a finalist in the fastest 200 metres sprint ever run in Berlin last August. Mullings finished fifth in a personal best 19.98s behind Usain Bolt who shattered his own world record.

Dwight clocked a fast 44.98s last season for Mississippi State and only missed the Jamaican national championships because of passport issues that he was unable to resolve in time to participate.

Like his brother, Dwight has good speed, having gone as fast as 20.73 over the 200 metres. There is not much else to go on but having run under 45 seconds suggests that there is talent there that can take him much further and much faster too.

We will see what the future holds but between Chambers and Mullings, Jamaica’s tradition in the quarter-mile run seems set for a resurgence in the very near future.

Perhaps, Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia, who has been as dominant in the 5000 and 10,000 metres as Bolt has been in the sprints, but who has been dominant even longer than Bolt has been. Bekele is perhaps the greatest distance runner of the modern era, but the truth is whether people will openly admit it or not the sprints are the glamour events, not the distance runs.

Bolt was truly dominant this past season, 11 finals unbeaten with two world records. His name was on that crystal trophy since August.

It must have been a closer vote on the women’s side. Sanya Richards was dominant, yes, but so was Croation high jumper Blanca Vlasic, who had the second highest jump in history 2.08 metres in Croatia on August 31, a week after she had secured her second World Championship title in Berlin.

Either way, I am not too perturbed by the final choices. What bothers me though is that Clyde Hart was chosen as coach of the year. Hart trains Richards, the Female Athlete of the Year and former world number one in the 400 metres Jeremy Wariner, who has been displaced by LeShawn Merritt as the best 400 metre runner in the world. Merritt is also now World and Olympic champion.

Richards is the only current champion Hart coaches so it boggles my mind that he would be the choice for Coach of the Year. That title, I believe, deserves to be in Papine sitting in a display case or on a desk inside the Dr. Alfred Sangster Auditorium. That trophy should have been won hands down by MVP head coach Stephen Francis and here’s why.

At the 12th IAAF World Athletic Championships in Berlin, Francis’ athletes won three individual gold medals, one silver and one bronze medal. His athletes were also responsible for one individual national record and one championship record that was also the second fastest time in history. MVP athletes were also members of two gold-medal winning relay teams, one of which set a championship record that is the second fastest time in history.

In my book that is a no-contest.

As much as he has the personality Attila the Hun, Francis is a great coach, the best in the world today and perhaps for the last 10 years.

Hart has done great things and is easily the best 400 metre coach of this generation and perhaps of all time, having coached Michael Johnson, Sanya Richards, and Jeremy Wariner. But, Francis has coached Shelly Ann Fraser Olympic and World 100-metre champion; Melaine Walker, Olympic and World 400-metre hurdles champion and the second fastest woman of all time over the distance; Brigette Foster Hylton, World 100-metre hurdles champion, Kaliese Spencer, World Junior 400-metre hurdles champion; and Asafa Powell, four-time world record holder and a man who has run faster than 10 seconds 60 times; 29 times faster than 9.90. Powell also won a bronze medal in the 100 metres in Berlin.

Maybe Francis’ actions leading up to the world championships this past August had something to do with the decision. It shouldn’t because that was nothing about his coaching and more to do with his personality, but as I said before even though we don’t care to admit it, a person’s popularity does affect the way we treat them.

If that is indeed the case then Francis’ behaviour may have cost him a title he truly deserved.