BEIJING (AP) Melaine Walker of Jamaica has won the gold medal in the women's 400-meter hurdles in an Olympic record.
Walker won in 52.64 seconds in Wednesday's final, with Sheena Tosta of the United States taking silver in 53.70 and Tasha Danvers of Britain third in 53.84.
Walker's win came minutes after her countryman Usain Bolt completed a sprint double by winning the men's 200 in world-record time.
The hurdles final was wide open with world record-holder Yulia Pechonkina skipping the Olympics because of a heart problem, two-time world champion Jana Rawlinson out injured and reigning Olympic champion Fani Halkia expelled after testing positive for a steroid.
Yes !! As a Jamaica is clean I am happy to be a part of this revolution. We would have reached this stage if the drugists were caught when Merlene Ottey use to run. Glen Milll, Usain's coach is a man of integrity. He was fortunate to get some of my atheletes in the late seventies and early eightiies from Grange Hill Secondary school. He deals with the athletes' physical, and educational and psychological problems. Good coach..Usain is lucky
Really !!!!???
01:47, 20 August 2008
.. Posted by JAM404
If Tyson Gay ran 9.69 & 19.30 , it would be widely accepted as talent & America's ability to produce the best Sprinters , It's always funny to hear people whine about the Jamaicans without knowing about the Jamaican Culture & the history of the Sport in Jamaica , The finger pointing always comes when somebody is loosing , i'll bet if the Jamaicans we're still getting Bronze medals , 4,5ths & also rans we would'nt be hearing about doping in Jamaica ,What These hateful doping alligations especally by the Americans tells me is ,in their minds you only can do well in Track if you are Doping & thats what they do to win , also they're very selective about who they accuse about doping ,Pamela Jelimo went from 00 to 1.54.87 @ 18 !! & i'am yet to see anyone pointing fingers @ her , Jamaicans don't have a History of doping & no athlete training in Jamaica were ever tested positive for banned substance , But the common sentiments are the these Jamaicans are down in Jamaica doping up & not being tested (translation they are doping freely & we can't ) , this is more a fear than actuality , They have no idea how much the Jamaican athletes are tested , i read recently Asafa Powell was tested 40 times already this yr. 3 times in Beijing including blood testing , (he volinteered for a IAAF testing programme) before the games started in Beijing , besides being tested year round they are tested when they compete overseas & the idea that the Governing bodies in Jamaica will turn a blind eye to doping is laughable the last 2 doping positives by Jamaican athletes we caught in Jamaica by the Jamaican anti-doping bodies , these were American trained athletes btw., the alligation of doping by the Jamaican athletes are based on the fact that they are preforming well & thats it , I question why that article is being brought up constantly on this site ??, That article by Victor Conte article is from last fall & how come he's not being asked about his opinion on Doping in America etc??. & why are we not hearing his views on America Doping that since Sport Doping in America is one of the biggest story this decade ??
Jamaican Dominance
06:07, 20 August 2008
.. Posted by Anonymous
An earlier post mentioned that the Jamaicans who have been caught in the past were American trained. However, the most recent drug scandal involving Americans dealt with Jamaican trained (Trevor Graham) athletes. I agree with the comment about theKenyan 800 meter woman but you didn't mention your very own 11.31 sprinter running a 10.78 in less than a year. Only the individual athletes know for sure what they are taking so we shouldn't point fingers until there is absolute proof regardless of nationality. One thing is for sure though, if any gold medal winners (sprinters in particular) turn up positive, track will die a short death.
Jamaicans
06:07, 20 August 2008
.. Posted by PG County
I am proud to be an American, but the Jamaicans are doing excellent in Beijing. You are right Jam404 if Tyson Gay had ran those times everyone would have crowned him the best of all time and not question whether his running was aided illegally. The Jamaicans take track very seriously unlike us Americans, we have coaches from other sports that's telling kids that if you don't do my "sport" you will not play and that's not right. In Kingston you don't have that problem, there kids are more coachable and respectful. If Usain was born here he would been used up from playing football and would be weighing about 240lbs. Big ups to the Jamaicans at the Olympics.
