With the explosive running performances in its recent Track and Field Championships, Jamaica is again in the world press for the world-class calibre of its athletes. In the Beijing Olympics, competing in a field of 205 nations, Jamaica finished third in track-and-field. For such a tiny country, it is an astonishing result, and with the 2012 Olympics looming Jamaica is in line again to come home with several gold medals. For such a small under-developed country, it seems a surprising result. However, as several writers weighing on the subject, in recent columns and books have shown, the Jamaican performance is the product of a rigorous system, over 100 years old, with a number of key ingredients propelling the success.
Patrick Robinson, author of the recent
