Bert Cameron’s 400m gold still stands alone

JAMAICA HAVE won so many medals at the World Championships that we may take it for granted.

Winning 137 medals is no mean feat and ranks Jamaica as the fifth most successful nation in World Championship history. It all started at the first staging of the event, thanks to Bert Cameron.

The 1983 World Championships were held in Helsinki, Finland, where George Rhoden and Herb McKenley had won gold and silver in the Olympic 400 final in 1952 before returning with Les Laing and 1948 Olympic 400 gold medallist Arthur Wint to take the 4x400 in world record time.

Cameron was in fine form. Bedecked with the 1982 Commonwealth title, the US NCAA crown and the fastest time of the season at 44.62 seconds, the Spanish Town native won his heat, quarterfinal and semi easily and entered the final as the favourite.

When the time came on August 10, 1983, the big man lined up in lane four, with Mckenley present as a team official.

The bearded Jamaican ran powerfully through the Helsinki chill and outpaced the American pair of Michael Franks and Sunder Nix and European champion, Harmut Weber, in the early going. With the Americans giving chase, Cameron held his form to win in 45.05 seconds, a fine time in the cool conditions.

His semifinal win – a comfy 45.48 run – boosted his confidence.

“I was convinced after the semis that I would win,” said the 23-year-old Cameron to reporters.

“It wasn’t a fast time because everyone felt under pressure to stay close to each other.”

Franks and Nix finished second and third, with Weber adrift in fourth place.

Temperatures on the day went as low as 16.1 Celsius. With that in mind, it’s little wonder that Cameron’s winner was the fastest 400 ever in Helsinki and remained so for eight years.

Accordingly, with the Jamaican losing just once all year, the respected US publication TRACK AND FIELD NEWS named him the number-one 400-metre runner for 1983 in its well-known Annual World Rankings. He had first earned that honour in 1982.

Now 63, Cameron is still Jamaica’s only World 400-metre champion.

The race for the 400-metre gold at this year’s World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, began on August 20 and tomorrow will include two Jamaicans, Sean Bailey and the impressive Antonio Watson.

For the record, Jamaica’s second World Championship medal came later on the same day, courtesy of Leleith Hodges, Jackie Pusey, Juliet Cuthbert and Merlene Ottey, who placed third in the 4x100 relay.

A few days later, Ottey finished fast to take second place in the 200 metres, in 22.19 seconds. East German superwoman Marita Koch was just 0.06 ahead at the finish.

All in all, it was a brilliant start to Jamaica’s participation in the World Championships.