Many had feared that Jamaica’s performance at the recently concluded Tokyo Olympic Games would have resembled those of the pre-Usain Bolt era when the island rarely got anywhere near double-digit medal hauls.

At each of the three editions between Beijing in 2008 and Rio in 2016, Bolt, the greatest sprinter the world has seen, ensured that Jamaica’s National Anthem was played at least three times.

In 2008 Jamaica gained 11 medals, 12 were achieved in 2012 and 11 were accumulated in 2016.

And such was his magnetism and his status that he was always able to inspire teammates to find the winners’ enclosure, thus necessitating the black, green and gold flag to be raised time and again without his direct involvement.

And the measly return of one gold and three bronze medals at his last major championships, the 2017 World Championships in London, left many in fear that the cycle of significant medal hauls had come to an end.

Immediate past president of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) Dr Warren Blake is not one of those who thought Bolt’s retirement would have cast gloom over the nation’s athletics programme for the immediate future.

“I didn’t expect it to happen because the programme is bigger than Bolt,” Dr Blake told the Jamaica Observer on the last day of athletics at the Olympic Stadium.

“We have expanded into field events, which wasn’t a feature during the Bolt times, and we consistently were getting medals there,” he argued.

One individual who has allayed those fears in no uncertain manner, and has emerged as the pre-eminent sprinter in world athletics at the moment, is Elaine Thompson-Herah.

Led by the sensation from Banana Ground in Manchester, Jamaica, primarily through the women, performed exceptionally well at these most unusual of Games in Tokyo.

The nation copped nine medals — four gold, one silver and four bronze — to be among the top nations in track and field, and as per usual, punching way above its weight.

Among the medal haul was the historic clean sweep of the women’s 100m final where Thompson-Herah struck gold in an Olympic Games Record of 10.61 seconds to beat two-time Olympic 100m gold medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, with third going to Shericka Jackson.

It was the second-fastest time ever by a woman, bettered only by the world record of 10.49 seconds set by the late Florence Griffith-Joyner at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

For the second time in the history of the Olympics, Jamaica had swept the podium places in the women’s 100m final following on the first and dead heat for second places at the Beijing Games.

Thompson-Herah completed an unprecedented repeat double when she easily captured the 200m in an impressive 21.53 seconds, a new National Record, to follow up what she had achieved in Rio five years earlier.

She later teamed up with Fraser-Pryce, Jackson and Briana Williams to easily take the women’s 4x100m relay gold in 41.02 seconds, a new National Record and the third-fastest time ever.

Hansle Parchment, the 2012 110m hurdles bronze medallist, won the hearts of many with a surprised but somewhat deserved gold medal when he finally got all phases of his race together when it mattered most in a season’s best 13.04 seconds.

American favourite Grant Holloway was second in 13.09 seconds, with Jamaica’s National Champion Ronald Levy a close third in 13.10 seconds for bronze.

Megan Tapper, the bubbly dynamo, might have been the smallest in the field but she displayed the biggest heart in landing a surprise bronze in 12.55 seconds with victory going to race favourite, Puerto Rican Jasmine Camacho-Quinn in 12.37 seconds, ahead of world record holder American Kendra Harrison in 12.52 seconds.

The Jamaicans rounded out their medal tally when Roneisha McGregor, Janieve Russell, Shericka Jackson and Candice McLeod ran a season’s best 3:21.24 minutes for third in the women’s 4x400m relay final.

Shanieka Ricketts entered the women’s triple jump as a medal contender displaying consistent form, who would have been disappointed with her fourth-place finish, narrowly missing out on a medal after experiencing problems with her run-up in the early rounds, and had to play catch up from then on.

Russell was unfortunate to find three monsters in her way in the 400m hurdles final, an event won in world record manner; Stephenie Ann McPherson said she was in the best shape of her life but could fare no better than fourth place, a reality which sparked an emotional outburst from the 32-year-old, while Jackson must feel disappointed at her mental lapse in the heats of the 200m which cost her a sure silver medal behind compatriot Thompson-Herah.

Natoya Goule in the women’s 800m, who had been consistent all season, just couldn’t get it right when it mattered most in the final and saw a medal slip through her hands.

Form and fitness were also enemies of Fedrick Dacres, Tajay Gale, and Danniel Thomas-Dodd in the field events.

But everything said and done, it was a very good showing by the Jamaican team, and Dr Blake has no doubt about it.

“I think overall Jamaica has done very well when you take everything into consideration. Our track and field training and preparations were interrupted last year with the advent of the pandemic.

“The pandemic reached Jamaica in March of 2020 and almost instantly the entire senior season got interrupted. The junior season was interrupted as well, after Gibson Relays that was really the last big meet in Jamaica; Champs was postponed and the entire senior outdoor season got a beaten last year, nothing happened in terms of training and preparations of the athletes and after that the pandemic continued into this year and we only really had five weeks in which to prepare our athletes for this event,” argued Dr Blake.

He continued: “Fortunately, some of the athletes went with their training partners overseas after the National Trials and got some more competition, for it’s really difficult if not impossible to properly prepare athletes for competition without giving them competition before, so when Jamaica reflects on the medal count and want to say this happened and that didn’t happen, they need to take that into account that they did not get the sort of training and preparations that are normally put in.”

Normally, every year before the major events like World Championships or Olympics a training camp arranged and the training camp was cancelled at the last minute this year and that is where most members of the teams get to practise baton changes and other team-related practices.

“Had the baton changes been a bit better, especially in the women, we maybe would have challenged the world record but that wasn’t to be, but the important thing is that they got the stick around and they gave it their best, they ended up with a National Record and a gold medal, so we have to be very thankful,” said Dr Blake, who continues to be amazed at the high level of Jamaica’s track and field athletes on the world stage.

“Bigger nations than us have not done half as good as we have done for our size. We are a population of under three million and we have garnered nine medals with very little investment in track and field for the budget of the federation is under US$3 million and the sort of returns that we have gotten for that is second to none in the world.

“France, for example, I know they have spent over 20 million euros and that is the subvention that the Government gives to the federation. They have facilities that we can only dream of in Jamaica and we are far more successful than them and a lot of other European nations. We got successes over and above what these European nations who spend far greater sums than we do on sports, and track and field in particular, do, so all in all I think we have done very well and we have nothing to be ashamed of. We lost a few medals but we picked up a few, as well.”

And like many, Dr Blake is of the view that the Jamaican populace take the island’s success for granted.

“I think the nation does take the success for granted. I’m in some WhatsApp groups and they are very critical when we don’t do well and when you put everything in perspective that sort of harsh criticisms of performances can only come about when you expect every competitor to produce a gold medal.

“We’ve gotten accustomed to getting all the medals in the sprint events and I think we have been a bit spoilt there and we expect that all our high school stars are going to become Olympic athletes, but a lot of kids who go to high school and participate in track and field do it because of high school rivalry and they also do it in order to get scholarships to further their education, not necessarily because they want to become professional athletes,” he noted.