Paulton Gordon, Gleaner Writer
Some Jamaican athletics fans awaiting luggage on arrival at the Beijing International Airport, China.
As the anticipation builds into a crescendo, fans from all over the globe have begun to converge on Beijing for the start of the track and field component of the Olympic Games. The Jamaican contingent will start its assault on the 'medal stock' and most analysts are predicting that this could be our best Olympic Games.
The journey to Beijing is a long and tiresome one. A group of ardent fans started out on Tuesday (August 12) not really looking forward to the journey, but eager to get to the Olympic city. Our planned route took us through Miami International Airport and then Los Angeles with extended waits between flights. This gave the group a lot more than adequate time to ventilate views on the upcoming events in which Jamaica is expected to do well.
Men's 100m predictions
In Miami I joined a very engaging discussion regarding who will win the men's 100m, with opinions split between Asafa and Usain. A few persons felt that Asafa had paid his dues and it is now time to get the 'proverbial' monkey off his back. His recent pronouncements have engendered confidence in these travelling fans who although not willing to wager a few dollars (yuan) are sounding highly optimistic.
On the other side of the coin, some fans were equally as bold for Bolt. Their view is that Bolt is on top of his game, supremely confident and will not be denied. One area of consensus, however, was the threat posed by Tyson Gay the American ace sprinter. All felt that if he is fully recovered from the mishap at the USA trials he will be a handful for the Jamaican duo.
Awaiting Air China
The wait In Los Angeles was approximately four hours and by then the fan base had expanded with a few additional persons joining the party. This leg of the journey was estimated to take approximately 12 hours. We spotted the Hon Minister of Tourism, Ed Bartlett who was also scheduled to head to Beijing via Air China. No doubt, his mission is to see how best the JTB can position Jamaica to further capitalise on the tremendous media exposure the Games have afforded.
A few of the fans we met actually reside in Los Angeles, but were travelling in support of the team. One fan mentioned that she was heading to Beijing to be a part of a concert planned for Saturday night and to be headlined by Damian Marley. That heightened our interest and most persons started making plans to attend. Hopefully by then we will be celebrating Jamaica's first-ever Olympic gold medal in the men's 100m dash. More anon.
