Nothing sweetens the sporting pot like the Olympic Games. In 2016, much of the anticipation for the Games in Rio di Janeiro surrounded Usain Bolt and the 6’5” super sprinter didn’t disappoint. Bolt, however, wasn’t Jamaica’s only star in Rio and the Olympics wasn’t the only big news in sport.
Despite an injury scare at Jamaica’s National Senior Championships, Bolt returned to fitness in time to dominate the 100 and 200 metres in Rio. He started with a routine win in the 100 over American Justin Gatlin, new Canadian star Andre DeGrasse and 2012 double silver medallist Yohan Blake in 9.81 seconds. It was an unprecedented third success in the 100m for Bolt.
His 2-2 gold medal tie with American hero Carl Lewis, who had also won the Olympic 100 twice, was broken.
The Trelawny native splashed his way to victory in the 200 as well. Now he has won Olympic gold medals in 6 individual events.
Jamaica’s other big star in Rio was Elaine Thompson who matched Bolt’s sprint double. In the 100, Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce fought an injured toe in pursuit of a history making trio of gold medals but had to accept the bronze as Thompson reigned supreme in 10.71 seconds.
When Thompson, a slim speed ball from Banana Ground, toppled Dutch World Champion Dafne Schippers in the 200, she had completed the first female sprint double at the Olympics since 1988. She was mighty impressive and, at just 24, has scope to improve.
So does 22 year-old Omar McLeod who also went to the top of the podium. His gold medal came in the 110 metre hurdles. No Jamaican has ever done that before. In March, McLeod won Jamaica’s first gold in the 60 metre hurdles at the World Indoor Championships.
Overall, Jamaica took home 6 gold medals, 3 silver and 2 bronze.
The Games also saw stunning world records by Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia in the 10,000, by Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland in the hammer throw and by South African Wayde van Niekerk in the 400.
Brazil breathed a sigh of relief when Neymar slotted home the winning goal in a penalty shoot-out in the gold medal football final against Germany. It was a title the football mad Brazilians had never won. In addition, the win over the redoubtable Germans was revenge for the 7-1 mauling Brazil got from their visitors at the 2014 World Cup at home.
Neymar’s Argentine club mate Lionel Messi walked to the penalty spot in the Copa America tournament finale. The FC Barcelona star missed and Argentina lost to Chile. Miffed by the disappointment, Messi announced an immediate retirement from international football but soon changed his mind.
Retirement hung in the air during 2016. Bolt announced that Rio would be his last Olympics and that he will sprint no more after 2017. LA Laker hero Kobe Bryant said farewell with a 60 point scoring finale and former NBA winners Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen stepped off centre stage too.
The biggest retirement blast came from race driver Nico Rosberg. The 31 year-old German first clinched his first Formula 1 title after a season long battle with Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton. Five days later, he dropped the r-bomb.
Stories of drug use by Olympians continued to emerge, with tennis star Maria Sharapova forced out of action by a ban. The shadow of mistrust eventually blocked most Russian athletes from the track and field competition in Rio and had led to calls to wipe the current list of world records clean.
Jamaica’s Wes Morgan stood at the centre of the year’s Cinderella story as his Leicester City fought the odds to win the English Premiership football title. It was improbable that Morgan and his band of no-names could beat the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal but they did.
Now Morgan, goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel and goal machine Jamie Vardy are well known names … especially in Leicester. That team had never been English football champions before, despite having players like legendary World Cup winning goalie Gordon Banks and ace striker Gary Lineker on their books in the past.
To continue reading, purchase Vol.8 #10, 2017 Issue.