Cuthbert-Flynn remembers 'always smiling' Rose-Henley

Olympic silver medallist, Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn remembers fellow Olympian Dionne Rose-Henley as a good 'trash talker' who would often lighten the atmosphere around her more 'serious' teammates.

Rose-Henley, 49, who represented Jamaica in the 100m hurdles in the 1990s, lost her battle with cancer on Monday.

Cuthbert-Flynn who, along with Rose-Henley, was a member of Jamaica's 1992 and 1996 Olympic teams, said Rose would talk smack to her teammates jokingly.

"She was always smiling and talking smack. She was a trash talker, but in a joking way, and it lightened the atmosphere around us sprinters who were more serious and didn't care for each other," Cuthbert-Flynn remembers. "If you are around a table with Dionne, you know that you were going to be laughing because she was that type of a person - always making light of any situation."

Rose-Henley finished fifth in the 100m hurdles at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, USA, and repeated that same feat a year later at the IAAF World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, where she also represented the country in the long jump. At the Barcelona Games in 1992, a young Rose-Henley made the semi-finals of the sprint hurdles as Jamaica for the first time spread their wings beyond just the sprint events.

Good memories

"In 1992, that was a top year for Jamaica's female track and field, and Dionne made sure that the world never only saw Jamaica as a country with just sprinters because she did well in the sprint hurdles by making it to the semi-finals. We had Michelle Freeman and Dionne out there and it was good for us because we had three hurdlers who were doing very well for us," Cuthbert-Flynn, who won silver medals in the 100m and 200m, said.

Rose-Henley turned to coaching after she hung up her spikes. She coached at her alma mater Middle Tennessee State University, Tennessee State University, and Central Michigan.

"It was very easy for her to go into coaching because she had the spirit that could lift any athlete who might be having a bad day," Cuthbert-Flynn said.

"We have an Olympic group on WhatsApp and it came through it that she was gravely ill and I was very depressed and saddened about it because she was just too young and she is too much of a happy, nice person to go, and when another athlete posted that she was gone, it was heart-wrenching. It is a very sad time for the track and field fraternity and especially for the people who ran with her and (were) teammates with her."

Meanwhile, president of the Jamaica Olympic Association, Christopher Samuda, also paid tribute to Rose-Henley.

In a release, Samuda said: "She will never again face the starter in this human race with its emotional rivalries. But her name and her Olympic achievements in Barcelona and Atlanta, among other landmark feats, will enjoy immortality in the annals of Jamaica's sporting history.

"The Jamaica Olympic Association salutes Dionne Rose Henley, one from its household, who was clothed with character and who wore the national garments with inspired pride.

"Her lane on the Chevron is now empty, but the National Stadium overflows with edifying memories of a life fulfilled on the track."