MOSCOW, Russia, (CMC)- Jamaica closed the 14th IAAF World Athletics Championships in fine style yesterday as the Black, Green and Gold, won the Championships’ final two events, the women’s and men’s 4x100m relays.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who anchored the women’s relay team home in a Championship and National Record, will return home with three gold medals, a first for Jamaica and the Caribbean.
She had earlier won the 100m in 10.71 and 200m in 22.17.
However, Usain Bolt, track and field’s biggest star, brought things to fitting end by anchoring Jamaica to a 37.36 4x100m victory.
Jamaica without Michael Fraser and Yohan Blake, members of last year’s World Record breaking team (36.84), was expected to face stiff competition from USA, but Kemar Bailey-Cole and Nickel Ashmeade, the replacements, handled themselves very well.
Nesta Carter gave Jamaica the expected start before Bailey-Cole took care of Mike Rodgers on the backstretch.
Ashmeade held things together on the curve, and even though USA fumbled with Rakieem Salaam and Justin Gatlin on the final exchange, no one could have stopped Bolt, the king of sprinting.
Gatlin tried, but only to ensure USA stay within the medals.
In the women’s 4x100m final, the Jamaican quartet, considered the weakest on paper in the last 10 years, delivered like no other teams before in the country’s track & field history.
Carrie Russell and Schillonie Calvert, both got onto the team because of suspension to top sprinters Veronica Campbell-Brown and Sherone Simpson, were superb on the final day of the nine-day Championships.
Russell was very quick out of the blocks and destroyed American Jeneba Tarnmoh before leaving Kerron Stewart to take good care of Alexander Anderson on the backstretch.
Stewart’s lead forced American Anderson and English Gardener to fumble the baton exchange, which led Calvert to opened the gap.
And by the time Fraser-Pryce collected the baton, she was basically alone. She took her team cross the line in 41.29, a Championship and National Record, some 14 metres ahead of nearest rivals France 42.73 and USA, anchored by Octavious Freeman, 42.75.
Jamaica’s time is the second fastest on the world’s all-time list, only behind USA’s 40.82, done last year to win at the London Olympic Games.
Jamaica was the best placed Caribbean team with 6 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze, for third on the overall standing behind Russia 7-4-6 and USA 6-13-6.
Trinidad & Tobago was the only other English Speaking Caribbean team to win a medal, gold from Jehue Gordon in the men’s 400m hurdles.
