Lance Neita | Photo finish in a 100 metres tie

From our comfortable armchairs in front of the television we rant and rave when our athletes fail to meet our unrealistic expectations. But as the great Herb McKenley once reminded us, “Brilliant execution (in athletics) is only part of the story. The other part is what we will never see from our armchairs: the hard work, sacrifice, and obstacles surmounted.”

McKenley went on to nail down the truism, borne out by history, that our sportsmen and women have always excelled with results far greater than our size would suggest.

There is much to be proud of in our overall performance on the world stage this year. From our armchairs we should surely have seen the determination, team spirit, youth, and best shots capped by the six super performances that earned us medals in the most competitive Olympiad ever.

The pressure on our men and women was overwhelming, with the Jamaicans eyeballed by rival competitors from a certain country desperate to make a comeback against the team that had turned them into putty on the track during the period of Jamaican superiority, including the golden era of Usain Bolt.

Only six medals this time, yes, but medals that had to be fought for, no quarter given by the opposition, and silver and bronze as good as gold, bearing in mind the intensity of the competition and a ‘beat Jamaica if you want to win’ rhythm around the track.

No doubt we have been a bit shocked by the results, but guess what: the world is apprehensive of what Jamaica will do in their bounce-back, with the youngest team in the track and field category coming of age in Los Angeles in 2028 and not having to look over their shoulders on their way to the finish line.

The highlights of 2024 are many, but my own standalone moment was when I saw Kishane Thompson step past the 100 metres finish line seemingly ahead of Noah Lyles.

The breathtaking finish had the world transfixed, with both athletes looking anxiously at the board as the commentator’s pronouncement of a Jamaican victory drew lines of anxiety and disappointment across Lyle’s face.

But the jubilation died down when the cameras switched from Thompson to an elated Lyles, who jumped like a jack-in-the-box when he saw his name flash across the screen as the 2024 Olympic champion, the pinnacle of his dreams.

BAWLED OUT

From Mitchell Town in Clarendon to Wellington in New Zealand we bawled out ‘tief’, threw imaginary bottles at the judges, expressed our outrage in the most colourful Jamaican terms, and took out our frustration on the photo-finish machine that could deny even a tie based on the equal times recorded and give into the micro timing of 0.005 of a second (not even time to catch your breath) that could separate two champions in the most watched event in the world.

Yes, we felt cheated, until Thompson himself graciously acknowledged Lyles as the victor and spoke in the most self-effacing terms of his setback in finishing, which gave Lyles the title by a chest. Yes, that’s what it was. Although we saw Thompson’s foot breast the line ahead of the others, Lyles was, somehow, able to thrust his chest forward to break Thompson’s toehold and win by a breath. As they say, breast is best, but boy, what a blow, especially when it comes after putting your best breast forward.

The heartbreak of 2024 has an interesting parallel in the 1952 Olympiad in Helsinki, almost 60 years ago, when the world first sat up and asked about the Jamaicans, “Where do these phenomenal athletes come from”?

For example, the shock and anguish of Thompson’s second place must be comparable to the distress felt by Jamaicans when Herb McKenley was denied a gold medal in the Helsinki 100 metres after being declared winner on the first call.

It was one of the most dramatic finishes ever, with the top four in the race – McKenley, Trinidad’s McDonald Bailey, and America’s Lindy Remigino and Deon Smith – all credited with the same time, 10.4.

McKenley was actually being congratulated and photographed by the press corps when word came that the photo finish showed Remigino winning ‘by an eyelash’. The irony is that Remigino had already congratulated McKenley. Herb was shocked and disappointed - as was the rest of the world.

GRACIOUS IN DEFEAT

Like Thompson, he was gracious in defeat. “The fairest thing would have been to declare a draw,” he said, “but I will not protest.”

Back home, it was a somewhat different picture. News had been relayed to Jamaica around 10:15 the Sunday morning by Helsinki radio that McKenley had won. People gathered in the streets for public rejoicing. When the official placing was announced, we bawled out “Tief!”, but the judges were over 2,000 miles away, and as in 2024, safely out of arm’s (and empty Red Stripe bottles) reach.

But much more was to come out of those memorable games. On the final day of the meet, July 27, the team of McKenley, George Rhoden, Arthur Wint, and Les Laing stunned the world with a record-breaking victory in the 4x400 metres relay.

There was jubilation back home. The Gleaner headline blazed ‘Jamaica beats the world’. Congratulatory telegrams and cables raced across the Atlantic. The governor gazetted a public holiday. Herbert Duffus fined 12 men £1 each for “celebrating Helsinki” in a bar at 71 Love Lane after closing hours.

As our athletes continue to represent us well in performance and in decorum, out of their stories we can reap hope, love, courage, and endurance — gifts of the spirit that can transform our lives from the violence and Cherry Tree Lane death traps of our daily existence and place us on the same world stage of hope and endurance as exhibited in the achievements of our Helsinki pioneers and the lives of our heroes returning from France.

Lance Neita is a would-be athlete and a public relations professional. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and lanceneita@hotmail.com