Everyday Sprinter

Usain Bolt, 2011 World Athlete of the Year

It's pretty cool to see a fellow Jamaican receiving this honor. Ya Mon!

The hype continues with Puma's 'Chasing Bolt.' My question is, how can you leverage your passion for track & field, particularly sprinting? Any ideas?

This is the first in a series by Puma. I'm looking to forward to seeing following episodes. But what do you think? Is there too much hype around Usain Bolt?

“Talent, training and tradition,” Desmon Brown, Jamaica’s Chef-de-Mission says is what has made Jamaica a spiriting powerhouse. “We are good in other track and field events too but understandably we are most famous for producing sprinters. Our netball team are world beaters and football is big, but hardly anyone talks about them,” Brown said.

Sprinting has dominated the minds of budding athletes in Jamaica.

“We have a tradition of spiriting, starting from Herb McKenley (400 metres world-record holder; 1948) but we have not allowed our talent to go waste. The GC College of Physical Education and Sports in Spanish Town is a centre of excellence which produces world-class coaches who in-turn mould raw talent. The secondary annual sports competition is 100 years old today and draws the largest number of athletes in the world at a single school meet,” Brown said trying to dispel the belief that Asafa and Bolt just sprung out of the blue and became world champions.

This is a great article which speaks to what can happen with focused national pride. Jamaica has a rich tradition in sprinting that every sprinter would do well to make note of.