Remember our competitors in field and other events
KINGSTON, Jamaica — The country is represented by 50 athletes at the 30th Olympiad to begin in London in the next eight days and while we expect fireworks from our competitors on the track, Jamaicans must also remember our participants in the field and other events.
Outside of the track, eight athletes will represent the country in the disciplines of swimming, long jump, shot put, and even equestrian, where 41- year-old Samantha Albert will compete in a three-day event.
Albert became the only Jamaican to compete in an Olympic equestrian competition in the 2008 Beijing Games. She and her mare ‘Before I do it’ were eliminated in the show jumping. This is Albert’s second Olympics.
In swimming, Alia Atkinson, 23, will compete in the 100m breaststroke. This is Atkinson’s third Olympic Games. She competed in Athens in 2004 and Beijing 2008 where she finished 25th in the women’s 200m breaststroke.
Allison Randall, born May 25, 1988 will participate in the discus. Randall threw her personal best earlier this year, a record best 61.21metres. She qualified for the Olympic team after winning the discus with a throw of 55.92metres at the national trials.
Shot-put specialist Dorian Scott won silver medals at both the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and in 2007 at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janerio, Brazil.
Scott, 30, has a personal best distance of 21.45metres. He qualified for the 2012 Olympic team after winning the shot put at the national championships in Kingston.
Scott also represented Jamaica at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, where he finished 15th overall with a throw of 65-feet 5-inches
Jason Morgan will represent Jamaica at the discus. He has a personal best of 67.15metres. Morgan finished 17th in the World Championships in 2011.
This is his first Olympics.
Competing in Tae-kwon-do is Kenneth Edwards born December 30, 1985. He will compete in the Men’s 80KG competition.
Edwards is a part of the Ningen Martial Arts club in Jamaica. Edwards, who began practicing Martial Arts at 11-years-old, became the first Jamaican Taekwondoka to qualify for the Olympics after finishing third at the quialifiers in Queretaro Mexico in 2001.
Damar Forbes, born September 11, 1990 in St Ann will be competing in the long jump. Forbes first competition on the international stage was in Daegu, Korea where he jumped a distance of 7.91metres. He finished in 11th place in the qualifying round. He has a personal best of 8.23m. This is his first Olympics.
Travis Smikle, 20, will compete in the men’s discus.
The former Calabar High School student who won a bronze medal at the 2009 World Youth Championships threw a record 67.12metres at the national trials, which qualified him for the Olympics.