Jamaica sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, China from August 8 to August 24, 2008. This was, by far, Jamaica's best showing at the Summer Olympics; it was the nation's largest delegation yet, and its athletes nearly doubled its total gold medal count in addition to breaking the nation's record for number of medals earned in a single games. Jamaica's appearance at Beijing was its fifteenth consecutive appearance and appearance as an independent nation, although it had previously participated in four other games (including its 1948 debut) as a British colony and as part of the West Indies Federation. In the 29 events that included Jamaican athletes, there were 26 cases in which a Jamaican athlete or relay progressed to a final round. Usain Bolt won three of Jamaica's six gold medals at Beijing, breaking an Olympic and world record in all three of the events in which he participated. Shelly-Ann Fraser led an unprecedented Jamaican sweep of the medals in the Women's 100 m. Female sprinter Veronica Campbell-Brown carried Jamaica's flag at the ceremonies.
Background Jamaica is a large island with approximately 2.8 million residents that lies in the northern Caribbean. Lying to the south of Cuba and to the southwest of the countries on Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), the island was originally colonized by the Spanish Empire until the British seized control of the island in 1655. Jamaica first competed as a British colony at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, England, and competed at the next two Summer Olympics under the same auspices of the British Empire. The colony joined Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados in 1958 to form the West Indies Federation, competing jointly with those nations at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy. Jamaica later withdrew from the West Indies Federation, declaring complete independence from Great Britain in 1962, And participated as an independent nation for the first time at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Between 1964 and 2008, the Caribbean nation sent delegations to all twelve Summer Olympic Games, in addition to five Winter Olympic Games.
Although athletes representing Jamaica had won medals at every Olympic Games since 1948 with the exceptions of the 1956 and 1964 games, the nation's delegation to the Beijing Olympics marked its most successful performance to that date than at any other Olympic Games. More athletes (50 in total, including more female athletes than ever before) competed for Jamaica in Beijing than at any previous Games, more gold medals were won (6 in Beijing alone, almost doubling the number of gold medals won in Jamaica's Olympic history) and more medals were won overall (11 medals, besting Jamaica's showing at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where 9 medals were won).
At the Beijing games, 15 athletes were awarded medals for their performance in events. Three of those athletes (Kerron Stewart, Shericka Williams, and Usain Bolt) were awarded multiple medals. Usain Bolt won the most medals of any Jamaican at Beijing after achieving three gold medals. Of the 50 athletes, which were spread across four sports (swimming, track and field, cycling, and equestrianism) and 29 distinct events, Natasha Moodie was the youngest member of the delegation (17 years old), while Samantha Albert was the oldest member of the team (37 years old). Gold medalist Veronica Campbell-Brown was the nation's flag bearer at the ceremonies.
Medalists Medal Name Sport Event Date Athletics Men's 100 m August 16 Athletics Women's 100 m August 17 Athletics Men's 200 m August 20 Athletics Women's 400 m hurdles August 20 Athletics Women's 200 m August 21 Athletics Women's 100 m August 17 Athletics Women's 100 m August 17 Athletics Women's 400 m August 19 * Athletics Women's 4 × 400m relay August 23 Athletics Women's 200 m August 21 Athletics Women's long jump August 22 Key: *Athletes competed in heats only
Athletics
Men's competition
Men's 100 meters Texas Christian University runner Michael Frater ran for Jamaica in the men's 100 meters dash. Born in Jamaica as the brother of 2000 Olympian Lindel Frater, Michael Frater's participation in Beijing marked his second Olympic appearance and second time competing in the event on an Olympic level, having previously represented Jamaica in the 2004 Athens Olympics. During the August 14 qualification round, Frater raced in the fourth heat. He took first with a time of 10.15 seconds, defeating second place finalists Pierre Browne of Canada and Darrel Brown of Trinidad and Tobago (10.22 seconds). Out of the 80 athletes that completed the qualification round, Frater placed second behind Great Britain's Tyrone Edgar (10.13 seconds). He advanced to the quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinals, which took place on August 15, Frater competed in the first heat. He completed the race in 10.09 seconds, taking second place behind Churandy Martina of the Netherlands Antilles (9.99 seconds) and ahead of Japan's Naoki Tsukahara (10.23 seconds). 40 competitors progressed to quarterfinals from the qualifications; Michael Frater placed 9th, tying the United States' Tyson Gay and Portugal's Francis Obikwelu. He progressed to the semifinals on August 16.
During the semifinals, Frater was placed in the first heat again. In this race, Frater ran a time of 10.01 seconds, placing fourth out of the eight athletes in the heat. Frater defeated Kim Collins of Saint Kitts and Nevis (10.05 seconds) but fell behind Trinidad and Tobago's Marc Burns (9.97 seconds). The leaders of Frater's heat included Jamaica's Usain Bolt (9.85 seconds) and the United States' Walter Dix (9.95 seconds). Frater ranked seventh out of the 16 semifinalists, and progressed to the final round. The final round took place later on August 16, and Frater placed sixth with a time of 9.97 seconds. He placed ahead of Trinidadian Burns (10.01 seconds) and behind Jamaican Asafa Powell (9.95 seconds).
