The coronavirus pandemic dominated for a second straight year in 2021 with sports, among other sectors locally, being impacted. Still, despite the restrictions, there were some bright moments – on the pitch and off – in sports locally.

The Tokyo Olympic Games was the foremost sporting event for the year with Jamaicans once again shining brightly on the global stage – the unquestionable star of the show being sprint queen Elaine Thompson-Herah who displayed impeccable form to retain the women’s 100 metres and 200 metres titles that she first won at the Rio Olympics five years before.

While track and field took the spotlight, football was also centrestage, with the Reggae Boyz participating in the CONCACAF Gold Cup and then the Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifiers. The performances were, however, subpar, although there were a few moments of individual brilliance.

OBSERVER ONLINE presents our top 10 sports moments for Jamaica in 2021.

1. THOMPSON-HERAH LOWERS FASTEST-WOMAN ALIVE RECORD

Thompson-Herah capped off an excellent season with a brilliant run in the women’s 100 metres at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon to win in 10.54 seconds, which lowered the fastest-woman alive mark of 10.61 seconds that she had set at the Tokyo Olympic Games a few weeks prior. Thompson-Herah made short work of the field which was stacked with the best of women’s sprinting, including the talkative American Sha’Carri Richardson, who had missed the Tokyo Olympics because of a doping violation. Like in Tokyo, Jamaica took the first three spots, with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce finishing second in 10.73 seconds and Shericka Jackson third in 10.76.

2. THOMPSON-HERAH WINS 100 METRES GOLD

Thompson-Herah was the first Jamaican to win a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, by clocking a blistering Olympic Record 10.61 seconds to capture the 100 metres, lowered the standard of 10.62 seconds set by American Florence Griffiths-Joyner at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. The mark also made Thompson-Herah the second-fastest woman ever, with only Griffiths-Joyner going faster with 10.49 seconds. Remarkably, Jamaica swept the medals as Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce finished second in 10.74 seconds and Shericka Jackson third in 10.76.

3. THOMPSON-HERAH WINS 200 METRES GOLD

Thompson-Herah was at it once again days later with a phenomenal performance in the women’s 200 metres. She clocked a blistering 21.53 seconds to win. She became the first woman to successfully defend the 100 metres and 200 metres sprint double at the Olympic Games. The time was also the second-fastest by a woman in the event as it is only bettered by Griffiths-Joyner’s 21.34 seconds.

4. MICHAIL ANTONIO’S SCORCHER AGAINST THE USA

While the Reggae Boyz are having a torrid time in the final round of the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers – sitting sixth in the eight-team tournament – Michail Antonio produced one of the brighter moments with a top-shelf goal against the United States at the National Stadium. With the US leading 1-0, Antonio picked up an innocuous ball near the halfline. He dribbled to midway the USA’s half, before cutting inside to get rid of his attacker and unleashing a powerhouse to the far corner that gave the USA’s custodian no chance of stopping it. As the Reggae Boyz struggle to be among the three certain and the other half spot that can qualify for Qatar, the goal might be one of the few shining lights in the campaign.

5. FRASER McCONNELL ACHIEVE FIRST MOTORSPORT WIN

Jamaica’s motorsport racer Fraser McConnell won his first Supercar event at RallyX Nordic, in the process defeating three-time FIA world champion Johan Kristoffersson in Nysum, Denmark. The international rallycross campaign served a feast of high-octane action in Denmark, with McConnell’s breakthrough triumph achieved from the back row of the grid. He was overjoyed with the victory as he got on top of the vehicle to celebrate in style. He started the event poorly but made up ground throughout to get the victory.

6. HANSLE THE GENTLEMAN

A feel-good moment at the Olympic Games was Jamaica’s 110 metres hurdles champion Hansel Parchment’s gesture to return the assistance offered to him by a Japanese volunteer. Parchment was in danger of missing his semifinal, after taking the wrong bus from the athletes’ village and ending up at the Aquatic Centre, but was assisted by ‘Good Samaritan’ Tijana Stojkovic, who provided him with money to take a taxi to the Olympic Stadium for his semifinal. It turned out that Parchment went on to win the gold medal and after doing so, he returned to the Aquatic Centre to find Tijana and repaid her kindness by refunding the money as well as providing her with Jamaican gear and other paraphernalia.

7. CLAYTON BAGS GOLD IN 100 METRES AT WORLD ATHLETICS UNDER-20

Tina Clayton was in superb form this year and she crowned her season by winning the gold medal at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships, which took place in Nairobi, Kenya. The 17-year-old Clayton won in a personal best 11.09 seconds. She then joined Serena Cole, Kerrica Hill and sister Tia Clayton to win the 4×100 metres gold in a record 42.94 seconds to smash the old mark of 43.27 that was set by Germany four years before.

8. NUNES WINS NAIL-BITER OVER DACOSTA

Champion racehorse trainer Anthony ‘Baba’ Nunes snatched victory, his third in a row, on the final race day after a ding-dong battle with Jason DaCosta who he had trailed by more than a million dollars in stakes entering the final two days. DaCosta took over from his late father Wayne, who passed away in March of 2021, and gave Nunes a run for his money in what the latter has called his toughest championship title among the three.

9. CAVALIER WIN JPL

After a one-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jamaica Premier League returned with a modified format and guidelines and protocols to steer the process and enable a successful tournament. The competition, most of the matches of which were played at the Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence, was hard-fought to the end with Cavalier managing to defeat Waterhouse on penalties in the final to win their first title since 1981.

10. TAPPA FIRED!

Jamaica’s national men’s football head coach Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore was sacked by the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) in early December, a move that had been widely expected amid a disappointing final-round 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign for the Reggae Boyz . Whitmore had been  heavily criticised for his handling of the national team which are languishing near the bottom of the Concacaf standings with six matches to go.