Athletes share ‘big dreams’ on Olympic Day

When it comes to competing at the Olympic Games, nothing, it seems, surpasses the dream of an athlete.

In observation of yesterday’s International Olympic Day, validations of such were conveyed by some of the nation’s leading sporting representatives, some of whom have already embraced Olympian definition and others making that push for stardom.

Among them were sprint relay gold medallists Yohan Blake and Michael Frater, as well as gymnast Danusia Francis, who earned first-time qualification to sport’s biggest stage at the now-postponed 2020 Tokyo Games.

Blake, who owns sprint relay gold medals from the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Games, said: “The Olympics for me is the ultimate sport of all sports. Competing at the Olympics is a great deal, knowing the hard work you’ve put in throughout the years and to go out there to be one of the eight fastest in the world. To go out there and compete is a dream come true.”

The Montego Bay-born athlete also won a pair of silver medals in the 100 and 200m sprints in London, beaten on both occasions by his legendary countryman, Usain Bolt.

WAITING FOR THE MOMENT

The youngest-ever World Championships 100-metre winner, at 21 years and 245 days in Daegu, Blake noted: “For football, for track and field, and for all the sports that are in the Olympics, you talk about four years of waiting for this moment, for this lifetime, for this passion, for this dream to come through and when you’re finally there, everything stops; it’s just you, the stadium, the people, the four years of waiting. You just want to compete, you just want to go.

“I could say a billion things about the Olympics, but that final moment, that says it all. That’s what the Olympics means for me, waiting that four years to run that one race,” said Blake.

Frater was also a member of Jamaica’s world record-breaking sprint relay units in Beijing 2008 and London 2012. He underlined the Olympic Games as sports’ pinnacle.

“The Olympic Games occur every four years and for me, that’s the pinnacle of all sporting events,” said Frater, a 100 metres specialist. “It’s basically training for four years, it’s almost waiting a lifetime to compete at this highest level. Not everyone gets a chance to compete at the Olympic Games, so for me it’s always been a pleasure serving my country, competing at the highest level.”

Frater, now president of the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) Athletes’ Commission, which makes him a JOA director, added: “Once you get to the Olympics, you’re an Olympian for life. And many people around the world who have been to the Olympics, they’ve treasured it. This is where you meet all different people from all different cultures and everyone merges at the Olympics as one, and it’s a celebration of all sporting events. As I said, it’s the pinnacle of all sporting events.”

Francis qualified for Tokyo to become Jamaica’s second Olympic gymnast. She has been to the Olympics before, but as a reserve on the Great Britain team at 2012. Now, she has earned a spot among the competitors.

“Being an Olympian is putting in hard work, dedication, blood, sweat and tears, year after year, in order to make you dreams come true of representing your country on the biggest sporting stage that there is. Happy Olympic Day,” said Francis.

Olympic Day was introduced in 1948 to commemorate the birth of the modern Olympic Games on June 23, 1894, at the Sorbonne in Paris. The goal was to promote participation in sport across the globe, regardless of age, gender or athletic ability.

One of Jamaica’s athletes making great strides on the circuit, 400m hurdler Rushell Clayton, says competing at the Olympics means a ‘great deal’.

“The Olympic Games means a great deal to me. It’s an opportunity for me to showcase my talent while competing among the best in the entire world. It’s also an opportunity for me to create great memories while building lifelong relationships,” expressed Clayton, who recorded a personal-best 53.74 to win bronze at the 2019 World Championships in Doha last year, when she also won PanAm Games bronze.