BRIDGETOWN,
Barbados, Monday, August 13, 2012 – As Saturday’s men’s 4x100 metres relay race
brought the curtain down on the English-speaking Caribbean’s performance at the
London 2012 Olympics, it was a superior performance to the region’s outing at
the games four years earlier.
By
the close of the games yesterday (August 12), the official tally for the
countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) stood at 18 with seven gold,
four silver and seven bronze – surpassing the 15 taken in Beijing four years
ago.
Jamaica
continues to be the CARICOM pace-setter for at the Olympics. When Usain Bolt
blazed across the finish line Saturday to lead the Jamaican men to a new world
record of 36.84 seconds in the 4x100 metres relay it was a fitting performance
to cap off a 12-medal haul for the Jamaican contingent. Team Jamaica acquired a
perfect set of four each of the gold, silver and bronze medals in these games,
captured primarily by their outstanding track & field team.
While
all eyes were on the superstar sprinter, who confirmed his dominance by
retaining his Olympic titles from last year and silencing speculation that
teammate Yohan Blake could cause one of the games’ biggest upsets; other
CARICOM nations were quietly making history on the tracks.
Another
tall, lanky runner in the form of Kirani James powered home in the 400-metres
race to bring his island Grenada its first ever Olympic gold medal. This was
enough to place Grenada at the top of the medal standings in a tongue-in-cheek
medal table by ABC Grandstand Sports, which ranked countries according to the
number of gold medals it achieved per capita and Gross Domestic Product. As a
result of its small population and economy, Grenada was able to beat Jamaica
into second place in this ranking.
The
19-year-old from the Grenadian fishing village of Gouyave not only delivered a
gold medal, but a half-day holiday for his people as the Grenadian government
declared that the nation could have the afternoon off last Tuesday after James
won his race.
Also
benefitting from a national holiday will be the people of Trinidad and Tobago.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar declared in an address to the nation
yesterday (August 12) evening that today would be a national holiday to
celebrate the country’s best performance ever at an Olympic games.
Trinidad
and Tobago ended this year’s games with a medal tally of one gold and three
bronze medals. The gold medal was won in spectacular fashion by another
Caribbean 19-year-old, Kershorn Walcott, who did cause one of the biggest
upsets of the games. The javelin thrower not only gave the twin island-republic
its second ever Olympic gold medal, but he also amazed the world by snatching
victory away from his eastern European competitors to be the first person from
the western hemisphere to win gold in that event in the past 60 years.
Also
storming their way into national history was the Bahamian 4x400 metre relay
team. Winning their nation’s only medal at the 2012 Olympics, they also brought
home The Bahamas’ first gold medal in that event.
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