Portia's proposal quite good

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller's proposal for drug testing of high-school student athletes should be fully and roundly embraced by all well-thinking Jamaicans, and endorsed by all athletes and track-and-field administrators.

The suggestion is not only timely but an eminently rational and reasonable course to pursue if Jamaica is to continue to enjoy and bask in its unquestionable status as one of the premier global superpowers in track-and-field athletics.

While the glory days of track and field are finally upon us, the inglorious reality is the likelihood that our athletes could be targeted to tarnish the sheen of the Jamaican brand.

If truth be told, the bulk of Jamaican athletes who made their marks indelibly on the global arena, enabling the country to earn this enviable status, began their careers at tender ages as student athletes, mostly at the high-school level.

Not only are they colourful (Usain Bolt), but Jamaicans tend to be very competitive by nature. This is spectacularly demonstrated at our track meets and championships. The annual Boys and Girls' Championships are no exception.

There is ample proof that Jamaica never jumped on any bandwagon.

The people involved in the administration of the sport worked tirelessly over a 104-year period to surmount numerous hurdles to ensure that Jamaica remained at the acme.

Since Herb McKenley, Arthur Wint, Les Laing and George Rhoden catapulted the comparatively small country to the pinnacle of the sport, Lennox Miller, Donald Quarrie, Merlene Ottey, Juliet Cuthbert, Grace Jackson, Deon Hemmings and others kept Jamaica firmly at the zenith.

Accordingly, Jamaica has good reason to be proud of the accomplishments of its athletes over the years.

But as the searchlight bears down on the enviable brand that is Jamaica, there must be a recognition that we simply cannot eat our cake and have it.

The eyes of the world are focused on the island state because of its unquestionable accom-plishments, which are being studied and scrutinised at every turn.

It is worth remembering that the eyes glaring down on the nation include the genuinely cynical, the scornful, the skeptical, as well as the downright 'grudgeful and bad-minded'.

The youth must therefore be sensitised to this reality before they transition to the senior level.

Just as local meets adhere to the rules of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the governing body for the sport of athletics, as in the case of the false-start rule, so should Jamaica begin to sensitise its junior of the gravity of the use of banned substances in all its inglorious forms.

Otherwise, the rude awakening from a lack of knowledge and/or appreciation, could be too devastating for our athletes.

Does not signify suspicion

Drug testing does not, in and of itself, signify suspicion that the young or anyone else for that matter, are engaging in wrongdoing. It simply serves to prepare them for the brutal reality that awaits them when they achieve the greatness to which they aspire.

The country has surged past many developed countries, eliciting a mixture of grudging and overt admiration as well as shameless and unabashed envy.

Primary and Preparatory Championships, not to mention Boys and Girls' Championships have been the launching pads for the athletic prowess of many from the humblest of origins.

How can we forget that Norman Manley, a national hero and founder of one of the two great political monuments in this country, sped on local soil to make a name for himself as a talented athlete, an attribute he passed on to his son, Douglas.

At the secondary level, institutions such as Calabar High School, Kingston College, Jamaica College and Wolmer's Boys' School on the male side and Vere Technical, St Jago High, Holmwood Technical and Edwin Allen on the female said have made their mark on not only the regional scene (Carifta Games), but the global landscape as well (Penn Relays).

The schools which may not have been contenders for the coveted Champs title also made invaluable contributions to the sport over the years. The indisputable king of sprints Usain Bolt hails from William Knibb High; while Asafa Powell attended Charlemont High.

Shelley-Ann Fraser-Pryce represented Wolmer's Girls' School and Hemmings is from York Castle High.

Truly informed and history-oriented personalities such as respected Judge Patrick Robinson and Arnold Bertram and two others who have passed on - Jimmy Carnegie and David Hunt - have taken time from their busy schedules to retrace the path pursued by Jamaica over the years.

Whether it is profoundly timely, mysteriously prophetic or merely coincidental, noted historian Arnold Bertram has moved to quash dark clouds of doubt looming large over Jamaican track-and-field prowess for more than a century.

Bertram, an author of some repute, has unveiled his newest book titled The making of a Sprinting Super Power - a path-breaking study that traces the development of athletics in Jamaica from the last decade of the 20th century to the first decade of the new millennium.

He retraces the path on which Jamaica raced to the pinnacle of track-and-field athletics in the sprinting arena, clearly without the use of performing enhancing substance.

The publication is timely as it enables every Jamaican and every person abroad, who share Jamaica's pride in its achievement, to establish the fact that this has been a climb against odds for more than 100 years ... and the successes are more than deserved.

If Jamaica is to continue to silence the critics, we must ensure that our back and indeed, front yard is spotless. Test all athletes and silence the detractors once and for all.

Gary Spaulding is a political affairs reporter. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and gary.spaulding@gleanerjm.com

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