‘I’m OK’ Sprinter Usain bolts from crash with minor scratches

Rasbert Turner and Adrian Frater, Gleaner Writers

Usain Bolt walks barefoot from the Spanish Town Hospital after a motor vehicle accident along Highway 2000 in St Catherine. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

SPANISH TOWN, St Catherine:

Triple Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt walked away with minor bruises yesterday, after his multimillion-dollar BMW M3 overturned on Highway 2000.

Bolt’s manager, Norman Peart, told The Gleaner that the 23-year-old sprinter suffered splints to his left foot when he stepped on thorns after alighting from his damaged 2009 BMW M3.

He said the thorns were removed at the Spanish Town Hospital where Bolt was treated.

Latoya Taylor, 20, and 19-year-old Venecia Crew, both passengers in Bolt’s vehicle, also escaped serious injury, Peart said.

The front and back of Usain Bolt’s wrecked BMW M3, at a storage facility last night. After being treated at the Spanish Town Hospital in St Catherine yesterday, Bolt told journalists and well-wishers that he was doing well. - Winston Sill/ Freelance Photographer

He was unable to say if Bolt will honour immediate meet appearances.

He was scheduled to run at the Jamaica International Invitational on Saturday at the National Stadium.

“We can’t say right now. He’ll do further tests in the next 48 hours before we can determine that,” Peart said.

Bolt seemed to be in good spirits when he left hospital.

“Mi good, man, mi good,” the lanky sprinter said as he exited the Accident and Emergency Department.

News of the accident caused anxious moments for Bolt’s family in rural Sherwood Content, Trelawny.

“When I realised it was true, a weak feeling just came over me,” said his father, Wellesley. “I was very worried because the hospital refused to release any information on him.”

The senior Bolt said he contacted his wife, Jennifer, who is abroad, and told her that their son was all right.

Last night, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Olivia Grange, expressed her relief that Bolt was not hurt in the road accident.

“I was able to speak to Usain by telephone while he was at the hospital. He was his usual self in our conversation and he told me he was fine,” Grange said. “Usain was examined by the doctors and discharged from hospital. He has been instructed to rest.”

According to Sergeant David Sherris of the Old Harbour Police Station, Bolt was driving towards Spanish Town at 1 p.m. When he reached Bushy Park he lost control of the vehicle, which overturned and was extensively damaged.

Bolt was the star of last year’s Olympics in Beijing, China. He won three gold medals - 100 metres, 200 metres and was a member of the 4×100 metres team - returning world record times in each event.

He subsequently received several awards, including Athlete of the Year by the International Association of Athletics Federations.

Hockey blues

Local federation in desperate bid to upgrade battered turf

By André Lowe Observer staff reporter lowea@jamaicaobserver.com

Saturday, April 11, 2009

The Jamaica Hockey Federation (JHF) is in urgent need of a new $4.4-million artificial all-weather playing turf to replace the ‘carpet’ at the Mona astro turf and will be moving to have a new surface installed within a year.

Victor Tomlinson, president of the JHF, said the present facility’s abrasive nature and the threat it posed to players during falls and tackles have given rise to the concerns.

There is no clear indication where the money will come from to facilitate the resurfacing, but Tomlinson and his team are determined to have the repairs done.

He was quick to point out that the new surface would not cost as much to install as the original because the infrastructure is already in place.

“This one (turf) is approaching 10 years since it was installed and the technology has changed significantly since then. Quite frankly, the turf is wearing out badly and needs to be replaced,” he noted.

The JHF is reportedly in the process of identifying a supplier and will be receiving quotations from artificial turf manufacturers from across the region.

In addition to offering more protection to the players, Tomlinson contends that a new surface will also encourage them to express themselves more on the field and in the process develop their abilities.

“The turf we have is a sand-filled turf. as green as it looks there are about four or so truckloads of sand intermingled with the turf. That technology has changed because when you play on it dry it’s very aggressive and abrasive, so persons who fall on it tend to get serious turf burns to their skin,” said Tomlinson, adding that the installation was made without the requisite water system.

“With the new technology the players will be able to fully express themselves and can make full contact with the turf without the fear of damaging their skin.so you would begin to see the slide tackles and other plays being utilised by the players,” he added.

The current facility was completed in February 1999 after work had started in November of the previous year. Since then, Argentine Hilario Machuca visited the island last year to conduct some repair work to the turf.

The turf work is, however, just one aspect of the federation’s plans to make the facility more spectator-friendly and in line with international standards. There is a $1-million aesthetic programme underway which sees work being done to the perimeter fencing, light fixtures and offices.

Coaches lament incident

Anthony Minott/Freelance Photographer
Coach of Harbour View, Donovan Hayles (centre), holds Tivoli Gardens goalkeeper Edsel Scott, while other members of the coaching staff from both teams, including Tivoli Gardens’ assistant coach Max Straw (third right), assist in restraining players following a brawl on the field, after the Digicel Premier League match on Wednesday night had ended at the Harbour View Mini Stadium. At far left, Harbour View’s Rafeik Thomas, who was red-carded for an altercation with Tivoli’s Christopher Jackson (not in photo), stands beside his team’s captain, Jermaine Hue. Jackson also saw red.The game ended 1-1.Anthony Minott, Freelance Writer

Coaches of Harbour View and Tivoli Gardens have expressed disappointment with the fracas that followed their Digicel Premier League match, which ended 1-1 at Harbour View Mini Stadium on Wednesday night.

Oraine Simpson netted in the 21st minute for Tivoli, while Lovel Palmer equalised for the home team from the penalty spot in the 47th minute.

Ugly incident

“We don’t condone this sort of behaviour at Harbour View,” the east Kingston team’s head coach, Donovan Hayles, said of the ugly incident that unfolded after the game.