The JAMICANS are NOT Clean thats CLEAR...
10:59, 20 August 2008
.. Posted by Anonymous
BALCO founder Victor Conte sounded alarms about the Olympic track and field success of sprint power Jamaica.
World Anti-Doping Agency has been urgedto investigate drug testing and supervision of athletes in Caribbean nations/Jamica that lack an independent, state-run anti-doping body.
Conte met in December with then-WADA director Dick Pound and detailed allegations of illicit behavior. He declined to elaborate.
"To see the fastest people in the world coming from one island [Jamaica], I'm highly suspicious," Conte said this week. "I believe there's rampant use of performance-enhancing drugs in the Caribbean." Pound said Friday he thought Conte's "information was good, and that we would follow up."
Jamaican officials did not immediately respond to voice messages and e-mails from The Times about Conte's call for a probe.
Jamaicans winning by using performance enhancing drugs?
04:20, 21 August 2008
.. Posted by dejagib
It is rather fallacious to think that because the best athletes come form a small , poor country in the Caribbean means they have to be using performance enhancing drugs.
If the rich powerful USA is now not able to fool the drug testers, how would a poor, under developed country do that? Where would we get the resources to invent these undetectable drugs? Remember, we might not have great drug testing here, but we are still among the most tested nation. How come nothing has been uncovered at the Olympics where we are under so much testing and scrutiny.
There are several other possible reasons but the Americans always point to drug use. Just face it, the tables have turned. One day, America may once again start dominating again but for now and a very long time to come, it will be Jamaica's time,
Beware, we have many, many more world beaters in the wings coming up through our great Boys and Girls high School Championship. I am sorry for you.
Victor Conte, Jamaica's Limelight & Sore Losers
11:36, 26 August 2008
.. Posted by Ryan
First lets get the facts in the open. Victor Conte is the disgraced BALCO founder who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute steroids and money laundering in a deal which led to Marion Jones being forced to testify about alleged drug use. Conte is basically playing the role of a good guy against doping, just to reduce his 20 year sentence!! Just Google the bastard and see what u get!
A colleague of mine made this coment & I share his sentiment and appreciate the facts:
It is quite interesting to see Americans accuse Usain Bolt of doping when Jamaica has no history of doping but the USA has the following:
The dawn of drug testing was the 1983 Pan Am Games in Caracas, Venezuela and when Canadian weightlifter Guy Greavette tested positive for steroids, a dozen
American athletes in various events suddenly withdrew from the competition and returned to the U.S., and at least another dozen athletes from other countries also left without explanation.
Former U.S. Olympic Committee anti-doping chief, Dr. Wade Exum, wrote a 30,000+ page report in 2003 that said:
(1) 19 American medallists were allowed to compete at various Olympic Games from 1988 to 2000 despite having earlier failed drug tests
(2) More than 100 athletes from several different sports tested positive for banned substances between 1988 and 2000 but were cleared by internal appeals processes.
(3) According to Exum's evidence, Lewis was one of three eventual Olympic gold medallists who tested positive for banned stimulants in the months leading up to the 1988 Seoul Games. Lewis was awarded the gold medal in the 100-metres after Ben Johnson was disqualified for using steroids.
US athlete Jerome Young being allowed to compete – and win a gold medal – at the 2000 Sydney Olympics despite testing positive for steroids in 1999.
