ORVILLE W. TAYLORI THANK the athletes who, for the past two weeks, made me remember how great a nation we are. Even with the temptation to sing mischievously about 'weevil flour' I could not tire to hear our national anthem.
It would be extremely difficult to single out any individual performance because all, including those that did not medal in each sport, made me proud because they gave their best and hopefully would have shown the West Indian cricketers that it is indeed possible to show guts and actually win in Australia.
In that regard, the amazing display of the Sunshine Girls in tying the match with host and co-favourites Australia is clearly worth mentioning. Behind for most of the game, they rallied like a thoroughbred and equalled the score with the same zeal and determination that our cricketers show in pursuing defeat.
Olivia McKoy's bronze for the javelin is outstanding because although she did not win the event she broke new ground. Similar is the silver of American-born Dorian Scott in the men's shot putt, who I believe has won our first throwing medal.
Doubtless, one has to be very proud of 'Tanto' Campbell, the élite athlete with disability who progressed from "Hi ho Silver!" to gold, in becoming our 'Lone Ranger' paralympic medallist.
COMMENDATION
Much commendation must also be given to the first-time individual medallists. These include Jermaine 'Chanderpaul' Gonzales, in the 400 metres, golden girl Sherone Simpson in the 200 metres and Sherri-Ann Brooks in the 100 metres. To this list add also 'Afaster' Powell and high jumper, Karen Beautle, who won bronze but from all appearances is capable of 'bleaching' it to a lighter colour. Kenia Sinclair continues to dig deeper into the 800 metres, breaking her national record again in mining silver.
Nonetheless, there must be a special place for the gold medallists, and we have made a record haul. Trecia Smith justified her favourite status in the triple jump. Bridgitte Foster-Hylton and Omar Brown, who has climbed mountains and injuries, complete the list with the aforementioned Brooks, Powell, Campbell, Simpson and Smith. Of course, I can now find something uncontroversial to commend Mark Wignall for. His son Maurice has finally got the elusive major hurdling title.
Unfortunately, I did not get to see the finals of the 4X100 metres relay but the semi-finals produced a decent time of 38.52 seconds. Yet, I wonder, when will we put together a rationally selected team that will not give Asafa Powell the baton 10 metres behind the competition? True, Michael Frater gave his usual dominant first leg. But as at the Gibson relays, the two extremely mediocre, 'fodder' MVP sprinters did little to distinguish themselves. Hopefully, the final team included class athlete Chris Williams on the third leg.
Nevertheless, as I close my eyes to sleep after a week of 'bleaching' to watch the Commonwealth games, my heart swells with joy because we have won in relative terms. At the close of competition on Friday we had won 19 medals. This places us second in track and field and seventh overall for all sports. However, on a per capita basis, weighted according to population size, we have won more medals proportionally than anyone else.
It should be noted that other top medal winners Australia, Kenya, South Africa and England, have populations that are eight, 12, 16 and 19 times that of Jamaica. So, "We big!"
Nonetheless, as the dust settles and the face muscles slowly return to their positions of rest, we have to face the grim reality that all is not well on Jamrock. We still seem hell bent on exterminating ourselves as we seek to become champions of murder. Last week alone, more than 20 persons were killed, including the gruesome homicide of Ambassador Peter King. This, along with the murder-suicide in Maverly is particularly alarming since there were no signs of forced entry, thus suggesting that the killers were known or at least familiar to their victims.
We perhaps need divine guidance since as the popular Jamaican expression goes, 'Man to man is so unjust. You can't know who to trust'.
In other areas, we seem less like champions. A cruise ship caught fire in Jamaican waters and despite being surrounded by water, there were no fire boats available. Hardly the performance expected from a champion tourism nation.
Then, we discover that a Colombian has been found with unexplained quantities of money. More puzzling is that he has a link to a champion premier league football team. Well let me ask you: How can an economy that has not grown in real terms in three decades support a boom in construction and a semi-professional football league? Get real!
'SENSIMILLA'
GENETICALLY MODIFIED
By the way, did you know that the favoured 'Sensimilla' herb is actually a genetically-modified plant which ironically is smoked by ital Rastamans? It literally means 'without seed' or sin semilla in Spanish. So I think that it is Colombian in origin. However, we are now dubious champions in its use and production.
Speaking of champions. What is this nonsense about Beenie Man seeking to proclaim himself king of DJs. It is a dispute not even worth entertaining since Yellowman took Deejaying from obscure dance halls to Grammy nomination. When Beenie had the embarrassing incident in 1991 where he ignorantly insulted Mandela with his idiotic performance that had to be aborted, Yellow had long brought prominence to this country and dancehall.
Yellow is a champion and pioneer to be respected and emulated if not imitated. And we know that Beenie is very good at both, ask D'Angel.
Let us champion some real causes.
Dr. Orville Taylor is senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work at the University of the West Indies, Mona.
