Dear Editor,
The 14th IAAF World Championships are over. The medals have been awarded. The amiable and attentive hosts could, on the basis of quality of medals, claim victory. The Americans, who got the most medals (and points), will no doubt say they have "won". However, the undisputed champions may well be Jamaica.
Of the 206 countries (or IAAF member federations) that participated, 38 medalled. Winning, they say, is not everything, but Jamaica ranked third with six gold medals, two silver and one bronze, claiming joint fourth with Germany on points.
Both the Russians and the Americans were outpaced in the sprints by the Jamaicans, by a margin of 6-0. Only 18 countries struck gold and were able to feel that surge of pride and emotions as their national anthems were played.
Jamaica was the only Latin American and Caribbean country in the top ten. In fact, only five other LAC countries (Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago) made it onto the medal table. Put another way, Jamaica's performance was superior to that of 203 other countries, and was bettered by only two.
On a medal per capita (MPC) basis, we won one medal for every 301,000 of us. The figure for the USA was one medal for every 12.5 million Americans; Russia 1:8,400,000; and for Kenya, one medal for every 3,218,000 Kenyans. In case you are wondering, China won one medal for every 337,000,000 Chinese. India's 15 athletes are returning home with nothing to show to their 1.2 billion fellow citizens.
If per capita income (PCY), as a sort of proxy for a country's ability to support its athletes, was to be factored — not the strongest of arguments, given the high level of support for athletics in Jamaica — then we bested countries far "richer" than ourselves. Using this criterion, only "poor" Kenya (PCY of $997.00, compared to ours of $5,541.00) performed better than we did.
The PCY of the USA is approximately nine times that of Jamaica; and that of Russia, more than twice that of ours. In other words, with a smaller pool from which to choose, and with fewer financial resources at our disposal, we did exceptionally well and much better than practically all of the competition. This, perhaps, says a lot about the quality of our other resources.
With a contingent of 45 athletes, our strike rate (MPA) was one medal for every five athletes. Russia was one medal for every seven athletes; the USA was one medal for every five athletes; Germany, a medal for every 10 athletes; and Kenya had a medal to athlete ratio of 1:4. However, Djibouti's sole athlete won a medal and the Ivory Coast, which entered 3 athletes, won 2 medals — both silver by Murielle Ahoure in the women's 100 and 200 metres respectively.
Even with all this, the champions of the world, statistically speaking, may not be Jamaica, but Kenya. While we may have out-sprinted the Kenyans in terms of medals per capita, they outpaced us in most other major categories — number of medals, if not quality; points; MPA and PCY. While we owned the sprints, they owned the steeplechase. They have explained their success in terms of teamwork.
In my opinion, our most satisfying performances were also in team events, one of which (the women's 4x100) was the Championship record. That being said, the two most outstanding individual performers were Jamaicans — Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Usain Bolt. Mo Farah, perhaps inspired by Jamaica, was brilliant.
Beyond the statistics, there were a few other things. The hosts loved us, we were much admired and respected, and our competitors took notice — quite often from behind. If you were to add the immeasurable excitement, character, attitude, colour, and panache we brought to the games, then we are the Champions of the World! Again.
Audley Rodriques
roddo1958@hotmail.com
We are the champions of the world... again
-->
The 14th IAAF World Championships are over. The medals have been awarded. The amiable and attentive hosts could, on the basis of quality of medals, claim victory. The Americans, who got the most medals (and points), will no doubt say they have "won". However, the undisputed champions may well be Jamaica.
Of the 206 countries (or IAAF member federations) that participated, 38 medalled. Winning, they say, is not everything, but Jamaica ranked third with six gold medals, two silver and one bronze, claiming joint fourth with Germany on points.
Both the Russians and the Americans were outpaced in the sprints by the Jamaicans, by a margin of 6-0. Only 18 countries struck gold and were able to feel that surge of pride and emotions as their national anthems were played.
Jamaica was the only Latin American and Caribbean country in the top ten. In fact, only five other LAC countries (Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago) made it onto the medal table. Put another way, Jamaica's performance was superior to that of 203 other countries, and was bettered by only two.
On a medal per capita (MPC) basis, we won one medal for every 301,000 of us. The figure for the USA was one medal for every 12.5 million Americans; Russia 1:8,400,000; and for Kenya, one medal for every 3,218,000 Kenyans. In case you are wondering, China won one medal for every 337,000,000 Chinese. India's 15 athletes are returning home with nothing to show to their 1.2 billion fellow citizens.
If per capita income (PCY), as a sort of proxy for a country's ability to support its athletes, was to be factored — not the strongest of arguments, given the high level of support for athletics in Jamaica — then we bested countries far "richer" than ourselves. Using this criterion, only "poor" Kenya (PCY of $997.00, compared to ours of $5,541.00) performed better than we did.
The PCY of the USA is approximately nine times that of Jamaica; and that of Russia, more than twice that of ours. In other words, with a smaller pool from which to choose, and with fewer financial resources at our disposal, we did exceptionally well and much better than practically all of the competition. This, perhaps, says a lot about the quality of our other resources.
With a contingent of 45 athletes, our strike rate (MPA) was one medal for every five athletes. Russia was one medal for every seven athletes; the USA was one medal for every five athletes; Germany, a medal for every 10 athletes; and Kenya had a medal to athlete ratio of 1:4. However, Djibouti's sole athlete won a medal and the Ivory Coast, which entered 3 athletes, won 2 medals — both silver by Murielle Ahoure in the women's 100 and 200 metres respectively.
Even with all this, the champions of the world, statistically speaking, may not be Jamaica, but Kenya. While we may have out-sprinted the Kenyans in terms of medals per capita, they outpaced us in most other major categories — number of medals, if not quality; points; MPA and PCY. While we owned the sprints, they owned the steeplechase. They have explained their success in terms of teamwork.
In my opinion, our most satisfying performances were also in team events, one of which (the women's 4x100) was the Championship record. That being said, the two most outstanding individual performers were Jamaicans — Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Usain Bolt. Mo Farah, perhaps inspired by Jamaica, was brilliant.
Beyond the statistics, there were a few other things. The hosts loved us, we were much admired and respected, and our competitors took notice — quite often from behind. If you were to add the immeasurable excitement, character, attitude, colour, and panache we brought to the games, then we are the Champions of the World! Again.
Audley Rodriques
roddo1958@hotmail.com
We are the champions of the world... again
-->