This Week in NACAC: NACAC Congratulates Mike Powell

Tomorrow, Monday 30 August 2021, marks 30 years since Mike Powell, in a remarkable with then US athletics sensation, Carl Lewis, pulled out all the stops to win the long jump event at the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan, but to take hold of the world record for the event which had been previously held by the amazing Bob Beamon, 8.90m, set during the event at the Summer Olympics in the high altitude of Mexico City, Mexico, 1968.

Monday’s celebration, which is free to all desirous of being part, begins at 6.30pm and will be held at the new Hilmer Lodge Stadium. In attendance will be some of the USA’s outstanding track and field personalities, local dignitaries and of course, track and field aficionados. Mike Powell will be available to take pictures with enthusiasts following the ceremony.

Powell’s achievement in the long jump joins an impressive list of American and NACAC athletes in the event, starting of course with the inimitable Jesse Owens track & field personalities, local dignitaries and fans.  At the conclusion of the celebration, attendees will be able to take a picture with Mike Powell.

Powell’s incredible men’s long jump world record of 29 feet, 4 and 1/2 inches (8.95M) still stands today and is the 3rd oldest men’s world record in track & field (athletics).  The record is so dominant that only 9 men have ever come within a foot of his mark, with only 2 of those coming in the past decade.  Powell has held this record longer than anyone in history, surpassing the great Jesse Owens who held the record for 25 years, from 1935-1960.

Owens leapt 8.13m at Ann Arbor on 15 April 1935, the world’s first athlete to exceed eight metres in the event on the very day he achieved the as yet unmatched 45-minute world record spree in which he set or equalled six world records.

Owens long jump recorded lasted until 1960 when Ralph Boston achieved a leap of 8.21m at a competition at Mt. San Antonio College, on 12 August. At the Olympics in Rome 1960, he broke Owens’ Olympic record. He continued his world record-breaking performances for another five occasions reaching a best of 8.35m.

Of course, in 1968, Bob Beamon, during the event at the Olympics Games of 1968 in Mexico city, took the world record in the long jump to another level. Interestingly, it was an interesting twist of fate that it was while warming up that Boston heard Bob Beamon set his new world record of 8.90m to claim gold. Boston earned the bronze medal.

Beamon’s world record stood until 1991.

Powell’s world record still stands, 30 years after his 1991 performance. Before retiring he had exceeded a leap of 8.00m over a 14-year competitive period.

From all of us at NACAC, “Heartfelt Congratulations Mike Powell. May you continue to enjoy good health and sustain your exemplary legacy to our sport!”

NACAC Women lead the way in global athletics

For centuries women have had to confront significant challenges in every field of endeavour, not the least of which has been the traditional belief that somehow nature had dealt them the misfortune of being inferior to their male counterparts. They have had to be engaged in one struggle after another to prove themselves.

Women have repeatedly risen to the challenges before then in every historical period and indeed, in every area of life. Today, despite their being ever-newer hurdles placed in their way, happily, women continue to overcome them with much pride.

In our sport of Athletics, women have come of age, for the most part. Today, NACAC’s women have brought the challenge to their male counterparts in numerous ways. The quadrennial Olympics held in Tokyo, one month ago, served to highlight just how much NACAC’s women have come. For the very first time in Olympic history, there was significantly more interest in the women’s 100m that there was in that of the men, turning attention from the World’s Fastest Man to the World’s Fastest Woman.

NACAC’s women, the Jamaican trio of Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson, stormed to grab hold of the three medals available in the 100m event. Thompson-Herah completed the double by also winning the 200m with Fraser-Pryce in third. Shaunaae Miller-Uibo repeated her gold medal performance in winning the 400m while 19-year old, Athing Mu, ran away with the 800m gold medal.

It was NACAC President, Mike Sands, who, in an interview with Michael Bascombe, reminded us all that “in the Summer Olympics of 1976 in Montreal, Canada, NACAC’s men won the same four events. Trinidad and Tobago’s Hasely Crawford won the 100m, Jamaica’s Donald Quarrie won the 200m and Cuba’s Alberto Juantorena, won both the 400m and 800m, the first and only athlete to achieve this feat to date. Now, 45 years later, NACAC’s women accomplished the same remarkable feat, confirming their ‘coming of age’ in global athletics.”

The dominance of NACAC’s females at the Olympics extended to include Valerie Allman (Discus), Sydney McLaughlin (400mH), Katie Nageotte (Pole Vault), Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Jamaica’s 4 x 100m Relay team and the USA’s Women’s 4 x 400m Relay team. In summary, NACAC women took home 10 gold medals as opposed to only six by their male counterparts.

It is not just that NACAC women dominated at the Olympics but in the aftermath, they continue to lead the world’s sporting interest in the Diamond League that is nearing completion. NACAC President, Mike Sands, has been high in his praise of and support for “the women of NACAC who have, by their outstanding performances in the midst of the Covid pandemic, have kept the Area’s flag flying with distinction, all across the globe, leading by example. We could not, as an Area, be better represented.”

Sands nonetheless noted that “while we are enthused by the performances of our women, NACAC is hopeful that this will nonetheless be an incentive to our male athletes to rise to the occasion so that together, both our men and women will cement our place at the helm of global athletics log into the future.”

NACAC’s Director of Coaches and Camps, Chester Morgan, expressed “gratitude to the Area’s coaches, whose commitment to excellence has enabled them to consistently produce some of the best athletes in our sport.” He pledged to “continue the proud tradition of systematically developing high-quality coaches in the Area through the Coaches Pathway executed in tandem with the World Athletics Development Department and the NACAC Development Commission.”

