Dear Editor,

It was deja vu all over again and deja vu all over again.

Once again a top Jamaican sprinter has lost out on a gold medal after being out-leaned on the finish line by an American.

Kishane Thompson seemed to have the 2024 Olympic gold medal in his hands at 98 metres on Sunday but could not get his torso over the line ahead of the fast-closing American Noah Lyles.

It has been ever thus since Herb McKenley was outleaned on the line by American Lindy Remigino way back in Helsinki in 1952. Let’s not even count the number of races Merlene Ottey lost by the margin of a wet vest when she was out-leaned, most notably by American Gail Devers. Even the greatest of them all, Usain Bolt, was not outstanding over the final metre, although it could be argued that he was often so far ahead of his rivals that he didn’t have to be.

Jamaica, arguably, has the two best sprint coaches in the world today, Stephen Francis and Glen Mills; numerous outstanding high school coaches; a rich tradition in sprinting; and now a rising crop of top field event performers. But it is hard to recall a single top-class Jamaican sprinter whose lean-on-the-line was as good or better than the other parts of his or her race.

There will be a lot of reviews of our post-Paris performance, but surely it is high time our leaders in athletics make a serious, concerted effort to correct this perennial weakness in the technique of our sprinters.

Errol Townshend

ewat@rogers.com