1. Jamaica 37.1 WR
   CARTER Nesta
   FRATER Michael
   BOLT Usain
   POWELL Asafa
2. Trinidad/Tobago 38.06
   BLEDMAN Keston
   BURNS Marc
   CALLENDER Emmanuel
   THOMPSON Richard
3. Japan 38.15 SB
   TSUKAHARA Naoki
   SUETSUGU Shingo
   TAKAHIRA Shinji
   ASAHARA Nobuharu
4. Brazil 38.24 SB
   LIMA Vicente
   VIANA Sandro
   de BARROS Bruno
   MOREIRA Jose Carlos
5. Germany 38.58
   UNGER Tobias Benjamin
   HELMKE Till
   KOSENKOW Alexander
   KELLER Martin
6. Canada 38.66 SB
   PALMER Hank
   HENRY Anson
   CONNAUGHTON Jared
   BROWNE Pierre
7. China DQ R R 170.14
   WEN Yongyi
   ZHANG Peimeng
   LU Bin
   HU Kai
8. Netherlands DQ R R 170.14
   HEISEN Maarten
   HOOGMOED Guus
   van LUIJK Patrick
   DOUGLAS Caimin

Back in Kingston, Jamaica, every household was tuning to the final of the relays Beijing 4×100m. They were disappointed when the favorite women’s 4×100m relays team did not finish the race due to a baton disaster. But the disappointment was made up when the men’s 4×100m relays team broke the world record.

Asafa Powell the last runner for Jamaica’s leg, dipped at the tape and was clocked at 37.10s, eclipsing the old mark of 37.40s by the American set in 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona (Mike Marsh, Leroy Burrell, Dennis Mitchell, and Carl Lewis). Various parishes to outdoor televised live crowds erupted into jubilation as Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell became household names

The Jamaicans reacting to Jamaica’s cool running

The question is now of course. How Jamaica produces so many sprinting champion and how we Singapore can learn from it perhaps and emulate such a ’success’. Perhaps the Olympics is a far-fetch goal for now, we can of course setup a realistic objective of making waves at our regional level first and from there building on it

Team Singapore last few couple SEA Games outing was a disaster and will be likewise in the coming edition if nothing less than a revamp is done of how we do things currently in the local athletics scene. I’ve done a previous article on this and the Jamaican and Singapore have a lot in common in terms of our colonial history and schooling structure. Basically they put in place a ’sound’ training program that took 30 years in the making, which ensures they’ve a peace of mind in real-life, without much of worry other than the need to perform and train

We already have a pool of talented athletes ‘churned’ out by the Singapore Sports School and the top ’sports’ orientated educational schools. It is the transition from junior level into the senior team that is important with proper structure and support in place to guide them, rather than present them with a certificate at their end of schooling years, stamped “Thanks for your service all these years” and left to fend for themselves when they have come of age.

Of course we can’t forget the current crop of senior athletes. From someone who knows the ‘inside’ of the local athletics scene, they get far lesser recognition and support than they truly get. Its truly a sad sight at how things are run currently. I’m doing my part with this website, at times ‘controversial’ but to me its necessary. We need the exposure, the truth, the bottomline, we need the change

The Jamaicans did it with far lesser primitive equipments, why can’t we with our huge rewards system, the highest amount offered to any athletes at the Olympics for your info, yet we could only bring back a silver only. Yes I’m excited of our medal prospects after 48 years years but I’ll be even prouder if the athlete is local born, bred and a ‘product’ of our sporting system from scratch. An athlete who will be brimming with national pride, singing our Majulah Singapura out loud shamelessly while holding back the tears as our national flag of red and white is being raised

I want to see that euphoria jubilation scenes at Kingston, Jamaica as seen from the video shown above in the coming 20 years in Singapore context. Sports Schools have already got the ball rolling, we have the pool of talent, now let’s groom them. People with the appointed post need to make a difference by stepping-up to the plate and not just doing a ‘ghost’ of a job. They need to inspire, we need you to lead. If they can’t do it, step down and let the deserving qualified do it