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by Denise Salmon
(jamaica)
Jamaican athletes are admired the world over and quite rightly so since we have been dominating the world stage in the sprint events, seconded only by the mighty USA.
The roots and breeding ground however, can be linked to the yearly high school championships - the boys and girls championships.
The Girls and Boys Championships, held in Kingston, Jamaica every year since 1910 started out as a Championship just for boys and Wolmers High School was the first school to win the trophy.
The girls did not actually have a championship until 1957, when St. Hugh's High School won.
In 1910 only six schools competed and no one could imagine that 103 years later, these championships would become such a wonderful event, with almost 150 schools competing.
The love and the passion for track and field in Jamaica has grown over the years and the young athletes have been getting better as they compete at the championships.
Jamaica's first Olympian Dr. Arthur Wint who competed in London in 1948, was a dominant figure at the boys championships in 1948.
(So now we know that Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and the many other male athletes were not the first ones to do well on the world stage after they did well at the championships.)
Herb McKenley was Arthur Wint's teammate in 1948 and they made Jamaica very proud as they were the first Jamaicans to make it to the Olympics. They won both a Gold and a Silver medal at the games.
Herbert Henry McKenley was very outstanding Jamaican athlete as he was a part of the relay team at the Olympics in 1948. He attended Calabar High School and also did very well at the championships. He was also an outstanding coach and administrator and he was appointed to the Jamaican Order of Merit in 2004.
These men laid a great foundation for the future of Athletics
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