Net Miles Of Smiles

Ristananna’s brilliant runs secure golden double for Edwin Allen

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Published: Saturday | April 25, 2009 

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PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania:

Edwin Allen High School turned in a magnificent display to record double victories while capturing Championship of Americas titles at the Penn Relays at the University of Pennsylvania, Franklin Field, yesterday.

The quartet of Nikita Tracey, Amoy Blake, Shashawna French and Ristananna Tracey clocked 3:41.25 to lead their team to victory in the girls’ 4×400 metres relay.

Holmwood (3:41.72) and Manchester High 3:41.76 finished second and third, respectively, while Vere Technical, the other Jamaican team in the final, was disqualified.

Edwin Allen was aided by a brilliant anchor led from Ristannana Tracey, who found extra gear in the last 60 metres to go by leader Petra Fantry of Holmwood and Natoya Goule of Manhester.

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Second brilliant effort

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She clocked 54.1 seconds on her anchor leg, her second brilliant effort, following that in the 4×800 metres.

Ristananna was duly named the Most Outstanding high school female relay athlete of the meet.

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Comments (0) Apr 25 2009

Celebrating with Usain Bolt…a/k/a Lightning Bolt
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I read Rogge’s comments, like most of us here at home and abroad have. We have also been hearing other voices making reference to Lightning Bolt’s
celebration when he first struck gold along with setting ablaze the world record in a flame that will be burning for a very long time to come. I am compelled
to share my thoughts on the matter.

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> Bolt has made Jamaica, his parents, the Diaspora and the world proud of his tremendous achievement. Great performances like these are seen once
in a lifetime. Unfortunately, Jesse Owens, who Rogge referred to, had to perform during the bitter era of Legal Segregation and the then status quo of
institutional racism. Owens had to behave like a ‘good nigger’ and keep his joy and excitement quiet. He dare not showed how happy or pleased he was,
with himself – after-all, ‘a good nigger’ was submissive and should know his place.
>
>
> But we have ‘Bolted’ from that era a long time ago. We have ‘chanted down Babylon’ and we will do it at least ‘one more time’. We have been
emancipating ourselves from mental slavery. ‘What a Bam Bam’ now that we are free from the shackles of physical and emotional restraints
notwithstanding some challenges yet to be overcome. No one of European ancestry, nor anyone for that matter, has the right to tell a man who
performs under the banner of pride and sacrifices of his entire country & ancestors, to restrain his celebration. Bolt’s celebration therefore can be
seen as a microcosm of the carnival-like and emotionally graphic display of elation that people in our part of the world display in moments like these -
because we know what it means to struggle and overcome against overwhelming odds.

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Comments (0) Oct 15 2008

By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports

Buzz Up Print

IOC President Jacques Rogge

AFP - Aug 21, 2:12 am EDT
Olympics Gallery

BEIJING - Jacques Rogge is so bought, so compromised, the president of the IOC doesn’t have the courage to criticize China for telling a decade of lies to land itself these Olympic Games.

All the promises made to get these Games - on Tibet, Darfur, pollution, worker safety, freedom of expression, dissident rights - turned out to be phony, perhaps as phony as the Chinese gymnasts’ birthdates Rogge was way too slow to investigate.

One of the most powerful men in sports turned the world away from his complicity. Instead, he has flexed his muscles by unloading on a powerless sprinter from a small island nation.

Rogge’s ripping of Usain Bolt’s supposed showboating in two of the most electrifying gold-medal performances of these Games has to be one of the most ill-timed and gutless acts in the modern history of the Olympics.

“That’s not the way we perceive being a champion,” Rogge said of the Jamaican sprinter. “I have no problem with him doing a show. I think he should show more respect for his competitors and shake hands, give a tap on the shoulder to the other ones immediately after the finish and not make gestures like the one he made in the 100 meters.”

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Comments (0) Oct 15 2008