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What about Track & Field / Re: 2014 Carifta Games Thread: Sat.19th to Mon.21st April, Martinique (Videos added)
« on: April 25, 2014, 07:15:09 AM »HPTC wont help you with Carifta results. Try the other shortfalls you mentioned...dedicated Sports College, school based competitive system, etc.
If you think you see the best of Jamaica at Carifta, you are mistaken. They are Champs drained.
Besides, our system is only slightly less dysfuctional than yours!
Look at WY Champs last year. Jamaica topped the WORLD. HPTC didnt do that.
As for talent, you have a smaller population and 50% is Asian, so big sprint disadvantage there already. Having said that numbers dont tell all, as no country can get more than 3 athletes per event in the Olys anyway, so the "nearly as many in finals" comment is misleading and reflect wrong thinking. If we have Bolt/Blake/Asafa in a 100m final and you have Bledman and RT, you think that is comparable?
As for 400m record, it would be far better by now if Bolt stuck to 400m, if Gonzalez was not so injury prone or if Blake and other sprinters took it it. Never mind that though, as we have a great wave coming up. When we had 3 class 2 boys running 44point at Champs 2013 and the 13 year Old Chris Walker from Cbar running 48 low, then we should not worry. Throw in Bann and Bloomfield and the future is bright. Oh and Forte may do 200m/400m combo too.
Just as you mention the what-ifs about the 400m, well what if Darrel Brown's mentor (Nestor Bown) a chain-smoking, UWI librarian who never ran a day in his life had not died just as DB was reaching his prime, being not-wisely persuaded to leave his charge and move to Auburn to seek "better horizons" in the US, then T&T should have won the gold in the 100 and 200 in the 2004 Olympics. But as much as we might extrapolate on DB or what Bolt or his partner woulda/coulda done in the 400m it did not happen, and will not happen (Bolt simply does not enjoy the 400m and I suspect knows he has limitations) in that last 100m as awesome as he is in up to the 300m.
Don't let hubris get to you, appreciate the supportive culture, coaching and talent you have, but don't think for a moment that the other islands can't produce athletes as spectacular, history has shown different. One of those 44 legs came from Delano Williams, and well Zharnel brush off most of that talent you just talk about in the 100m. Between the Guadeloupean hurdler and the sprinters from Barbados, Trinidad and the Cayman Islands the future is bright for the entire region.
Case in point neither Richard Thompson nor Deon Lendore made a significant dent in their Carifta or Penn Relays years, but they did and are more than making up for it, and as we have always argued and used in favor of or against points, all that junior talent does not filter to the top with early peaking, injuries, disinterest, burn out, etc.
Hubris???
Hahahahahaha
You must think I am a waggonist? Go ask Flex. Its from 1997 that I set up the Carib T&F forum with his help. I know when we were happy for a single bronze. I am not waggonist chestbeater, rather a realist who knows what O'clock ah strike.
If Bolt dedicated himself to the 400m, the WR is gone, no question! Limitations? Do you know many SERIOUS knowledgable inside people think Bolt's best event could have been the 800m?
44point leg? You forgot that Super Donx ran that in Moscow last year as a schoolers, 44.00s leg to be exact? Our 400m problem has been nothing more tha 100meter-itis! That is where the money is and that is where they all gravitated to. LaShawn Merrit and I spoke about that a few years ago in Lausanne, and its the reason why he tried to bait Bolt to race him at 300m or 400m. The money currently follows Bolt and Merritt wisely wants a piece.
Now, I am not foolish enuff to think that Jamaica has all the talent in the caribbean, as Jehue/Kirani/KAB/RT/Walcott/Braithwaite/Kim/etc have all had good to great transitions to the senior level. At the same time, I urge you to recoil from going to the other extreme to say we all have the same quantity of talent. The evidence is NOT there. Jamaica has 50% of the Anglo-Caribbean population and most of that with West African sprint genes, so we do seem to have a natural numerical advantage. Even with that, we wont have a monopoly, but we currently seem to be nurturing the harnessed talent better than most, despite domestic dysfunctionality.
Finally, Zharnell is a pro at Racers and barely beat Minzie at Champs, coming from behind. He is the best at the moment for his age level and is a pet of Mills, but he cant touch the train-line of seniors above him, including Forte/Skeene/Delano/Murphy/Todd/Livermore/Harvey/Young/ etc who will peak later this year. I dont even put Dexter Lee in bunch, and we all know about Carter/Bolt/Blake/Ashmeade/Weir/Frater/Asafa and a few others who have escaped my memory now.
Point is, its hard for everyone transitioning to a stocked senior level, so attention to detail is critical at this juncture.
BTW, I want to reiterate that I respect you as a fan of this sport, so dont take any disagreement as more than that. I read your posts and take them seriously.