Jamaica has the prestigious honor of having the most success per capita of any country world in track and field. This great honor started when Jamaica's first track Gold Medallists Dr Authur Wint won the 400m in 1948 Olympics. He along other greats Herb McKenley, Leslie Laing, and George Rhoden put Jamaica on the map in one of the greatest relays when the team won the 4 x 400 relay in the 1952 Olympics.
Jamaica's success at the Olympics and international competitions continued through out years with athletes like Donald Quarrie (gold 200m, silver 100m, in the 1976 Olympics), Bert Cameron (silver, 400 relay, 1988), to Grace Jackson (silver, 200m, 1988), to Winthrop Graham (silver, 400m hurdles, 1992), Raymond Stewart, Juliet Cuthbert (silver, 100, 200m, 1992), Deon Hemmings (gold, 400 hurdles, 1996) and perhaps the most popular athlete track Queen Merlene Ottey who has more International and Olympics medal than any other Jamaicans.
Track and Field is ingrained in Jamaica as the majority of the schools in Jamaica have a track program in their curriculum. The annual National Boys and Girls Championship (Champs') which is held at the National Stadium in Kingston is the premier event for Track and Field in Jamaica where future track athletes showcase there skills to the rest of the island and also to the many overseas recruits who attend this event. The athletes who dominate this event are eventually selected to represent Jamaica in annual Penn Relays in Pennsylvania, USA. This is event had been "dubbed" the Jamaican Relays because of the Jamaican dominance in winning the most medals.
Asafa Powell-Jamaican Sprinter
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