By Kadian Grant
Ten Jamaican athletes will be representing us as, the nine days of intense athletics competition get going in Japan’s water capital, Osaka.
World 100-metre record-holder Asafa Powell will be seeking to win his first world gold medal, but also to become the first Jamaican sprinter to win in the 22-year history of the championships first staged 1983 in Helsinki.
Only Raymond Stewart (10.08secs) in 1987 and Powell’s MVP teammate Michael Frater (10.05secs) in 2005, have ever made it to the podium at the World Championships, they both won silver.
Two Jamaican-born sprinters – Linford Christie (9.87secs) and Donovan Bailey (9.97secs) – have won gold in the event, but under the flags of Great Britain and Canada.
For 24-year-old Powell his dream is to be the first to accomplish this for Jamaican, American Tyson Gay, is the current world leader with 9.84 seconds this season. However Powell has defeated Gay on all five occasions that they raced against each other in 2006.
Dorian Scott will be the first Jamaican in action at the meet; he will be taking part in shot put.
Dorian is the Pan American and Commonwealth Games silver medalist in the shot put event.
Dorian hopes to be become the first medalist in this event. No man from the English-speaking Caribbean has ever attained a podium finish in the shot.
In 2005, Trecia Smith was the first Jamaican to get gold in the triple jump, when she leapt 15.011 metres in the event, and she wants to do Jamaica proud again.
