Jamaica at the Summer Olympic Games

 

Jamaica set for their 17th Olympic Games

By Paul Burrowes

This Summer in Rio, Jamaica will take part in their 17th Olympic Games in 14 countries.
Already, 320 athletes have represented Jamaica at the Games, 207 men and 112 women. The island's medal count stands at 67, one from cycling and the other 66 in athletics, led by none other than Merlene Ottey-Page.
Only 10 countries have won more medals than Jamaica in athletics and living and still competing legend Usain Bolt needs three more medals to join Ottey on nine, the most Olympic medals ever won by a Jamaican.
Ottey, Veronica Campbell-Brown (seven medals) and Bolt (six medals) have established themselves as three of the 10 best Olympians ever to take the part in athletics at the Games.
Like Bolt, Campbell-Brown can also join Ottey on nine medals, and both will likely be taking part in their last Olympic Games.
When Jamaica set foot in the Olympic Games for the first time in 1948, 68 countries had experience in the quadrennial event.
Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana joined Jamaica in debuting at the Olympics at the Games in London, along with Syria, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Singapore, Puerto Rico, Pakistan, Myanmar, Lebanon and Iraq.
Swimmer Belinda Phillips and sailor Michael Nunes remain the youngest and oldest respectively to have represented Jamaica at the Summer Olympic Games. Belinda was 13 and Nunes 54 when they took part in the 1972 Games in Munich, West Germany from August 26 to September 11.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Jamaica fielded the most athletes (50) while in the 1972 Games, the country competed in the most sports (six).
The flag-bearers have been many, including Ottey twice (1988 and 1992), Wint the first (1952) and Bolt the last (2012).
Bolt could well be asked to carry the flag again, joining Ottey as the only two athletes that will carry the Jamaican emblem twice.
Campbell-Brown, Sandie Richards, Deon Hemmings, Juliet Cuthbert, Bert Cameron and Lennox Miller had all been flag-bearers at the Olympic Games.
Arthur Wint, known as the Gentle Giant, was the first Jamaican to win an Olympic gold medal (in the 400m at the 1948 Olympic Games in London).
Rio 2016, the Games of the XXXI Olympiad, will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from August 5 to 21. More than 10,500 athletes from 206 countries are expected to participate, with 306 sets of medals in 28 Olympic sports. Rugby sevens and golf are included in this edition.
The motto of Rio 2016 is 'Live Your Passion'.