Laurie Foster | The Deon Hemmings Oversight

There is a school of thought that it was a quote taken from the Holy Bible which sparked nations to bestow honours on those in their midst who performed above the ordinary in a given field of endeavour.

One cannot be sure, whether or not that was the genesis of the building of statues or the presentation of a certificate of honour or simply an inscribed plaque to chosen persons. Suffice it to say that the most recent unveiling of statues in honour of three of the nation’s track and field athletes was timely and well deserved.

The ceremonies, coming when they were still around and thus able to hear the citations, should be of lasting memory to all who witnessed them. The recipients, all products of Jamaica’s 15-year upward surge in world athletics, starting in 2004, were Usain Bolt, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Veronica Campbell-Brown. The three events spoke in loud terms to the biblical exhortation from the King James version of the Holy Book and taken from Ecclesiasticus 44. 1, “Let us now praise famous men and our fathers that begat us.”

There has been a promise that the first Jamaican to break the 100m world record, Asafa Powell, will join the mentioned three with similar prestigious recognition. Any argument that all four do not meet the strictest criteria for this honour should be swiftly overturned.

Thoughts ought to be turned to whom else in the current era, say 25 years, is deserving but has been overlooked.

It was at the 1996 Olympics, 23 years ago, that Jamaica, after 48 years competing at this stellar event, brought home its first gold medal in female competition at that level. The achiever was an athlete named Deon Marie Hemmings. The former Vere Technical High School sprinter was never a hit at school. She did not make her team to the Penn Relays. She was not an automatic choice for a track scholarship although she was from a school that boasted a rich history of high-profile athletic talent. She was, however, drafted into the little known Central State College in the USA along with a host of her countrymen and women of limited talent.

Under the oversight of the USA’s Olympic 400m gold medallist, Josh Culbreth, Deon was asked to do the one-lap obstacle event. Something clicked. She made her Olympic debut in 1992 in Barcelona with little success. In 1996, in Atlanta, came the crown with an Olympic record, the first Jamaican woman to win an Olympic gold medal, coming from a place of non-recognition in high school. She was now at the top of the world. Three individual bronze medals and a silver at the global level were to follow.

This, therefore, should be enough to urge the persons responsible for awarding these honours to take a look at Hemmings’ status – the country’s first-ever female winner of an Olympic gold medal – and set the record straight.

Surely, this can only be an oversight.

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