2003 was a big catch:
(1) U.S. sprinter Kelli White stripped of her two gold medals from the World Track & Field Championships for testing positive for Modafinil
(2) four-time U.S. 400 hurdles champ Sandra Glover
(3) 25-time U.S. middle distance national champion and two-time 1,500 meter World Champ silver medalist Regina Jacobs
(4) 2003 U.S. national shot put champion Kevin Toth
Tim Montgomery - 100m World Record revoked after he admitted accepting steroids and other performance enhancing drugs from BALCO
CJ Hunter
Marion Jones
Cyclist Floyd Landis
Justin Gatlin, the American sprinter and Olympic gold medalist, with a 100 m personal best of 9.85 seconds. He is currently serving a four year ban
Alvin Harrison, an American athlete that won a gold medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay at both the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics and a silver medal in the 400 metres at the 2000 Summer Olympics. Alvin Harrison did not compete in the 2004 Olympics due to circumstantial evidence of using a banned substance. In October of 2004, Harrison agreed to a four-year suspension with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.
Antonio Pettigrew was a 2000 Olympic gold medalist in the men's 4x400 meter relay for the United States, by his own admission while using performance-enhancing drugs between 1997 and 2001. The 2000 Sydney Olympics 4 x 400 metres relay US team was stripped of their medals after Pettigrew admitted that he had used performance-enhancing drugs
Jerome Young (born in Clarendon, Jamaica) attended high school in Hartford, Connecticut at Prince Technical, is a sprint athlete. His reputation as a sprinter has been tarnished as he was caught doping in 1999. He and his teammates were stripped of their 2000 Olympic medal in the 4x400 m relay
LaTasha Jenkins is a former American sprinter who tested positive for nandrolone in 2006
And this is mainly track and field. I haven't even scratched the surface of the doping cases in the NFL or Baseball!
It is very interesting when any American throws the doping allegations at others - maybe it's because they are intimately familiar with the idea of doped up
athletes and just can't believe that they are not the supreme country in something.
My addition to this is, is that all those athletes should not have competed, negatively impacted everyone else on the competetion from the heats to the finals. This means, everyone who got 4th place in those events, could have gotten the bronze, etc. This means countless amount of Jamacians and other nations were robbed of the honest day's pay.
Now that the doping standards from the IAAF have gone up with this new IAAF President, many athletes US and 1st world coutries are being busted big time.
This makes it less attractive for very capable & talented young US athletes to consider doping. Now you have the rest of the world who already had strong track & field programs whose athletes are now able to compete against Americans who are not on banned substances. What's the result? The true champions shine!! And this is what we all witnessed during these Olympics.
Oh, and by the way Michael Phelps won 8 races and broke 7 world records after swimming over 12 times in 1 week!! Why then should we not scrutinize him? I'm not saying we should, or he deserves to be... but just observe. Americans should dominate by any means necessary and no questions asked, but everyone else should be put under the microscope if they shine.
Finally, I thank all the athltes from every country for providing us with a wonderful historic Olympic Games. I look forward to seeing you all in London.
Give us the same courtesy
03:11, 6 October 2008
.. Posted by Anonymous
I've been a track and field fan since i was a little girl, maybe bcuz i live in Jamaica where track is a major sport. I've watched the olympics for years and i've cheered my country on when they got silver and bronze medals, altho some ppl wud like to act like we just shot up from 7th or 8th place. All the years when USA dominated the track, i never accused any of them of taking drugs, i just said they were good(a bit "in ur face"), but still good. Now that Jamaica is dominating, why can';t we get the same courtesy? Why can't you Americans accept that we might just be good? If our athletes test positive, then u can chatise as much as u like, but till then why can't we just be good runners? And what's even more annoying is that track and field isn;t the only thing the USA thinks they should dominate. China won the gold in gymnastics and the USA made the biggest fuss bcuz they didn't win. Michael Phelps came second in one race and he was still declared winner, but i am yet to hear any objections to that.
Face it, we've alway been second best to the disgraced dopers and now that they're gone, we're on top. Even some existing US athletes have lost they're spark, now that testing has become more rigid, hmmm i wonder why? Jamaica is built on this sport and we take it seriously especially since it pays big and we're a poor country so we'll train to be the best..