Three Jamaicans

Jamaica has long since been known for its track and field prowess. It was at the Olympic Games of 1948 that the Jamaicans stormed onto the scene with Arthur Wint’s outstanding 400m gold medal performance and the persistence of then renowned, Herb McKenley. Four years later, the duo teamed up with Laing and Rhoden to take home the gold in the 4 x 400m Relay.

With every generation, Jamaican athletics has served up some amazing athletes that includes Donald Quarrie, Merlene Ottey, Veronica Campbell-Brown and of course, the inimitable Usain Bolt.

It took some time before Jamaica produced world-class athletes but once they started, the list just seems endless. This year, 2021, has witnessed Jamaica’s special delivery to the world of track and field sprinting – three women, Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson. They finished in that order in Tokyo, then followed up in the same order at the Diamond League’s Prefontaine Classic in Eugene Oregon as few weeks later. During the past week, at the Diamond League in Lausanne, Switzerland, Fraser-Pryce turned the tables on Thompson-Herah in the 100m with Jackson retaining the third place finish.

It is not just that the threesome are winning. It is that they are doing so emphatically. In Tokyo, Thompson-Herah set the second fastest time ever run by a women in the 100m. She best that time in Eugene, producing a 10.54 that suggests for the first time that the world record of Flo Jo may well be within reach. In Lausanne, Fraser-Pryce lowered her own best of 10.63 to 10.60. The three Jamaican women sprinters are currently enjoying the experience of sitting atop the world of athletics. They do not compare themselves with their male counterparts and are hopeful that their achievements this year will serve to inspire young girls to get into the sport, knowing that it opens up avenues for success in life. It aids in the enhance of women in society through their leadership and successes in sport, in the best sport in the world, Athletics.

Vaccine requirement for Pan Am Junior Games 2021

Proprietors of the Pan American Junior Games, Panam Sports, has informed all participating member National Olympic Committees (NOC) of the Americas that it will have in place strict health protocols for the inaugural edition of the event scheduled for the period 25 November to 5 December 2021 in Cali, Colombia.

Originally scheduled for June this year the Games has twice been postponed as a result of the changes in the incidence of the Covid-19 pandemic.

During the past week Panam Sports informed all participating NOCs, “Due to the continued presence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Panam Sports Executive Board made the decision that all participants 18 and older (athletes, delegates, Panam Sports family and others) must be vaccinated against COVID- 19 in order to be able to take part in the Games, to ensure the safety all those taking part as well as our hosts. Additionally, the local Organizing Committee will implement the necessary protocols during the event to provide a safe environment.”

The Panam Sports Circular also stated, “For Panam Sports it is of utmost importance that we have the best possible conditions so that our young athletes can perform at their best level in the I Junior Pan American Games. We are certain that our member National Olympic Committees share our objectives and that with everybody’s collaboration, we will be able to hold successful Games.”

NACAC is well aware of the challenges posed by the organising of high-level athletics competitions in the latter part of the year but notes that in any  given year, the athletes of the Southern Hemisphere are also faced with the challenges of most of the major competitions in our sport occur when they have their autumn and winter months.

According to NACAC’s President, Mike Sands, “there are challenges confronting some of us at different times and we always try to work with them as best we could. The Junior Games are no exception. We encourage our member federations to be supportive of their respective NOCs, on whom many of members depend for much-needed assistance and who, in turn, look to us to help enhance and sustain their brands. There exists a mutually-beneficial relationship.”

NACAC Apologises

Mike Sands and the entire leadership of NACAC extends sincere apologies to those athletes from delegations of our Area who experienced challenges getting out of Nairobi, Kenya, following the conclusion of a most successful edition of the World Athletics U20 Championships.

NACAC remains concerned that airlines would have sold tickets to delegations knowing that some of the destinations for their return flights were to countries that did not accept travellers coming from Nairobi, Kenya.

NACAC apportions no blame to either Athletics Kenya or World Athletics or even to its member federations that procured their own tickets.

“We are nonetheless grateful for the understanding of Athletics Kenya whose leadership, at much expense to their own coffers, accommodated the several delegations whose athletes and officials were forced to extend their stay in Nairobi until the travel situation was completely resolved,” President Sands noted.

He concluded by saying. “NACAC is also proud of the patient understanding showed by the affected Member Federations, their athletes and officials.”

Marketing

NACAC has been actively engaged in the development of an aggressive marketing programme. There are ongoing discussions with individuals and organisations within our Area aimed at taking NACAC to another level in respect of accessing partners and sponsors for the organisation’s activities that would be expanded.

NACAC aims to move to a higher level of self-sufficiency in its operations, providing more competitions for athletes at different stages along the Athletes Development Pathway.

During the course of this week NACAC will receive a draft proposal from one of the agencies with whom it is engaged in the marketing field.

NACAC/Miramar

On Thursday 2 September NACAC and the Miramar City Council officials will again convene to further discussions in respect of the relationship between the two organisations aimed at facilitating an expansion of  athletics development options in the Area.

Thursday’s meeting begins at 11.00am Miami time and will be conducted virtually.

The two organisations are discussing the possibility of establishing an important base for training and development for our sport in Miramar, featuring courses for athletes, coaches and technical officials, as well as the hosting of the annual NACAC New Life Invitational, a World Athletics Continental Tour (WACT) Event.

Weekly Meetings

Wednesday 1 September

10.00am Miami Time – Weekly Meeting – Mike Sands, Michael Serralta, Chester Morgan, Garth Gayle and Keith Joseph

Thursday 2 September

11.00am Miami Time – NACAC meeting with Miramar City Council