Asafa Powell was 25 at the time he represented Jamaica in the men's 100 meters race at the Beijing Olympics. Born in Linstead, a small town to the northwest of Kingston, and the brother of fellow Olympian Donovan Powell, Asafa Powell had participated earlier in the 2004 Athens Olympics while 21 years old. He took part in the men's 100 meters and men's 200 meters races. Powell competed in the second heat of the August 14 qualifications, placing first with a time of 10.16 seconds. Kim Collins of Saint Kitts and Nevis placed second in the heat (10.17 seconds) and Great Britain's Craig Pickering placed third (10.21 seconds). Overall, Powell place third out of 80 athletes a millisecond behind fellow Jamaican Michael Frater. He progressed to quarterfinals.
At the quarterfinals, Powell competed in the fifth heat and finished first again with a time of 10.02 seconds. He defeated the United States' Walter Dix (10.08 seconds), who placed second, and the Bahamas' Derrick Atkins (10.14 seconds), who placed third. Out of the 40 quarterfinalists, Powell placed fourth. He progressed to the semifinal round.
Powell participation in the second heat of the semifinal round placed him first in his heat again with a time of 9.91 seconds, placing him ahead of Trinidad and Tobago's Richard Thompson (9.93 seconds) and the Netherlands Antilles' Churandy Martina (9.94 seconds). Powell placed second out of the 16 semifinalists, ranking only behind fellow Jamaican Usain Bolt (9.85 seconds). He progressed to finals. During the last race of the event, Powell placed fifth with a time of 9.95 seconds, making him the second fastest Jamaican in the race. Martina placed ahead of him for fourth place (9.93 seconds) and Frater placed behind him for sixth (9.97 seconds).
Born in Sherwood Content, a small town in northern inland Jamaica, Usain "Lightning" Bolt was 21 years old when he competed on Jamaica's behalf in Beijing. Among his event, Bolt participated in the men's 100 meters dash, his first time competing in the event in the Olympics. Bolt previously competed for Jamaica in the men's 200 meters in Athens while 17 years old, but did not advance to later heats. During the August 14 qualification round, Bolt was placed in the first heat. He completed the race in 10.20 seconds, placing first ahead of Antigua and Barbuda's Daniel Bailey (10.24 seconds) and Brazil's Vicente Lima (10.26 seconds). Bolt ranked fifth out of the 80 competitors behind both Frater and Powell. He advanced to quarterfinals.
On August 15, Bolt competed in the quarterfinals. He was placed in the fourth heat. Usain Bolt finished the race in 9.92 seconds, again taking first in his heat and defeating the United States' Doc Patton (10.04 seconds) and Portugal's Francis Obikwelu (10.09 seconds). This time, Bolt placed first overall out of the 40 quarterfinalists, finishing three places ahead of Asafa Powell. Bolt advanced to the semifinal round, which took place the next day.
During the semifinals, Bolt was placed in the first heat. With a time of 9.85 seconds, Bolt placed first, ahead of the United States' Walter Dix (9.95 seconds); Trinidad and Tobago's Marc Burns (9.97 seconds); and fellow Jamaican Michael Frater (10.01 seconds). Of the 16 people participating in the event's semifinal round, Bolt placed first. Asafa Powell ranked just behind him (9.91 seconds). Bolt progressed to the final round, which occurred later that day. During finals, Usain Bolt won the gold medal with a world record-breaking time of 9.69 seconds despite easing up towards the final meters in order to celebrate.
Men's 200 meters
Christopher Williams was 36 years old at the time of his participation in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Born in Mandeville, the capital of Manchester Parish in west-central Jamaica, Williams' participation in Beijing marked his sixth time participating in an Olympic event and the third time he had appeared at an Olympic Games (previously representing Jamaica in three events in the 2000 Sydney games and one event in the 2004 Athens games). In Sydney, Williams was part of the men's 4 × 400 meters relay, winning the silver medal in the event. In Beijing, Williams participated in the men's 200 meters dash, which had a qualification round that took place on August 17. He was placed in the second heat, where he placed third out of its eight athletes with a time of 20.53 seconds. Although placing ahead of Japan's Shinji Takahira (20.58 seconds), Williams fell behind heat leaders Brian Dzingai of Zimbabwe (20.25 seconds) and Great Britain's Christian Malcolm (20.42 seconds). Overall, of the 62 athletes completing the event, Williams placed fifth. That was higher than the other two Jamaicans competing in the event (Usain Bolt placed 17th and Marvin Anderson placed 27th). He advanced to the quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinals, which took place on August 18, Williams took part in the second heat. He again ranked third with a time of 20.28 seconds, defeating Malcolm from his previous heat (20.30 seconds) but falling behind heat leaders Dzingai (20.23 seconds) and the United States' Walter Dix (20.27 seconds). Takahira also was in Williams' heat, placing seventh (20.63 seconds). Of the 31 finishing quarterfinalists, Williams ranked fourth. He placed just ahead of Usain Bolt, who finished 0.01 seconds behind him. Williams advanced to the semifinals.
Williams participated in the first heat of the semifinals on August 19, placing sixth out of the eight heat athletes with a time of 20.45 seconds. He placed directly ahead of Canada's Jared Connaughton (20.58 seconds) and behind Ireland's Paul Hession (20.38 seconds), while Dutch Antilean sprinter Churandy Martina (20.11 seconds) and Zimbabwe's Dzingai (20.17 seconds) led the heat. Overall, Williams placed 11th out of the 15 finishing semifinalists. He did not progress to the final round.