An example to follow
AMONG the great photographs of the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China is that of Mrs Novlene Williams-Mills, baton held aloft in her right hand, as she triumphantly crosses the line to take Jamaica to gold in the Women’s 4x400m relay.
It’s often said that track and field embodies individualism: Each athlete striving to beat the rest including teammates and countrymen.
But in the relays that impression disappears. The relays bring forcefully to the public eye, the reality of teamwork and the actuality of the concept: One for all and all for one. Here, the view that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts becomes indisputable.
The baton bearing the spirit and aspirations of the team, and in this case the nation, becomes the priceless link without which all is lost.
Mrs Williams Mills, a cancer survivor, could hardly have been blamed had she been relegated to the silver medal. After all, she received the baton well behind the powerful US team and on the basis of times recorded entering the World Championships should have been no match for her anchor leg rival Ms Francena McCorory. But for the 48 seconds or so that the anchor leg contest lasted, Mrs Williams-Mills held the spirit and aspirations of Jamaica in her hands. She refused to be denied, systematically cutting the deficit before surging to victory with her last few strides.
Even in the failure of the Men’s 4x400m relay the indomitable spirit of Jamaicans was manifested. Mr Javon Francis’s stirring drive to win gold against overwhelming odds, when he would have been better off securing a lesser medal, predictably backfired. But who could fail to admire his courage?
Yet again, at a global athletic games, little but tallawah’ Jamaica has stunned the world, and even themselves. Seven times over a few days, the Bird’s Nest stood to attention as renditions of Jamaica’s National Anthem recognised gold medal achievements. Two silver and three bronze medals complemented gold as Jamaica ended second only to Kenya on the medal table. Incredibly, or perhaps instructively, Jamaica took gold in three of four relays.
As was the case in Beijing in 2008, and at global meets before and since, Jamaican success was not only about talent. It also reflected hard work, planning and organisation led by coaches, support staff, and administrators, not just at the senior level, but crucially also at the junior levels, going as far back as junior and prep schools.
That final fruit comes from many, many years of toil and sacrifice.
It’s an example that Jamaicans and their leaders striving to free their nation from chronic indebtedness, poverty, the vicious stranglehold of criminals and an array of social ills should keep at the forefront of their minds.
There is no easy way to success, and it can’t come overnight. Jamaicans and their leaders should take inspiration from their many heroes at the Beijing World Championships — none more heroic than Mrs Williams-Mills. A few years ago she fought off cancer and, when many others would have given up, she battled her way back to top-level competition.
And yesterday, when many others would have given up on gold, Mrs Williams-Mills, inspired by the spirit and power of her nation, braved the pain and defied the odds, to reign supreme. That’s the way.