Bittersweet day in Paris for Jamaican Olympians

PARIS, France:

Olympic Games medallists Beverley McDonald, Chelsea Hammond Ross and Kaliese Spencer Carter can now begin the celebrations and fanfare they were denied years ago although for them these celebrations will be bittersweet.

The trio received their reallocated Olympic medals in a ceremony yesterday in Champions Park at Trocadeo Gardens in Paris.

McDonald was awarded her reallocated 200 metres bronze from the 2000 Sydney Games, Hammond Ross her reallocated women’s long jump bronze from 2008 in Beijing and Spencer Carter her reallocated 400m hurdles bronze from London 2012.

The one constant of the celebrations has been the support of their families especially their children who got the opportunity to see them recognised.

“I cant even express in words how it feels to have the Eiffel Tower in the background. To have my husband and my two children and my fellow teammates it feels so good,” Hammond Ross said. “In the stadium, in the moment after you just competed (in Beijing) of course that is what you want (the recognition). Those are just the cards that I was dealt. So I am going to take the opportunity here in Paris with my family, with my friends. This is a full circle moment, my children weren’t even in existence yet.”

Hammond Ross was upgraded to bronze in the women’s long jump in 2008 after retests of then silver medal winner, Russia’s Tatyana Lebedeva in 2017, revealed a banned substance and she was disqualified.

A main constant also has been how hard fought the journey has been to finally get their medals. McDonald was originally denied a podium place in that 200m final which was won by American Marion Jones. Jones’s subsequent disqualification pushed McDonald on the podium, somewhere she felt she deserved to be the first time.

“I ran back in 2000 when I should have been on that podium but I am here now getting it. It is a bittersweet moment as you know you worked so hard and I think 2000 was the best year that I ever competed. I really thought I was going to get a medal but I have got one now,” McDonald said.

The same thing could be said for Spencer Carter who along with Lashinda Demus and Zuzana Hejnova got their along awaited medals. The disqualification of Natalya Antyukh is a fallout from a Russian doping scandal when she originally won the 400m hurdles event in London 2012. All three women had their positions upgraded.

For Spencer Carter she finally got to bask in the moment that was a long time coming having had to endure challenges since that fateful night.

“It has been hard fought, but I am grateful. I am happy that my son got to experience it as well. I have lost out on a lot, endorsement wise and otherwise, but I’m just grateful and excited that finally I am able to come out here to have that experience with the other two ladies that were also medallists,” Spencer Carter said.