National honours, KMT: let's win some medals

Orville Taylor, Contributor

I really wanted to talk about track and field, especially since the IAAF World Championships began yesterday, and I will. However, after running down the slate of national honours published on Independence Day, I now truly understand why the Rastafari do not want Bob Marley to be a national hero.

After all, when you sometimes look at the list of those who are honoured annually, especially for the lesser awards such as Order of Jamaica and Order of Distinction, the temptation is to cringe if not produce tangible evidence of the food one ate this morning.

Each year, the list consistently excludes persons who have given yeoman service to this nation and got back little in return. Yet, it is padded with a set of self-absorbed individuals who, without sucking up to the Government, couldn't have been inserted in the elite group of subheroes unless the roster was tampered with.

SERVICE TO OTHERS

Now, don't get me wrong. Most of the Jamaicans who have been honoured over the years deserve it, although some might really qualify for lesser recognition. A national honour is precisely that - a demonstration that some aspect of one's life has either uplifted or served the community.

Being a personal success is no reason to be given a national insignia, whereby one is to be called 'The Honourable'. It is bad enough that we have such titles foisted upon us, when hapless yokels and national embarrassments are appointed simply because they have won a seat based on the popularity of the leader. Oftentimes, it is an incompetent minister who knows nothing about his or her portfolio and lacks the capacity or humility to learn. And the nation suffers.

I feel the same about honorary degrees of universities, especially the University of the West Indies where I work, as I believe that an honoris causa degree, like the OJ and OM, must be a difficult tree to climb. The threshold for a heroic figure, worthy of the honorary DLitt or PhD, OJ or OM, must be so high that the average citizen must be incapable of reaching it, but the ordinary young person can admire and aspire to.

Thus, this person must be one who has carved out a little piece of historic space, leaving the country positively different from what it was when he or she entered professional life.

Thankfully, athletics is mostly meritocratic, where the fastest, strongest, or simply the better athlete on the day wins. Therefore, let us take a break from the politics and focus on the World Champ-ionships in Athletics in Moscow, Russia. One day of competition has gone and those of us who are married to the sport are excited.

Doubtless, the championships are riding on the back of Usain St Leo Bolt, the most popular figure across all sports and who has given a boost to track and field that it has never had in the competitive history of the sport. I cannot imagine or recall any figure or personality who has darkened all corners of the earth and appealed to all and sundry. The great Muhammad Ali might be the nearest thing to what Bolt is now, but unlike Bolt, he was drenched in controversy.

Bolt is deserving of the national honour that he has because his performance on the track, his antics in full media glare, and his affable personality all placed tiny Jamaica firmly at the centre of global track and field.

Still, there is an awful taste in our mouths. In many ways, this might be seen as a depleted championship because, early in the season, Veronica Campbell-Brown showed an adverse analytical finding and was ineligible for competition. Tyson Gay is out because of a doping violation.

Asafa Powell is behind two eight balls because he was not race fit in the recent trials and did not find form in the finals. Then, when there was a glimmer of hope as he recorded the fastest time by a Jamaican, a respectable 9.88, he somehow was infected by a banned substance, which, up to now, is still unexplained.

We have also been robbed of the opportunity to see darling of Jamaican track and field Sherone Simpson because she also seems to have caught the same mystery virus that caused the positive test in Powell. And some of our field event athletes, on the verge of 'busting' out, also got caught with the 'kushumpeng' in their system.

Politics and administrative issues are never absent either, as the discus thrower, Jason Morgan, was left out of the squad because of what could have been a simple misunderstanding, but which, ultimately, led to the loss of a possible, if unlikely medal in the event. Thus, all of this leads to a feeling that we have a weak team.

Nevertheless, the championships will provide major excitement. For the first time in four years, the women's 100 metres is not a straight race between Carmelita Jeter and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. Indeed, it is not simply a contest between the Americans and the Jamaicans. Shelly will have to run as if she were an errant politician with the contractor general about to probe. If she slips, hopefully not literally, the only medal she could still get is one from the Government, which has a habit of passing awards to the undeserving.

With the awesome top-end speed of Nigerian Blessing Okagbare, who ran 10.79 a few weeks ago, and the equally bullet start of Ivorian Muriel Ahouré, Shelly has to be on her A game.

BOLT VS GATLIN

In the male 100, Bolt will be Bolt. With Yohan 'the Beast' Blake out with injury and the very dangerous Gay eliminated, he should regain his title. Still, he must be mindful that Justin Gatlin has run a drugged-up 9.77 and a 'drug-free' 9.79.

He will have things much easier in the 200 metres, although stablemate Warren Weir is smelling gold. If Nickel Ashmeade is able to carry what women say is his resemblance to Powell into an emulation of the latter's 2009 performance, he should cop bronze.

Shelly might have it more difficult in the 200. American Allyson Felix has a personal best of 21.69 and Okagbare is actually built, like Bolt, for the 200. Look for Anneisha McLaughlin, whose 400 metres pedigree will help in the finals. However, there is a little dark horse from The Bahamas called Anthonique Strachan who wants a medal.

More commentary on our prospects anon, but the 4x100 relays are ours to lose. Hopefully, the athletes won't emulate some of the leaders in this society and underperform on the day. I'm off to Moscow, in my living room.

Dr Orville Taylor is seniorlecturer in sociology at the UWI and a radio talk-show host. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com.