The pride of Rose Town

As the clock wound down for the women’s 100-metre hurdles finals at Hayward Field in Oregon, Elizabeth Smith started to suffer a throbbing headache hundreds of miles away in Jamaica as her granddaughter Britany Anderson settled down for the biggest final of her life on Sunday.

But in 12.23 seconds (+2.5m/s), that pain was soothed as the 21-year-old for whom she cared for nearly two decades copped a silver medal at the World Athletics Championships. That came two hours after Anderson broke the national record in the semi-final by clocking 12.31 seconds.

“I feel so good!” Smith said in a Gleaner interview at her home in Spanish Town on Monday.

“... I don’t know if mi did nervous or what, but when she finish run and family and everyone a call mi, it’s like mi nerves kinda calm down.”

Smith said that Anderson has been a runner since she was two years old growing up in the gritty inner-city community of Rose Town, Kingston.

The glowing grandma recalled the very first time she thought to herself that Anderson was capable of becoming an athlete, as the little girl ran errands at lightning speed.

Anderson’s exploits in school sports day activities paid off with bows and medals, spurring Smith’s belief that her granddaughter was capable of representing Jamaica at the international level one day.

She said that Anderson sealed the deal while excelling as a student athlete at Vere Technical High School in Clarendon.

Smith told The Gleaner that she ended up raising Anderson after the child’s biological father died when she was two years of age. The devoted grandmother said it would have been remiss of her not to have taken Smith in at that crucial time in her life.

“Mi is a family person, so raising her, it was like my own child, my own child, and she get the best, and she never have life that hard as a child because food was there and help was there. She never give mi trouble,” Smith said.

Reflecting on Anderson’s World Championships glory, Smith said that raising her granddaughter was not a thankless task.

Hugh Salmon, Anderson’s stepfather, said he, too, is proud of the girl he cherished as his own child.

He was home alone in Rose Town when Anderson won her silver medal on Sunday. Salmon said he could not contain his joy.

“Mi love her, man! Mi love her! Little most mi mash up inna di house! Mi bex how she never get di gold,” said Salmon.

“A di gold mi did want, but she make mi feel proud!”

Salmon said that Anderson, who played volleyball, netball and football, remained focused and goal-oriented. She also steered clear of the negative forces in her home town.

“No care a Rose Town and the area bad still. She keep inside. It’s a girl weh from school to yard, and her grandmother, you have to give her praise.

“She grow her good. Seven o’clock nuh ketch dem a road,” said Salmon, who also credited Anderson’s coach at Vere Technical for nurturing her athletic prowess.

Sonique Salmon, Anderson’s younger sister, told The Gleaner that she, too, is proud of ‘Big Things’, which she affectionately calls her sister.

“She tried her best, and mi just feel excited when mi see her. At least she come second. She try and gave it all she got,” Sonique said.

In 2018, Anderson ran her personal best time of 12.71 seconds in the 100m hurdles at the Motonet Joensuu Grand Prix in Finland. Anderson’s effort back then erased Rushelle Burton’s national junior record of 12.87 seconds, set in July 2016.

Anderson was also a finalist of the IAAF junior sprint hurdler for the 2019 Rising Star Award, which recognised outstanding Under-20 athletes from around the globe.