“The players got fired up and it looked a way. Then the spectators also got involved.”

Tivoli Gardens’ coach, Lenworth Hyde Sr, said it was “a good game, not a bad result”, but was disappointed with how the game finished, with players and spectators clashing in mid-pitch.

The game ended on a sour note, as an altercation between Harbour View’s Rafeik Thomas and Tivoli’s Christopher Jackson after the game caused a mini brawl, as players from both sides and spectators got into a fight. However, there were no reports of injuries. Thomas and Jackson were given red cards by referee Lewin Purser for their part in the incident.

Hyde said he saw something coming as Thomas, a former Tivoli player now playing for Harbour View, and Christopher Jackson, a former Harbour View defender now at Tivoli, had a little tussle during the game.

After the match, the two players were embroiled in a shoving match in mid-pitch and other players from both sides, as well as spectators, got involved.

Security personnel and the coaching staff of both teams worked feverishly to quell the brawl.

The incident spilled over into the stands and it was alleged that a plain-clothes policeman fired three shots to disperse the crowd.

JFF promises tough action

BurrellLocal football’s governing body, the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), has condemned the ugly scenes that followed Wednesday night’s Digicel Premier League match between top teams Harbour View and Tivoli Gardens at the Harbour View Mini Stadium.

The contest ended in a 1-1 draw, there was an altercation between Harbour View striker Rafeik Thomas, a former player at Tivoli Gardens, and Tivoli Gardens defender Christopher Jackson, who used to play for Harbour View. Both were shown red cards.

The incident sparked a brawl on the field, first between players then spectators joined in. Shots were also fired inside the stands, allegedly by a plain-clothes policeman.

On Thursday, the JFF issued a release and its president, Captain Horace Burrell, promised the strongest possible sanctions.

Statement

The release states:

“The Jamaica Football Federation would like to condemn in the strongest possible way the brawl engaged in by both players and spectators, following the Digicel Premier League match between Harbour View and Tivoli Gardens at the Harbour View Mini Stadium on Wednesday evening. That behaviour marred what would have been a wonderful evening of family entertainment.

“That kind of behaviour goes against everything that our organisation stands for and, by extension, our parent bodies of FIFA, CONCACAF and the Caribbean Football Union,” Burrell was quoted as saying.

He went on: “Those who have played a part in the use of this sport to unify the nation in our march towards the historic qualification for the 1998 World Cup, and those who have used this as a vehicle to bring warring factions together could not have experienced a greater letdown.

“I have instructed the JFF’s Disciplinary and Competitions committees to immediately investigate the matter and to deal with it in the firmest possible way allowed by the regulations. We will not allow a few unruly persons to destroy the wonderful game we all love,” he added.

Jackson an ambassador of Caribbean Games

By Howard Walker Observer staff reporter walkerh@jamaicaobserver.com

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Jamaica’s Grace Jackson was yesterday made an ambassador of the inaugural Caribbean Games set for July 12-19 in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T).

Jackson, who joins T&T Olympians Hasley Crawford and Ato Boldon as ambassadors, was presented with her citation at the Hilton Kingston Hotel yesterday morning.

Olympian Hasely Crawford (left) presents Grace Jackson with her ambassadorial citation and a Games T-shirt at a press conference at the Kingston Hilton Hotel yesterday. Looking on is Games chairperson Dennise Demming. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

Both Crawford, the 1976 100 metres Olympic champion and Boldon, the 100m silver medallist at the 2000 Olympics, were in attendance.

Jackson, the 1988 200m silver medallist, said she was grateful to be asked to represent the Caribbean, “because I do see myself as an international citizen of which the Caribbean plays quite an important part”.

“I am glad that I am able to join both Hasely and Ato as ambassadors to spread the word to go to Trinidad and make it a real spectacle,” a hoarse-sounding Jackson - who has been participating in the ISSA Girls and Boys Championship - said.

She added: “It really gives me great pleasure to get another platform for which I can represent the different cultures in the Caribbean and boast that every single person in the Olympic 100m final was from the Americas and six from the Caribbean.”

Jackson, also a bronze medallist at the 1987 and 1989 IAAF World Indoor Championship, said she is proud to say that the Caribbean region is one of the best in the world in sprinting.

“Hasely started out in getting the first gold medal and we had to wait so many years and we got it last year. But I can guarantee you that there is a lot more to come and we will keep that tradition going.

“We’re not going to stay there; we’ll be looking at middle-distance runners one step at a time and this game will be helping to produce more of those persons,” she said.

“The rivalry among us is so great it helps to build us and go out and be the best in the world. We have the best in the world and we want to bring them to the Caribbean to see what we’re made of,” Jackson added.

Some 26 countries are scheduled to participate in the Caribbean Games and will compete in five sporting disciplines - boxing, netball, tennis, track & field and volleyball.

The Games will be held every four years in the year immediately following the Olympic Games.

Chairperson of the Games, Dennise Demming, promised that all the top athletes from the region will be at the Games, come July.

“I am extremely pleased to be here because we’re engaging in an activity that is significant to the region. I represent the Caribbean Games and I represent the dreams of the heads of our Caribbean countries,” she noted.

“This whole issue of seeing our own perform on the local stage. too many of us have not seen our successful athletes perform on the local stage. We have only seen it from an American or British perspective. I, as a Caribbean person, am extremely happy to be a part of the Caribbean Games,” Demming reiterated.

According to the organisers, the Caribbean has a proud history of success on the world sporting stage and it is with this legacy of sporting achievement in mind that the Caribbean Games was conceived.

It is designed to provide a platform to showcase elite regional athletes and a means of motivating young sportsmen and sportswomen to aspire to international standards and achievements.

The Games will expose Caribbean audiences to the best of Caribbean athletes.

Jamaica set for title despite losing to Windward Islands