The Island's Secret #2: The Jamaican sprint factory’s dark side
The renowned high school competition known as 'Champs' is the foundation of Jamaica's sprinting success. A doping network operating prior to Tokyo 2020 had ties to a dominant school team.
Every Monday and Thursday, I publish a press-round up of all the doping and sports medicine stories in the media from the past seven days.
This is the second article in a three-part series on doping, and drug trafficking, in Jamaican track and field. You can read Part 1 (here).
In part 3 (link), I explain in-depth exactly how a close relationship between sprinting circles in Jamaica and the US has provided the foundation for elite sprinters to cheat the system.
Kingston, the capital of Jamaica, is just a two-hour flight away from the sunshine state of Florida. But for many young Jamaican athletes on board over the years, this short journey across the Gulf of Mexico has represented an entirely new beginning in a land of opportunity.
Every year, many of Jamaica’s best young sprinters win prestigious US college scholarships for their spectacular performances at the high school track and field championships known as ‘Champs’ held in Kingston. Over 3000 Jamaican athletes gather at the National Stadium for the four-day event hoping to follow in the footsteps of Olympic champions, such as Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake and Veronica Campbell-Brown who first made their name at Champs.
Campbell-Brown, the 2-time Olympic 200m champion who started her career at the University of Arkansas and has a house in Florida, believes the intense pressure at the event lay the foundation for her future success.
“It taught me how to run and win under pressure and I think my days at Champs actually helped me in my career because it was so competitive,” said Campbell-Brown.
Champs has become not only a Jamaican institution but the bedrock of the country’s athletics success.
But as with any professional sport, in any country, when the stakes are so high, and the competition is fierce bad actors are never far away.