The 45th annual conference of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) being held at the Sunset Jamaica Grande in Ocho Rios, St Ann, was halted yesterday as its members joined guests in the hotel lobby to witness Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser capture gold in the women's 100 metres at the World Championships in Berlin, Germany.

The second session of the conference should have resumed at 2 p.m., but with the 100m finals set for 2:35, reconvening on time was never going to happen.

It was not in vain, as Fraser duly won the race in a world-leading 10.73 seconds, to add the World Championship title to the Olympic title she won last year in Beijing, China.

Again, Kerron Stewart was second (10.75) with defending champion Veronica Campbell-Brown fourth.

The United States' Carmelita Jeter finished third, splitting the top three finishes Jamaica had been hoping for, after having achieved that feat at last year's Olympics.

The other Jamaican in the race, Aleen Bailey, finished eighth.

The crowd in the hotel's lobby, made up largely of Jamaicans, cheered wildly as the Jamaicans were featured on the screen, and booed when the Americans, Jeter and Lauryn Williams, were shown.

Most persons The Gleaner spoke with believed Stewart would have won the race, given her form this season. Some were of the opinion, however, that Fraser would have obliged.

By the time the teachers, who seemed to have been in the majority of those crowded into the hotel's lobby to watch the races, rejoined the conference, it had already restarted.

The three-day conference ends on Wednesday.