RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, CMC – Caribbean sprinters will be aiming for the record books when the track and field events at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games begin here today.
Jamaican sprinters Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, along with Kirani James of Grenada are among athletes who are destined for history in some form.
Both Bolt and Fraser-Pryce are racing for three consecutive 100 metres titles at these Games with James hoping to become the second man to win the men’s 400m in successive Olympic Games.
The main attraction of the track and field programme will involve Caribbean sprinters in the men and women’s 100m, 200m and 400m.
Bolt, bidding to win nine gold medals and enhance his status as the most outstanding sprinter in the 120-year history of the Games, struggled with a hamstring injury at the Jamaican trials last month before bouncing back with a sharp performance of 19.89 seconds over 200m at the Anniversary Games in London just before the Games.
But his best time this season over 100m – 9.88 seconds– is behind the fastest man of the year – former Olympic champion Justin Gatlin and his fellow American Trayvon Bromell who have clocked 9.80 and 9.84 respectively.
France’s Jimmy Vicaut has also gone faster with 9.86.
Bolt’s compatriot and 2012 London Olympic silver medallist Yohan Blake is returning to form, along with Nickel Ashmeade.
Former world 100m champion Kim Collins from St Kitts and Nevis will be making his fifth Olympic appearance and is the sub-ten second club. Beijing 2008 Olympic silver medallist Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago is also in contention.
Fraser-Pryce, nicknamed the “Pocket Rocket”, can even be regarded as an underdog in Rio after struggling with a toe injury for much of the year.
Seven women have run faster than the defending champion’s best of 10.93, including the much-touted compatriot Elaine Thompson (10.70), Dutch sprinter Dafne Schippers (10.83) and American Tori Bowier (10.78).
Trinidad and Tobago’s Michell-Lee Ahye and Jamaican Christania Williams are among other sub-11 second performers.
The women’s 100m heats get going this evening followed by the men’s the following day.
Shaunae Miller of The Bahamas, meanwhile, will be out to stop American Allyson Felix who is one gold medal away from becoming the first woman in athletics history to win five Olympic titles.
Miller is unbeaten this season over the women’s one-lap event and is banking on confidence to pull her through.
But the Jamaican trio of Stephanie-Ann McPherson, Christine Day and Shericka Jackson could spoil the party in a competitive line-up.
The men’s version will be a competitive affair and the Grenadian champion, James, will be hoping to emulate the American Michael Johnson who won gold in 1996 and 2000.
In his quest for glory, the 23-year-old will have the American LaShawn Merritt and World Champion Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa as his main challengers.
James will launch his bid in heat six when the 400m begin this afternoon, in a race that also involves Jamaican Rusheen McDonald and Guyanese Winston George.
Machel Cedenio of Trinidad and Tobago, who posted an impressive 44.34 in Monaco, along with Grenadian Bralon Taplin have also thrown down a challenge to the “big trio” and the event is setting up to be a must-see.
The 20-year-old Cedenio runs in heat one involving Jamaican Fitzroy Dunkley while Taplin does battle in heat two.
The men’s 400m in 2012 is the only event in Olympic history in which three Caribbean countries finished in gold, silver and bronze positions — James, Luquelin Santos of the Dominican Republic and Lalonde Gordon of Trinidad and Tobago.
