Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Team Jamaica reacts during the Women's 100m Round 1. GETTY IMAGES

The sprint events in athletics have been dominated by Jamaican and American athletes. An outstanding crop of athletes including a certain Mr Bolt have made yellow, green and black three common colours in the 100m & 400m races. In Paris, however, they came up short of their usual expectations.

Jamaica at the Olympic Games lives on athletics. Usually, it does not win medals in other sports but it has made a big name for itself on the track. 

Since the time of Usain Bolt (also Yohan Blake), the Caribbean country has rivalled the USA in the medals table winning a similar number of golds. 

This summer their rival for second place was Kenya, a country that is no longer satisfied with just competing in the long-distance events and now has representatives challenging in the fastest races too.



At the World Athletics Championships in Budapest 2023, Jamaica finished second in the medal table, very close to the African team but both far behind the USA. In Paris, they suffered their worst result of the 21st century winning a single gold, three silvers and one bronze.

They have had notable absences, some of them at the last minute including Antonio Watson, the surprising 400m world champion in 2023 and Elaine Thompson-Herah, the Olympic record holder in the 100m, gold in Tokyo. 

In the weeks before the Olympics took place it was then confirmed that both Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson would also not be able to compete in London.

These two athletes accounted for four of Jamaica's twelve medals at Budapest 2023. Jackson won gold in the 200m and silver in the 100m while Fraser-Pryce took bronze while Natasha Morrison and Shashalee Forbes helped Jamaica to a silver in the 4x100 relay.

The athletes are now of an age that suggests the twilight years of their running careers if not retirement. Fraser-Pryce is 37 years old and was preparing for her last Games before suddenly announcing she was not going to be competing in the semi-finals of the 100m. 

Thompson-Herah is 32 and Jackson is 30. For the sprint events, the ages are significant and Jamaica needs to refresh their ranks.



There is reason to believe that they are on the mend, but in Paris, Jamaican sprinters have often failed to make it to the next round. It has been a recurring surprise.

There is reason to be optimistic about Kishane Thompson, who looked excellent in the 100m, almost taking gold from Noah Lyles. 

The photo finish dictated that the silver was hers. In the 110m hurdles final there were three Jamaicans, although only Rasheed Broadbell took bronze, and the photo finish took silver from him. 

Although not strictly sprint events, silver medals for Shanieka Ricketts in the triple jump and Wayne Pinnock in the long jump showed positive signs for Jamaica but Ricketts is the only female medallist of them all and she is 32 years old.



Another piece of good news is that not everything was achieved in sprint. Jamaica's only gold was in the discus throw, with Roje Stona while Rajindra Campbell won bronze in shot put. 

If medals can also be won in other athletics disciplines, it is always positive for the national team but we will have to keep an eye on this inexhaustible pool of sprinters, just in case one generation runs out of steam and the next fails to arrive.