Finally. For the first time ever, a Caribbean man is the fastest human in history.
Jamaica’s Asafa Powell’s historic 9.77 blast in Greece on Tuesday has given our region a long-overdue prize.
It is remarkable, given the abundance of sprint talent our region consistently produces, that no Caribbean man has ever held the 100-metre world record before Powell’s run this week.
We have had an Olympic champ in the 100, (Hasley Crawford of Trinidad and Tobago in 1976) and a world champion (Kim Collins of St. Kitts and Nevis in 2003), but never a world-record holder in track’s premier sprint event.
The 100 metres is track and field’s version of the heavyweight championships, and until now we have only had contenders and no champs. So many great Caribbean sprinters have come and gone through the years, yet none ever managed to set a world record.
Sounds impossible, doesn’t it? Well, that’s because it’s not entirely true. The Caribbean has already had world-record holders in the 100. It’s just that they were wearing someone else’s laundry, Canada’s to be specific.
Remember Donovan Bailey, the Canadian who won the 1996 Olympic 100 metres in a world record 9.84? He may have been working for the Maple Leaf that steamy night in Georgia, but he was a Caribbean man, born in Manchester, Jamaica.
While it may be awkward to bring up Canada’s disgraced Ben Johnson, it is worth noting that he was born in Falmouth, Jamaica. We all know that Johnson cheated, but his 9.79 dash at the World Championships in 1983 was an astonishing performance, none the less.
Bruny Surin, another Canadian, never held the world record, but his 9.84 in 1999 came close and he remains one of the event’s all-time fastest. He was born in Cap-Haitien, Haiti.
Here today…
Unlike gold medals, world records never stand the test of time. While 9.77 might seem impossibly fast, it is not.
If one man can run 9.77, another man can and will do 9.76. However long Asafa Powell’s record may last, we can at least enjoy our moment in the sun and relish the fact that no human has ever run faster than a Caribbean man.
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