By Elton Tucker, Assistant Editor
Jamaica's Veronica Campbell celebrates as she crosses the finish line to win the women's 4 x 100 metres relay final at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games on August 27, 2004. - Reuters
FOUR YEARS ago in Santiago, Chile, Jamaica's sprint star Veronica Campbell won the 100 and 200 metres at the World Junior Championships to announce her arrival as the leader of a new generation of sprinters on the world stage.
Her performance was historic. It marked the first time a female athlete had completed the sprint double at the World Juniors.
Less than a month earlier, Campbell, then the World Youth 100 metres champion of 1999, ran the second leg as a Merlene Ottey-led sprint relay team earned silver behind the Bahamas' Golden Girls.
Athens 2004 marked the coronation of Campbell as the new sprint queen of Jamaica. Her victories in the 200 metres and the 4x100m, make her the first Jamaican woman to win two Olympic gold medals.
NO. TWO ON JA FEMALE LIST
She surely has not yet reached the levels of her idol Merlene Ottey in terms of longevity but the three medals won in Athens along with her Sydney sprint relay silver already puts Campbell at number two on the all-time list of medals won by Jamaican women at the Olympics. Ottey won eight in seven Games but is unable to count a gold among her collection.
The 22-year-old Campbell went to Athens with high expectations.
"My greatest desire as I approached the Olympic Games was to earn an individual goal medal, to make my family, my coach, my friends, and my country proud. But most importantly I wanted to stand on the podium and listen proudly as my National Anthem is played," Campbell said on December 22, almost four months after she cried tears of joy after winning gold in the 200 metres.
TEARS OF JOY
Now she says she just could not hold back the tears.
"I was overwhelmed with joy, to stand on the podium and listen to my National Anthem being played was a blessing and a dream come true. I was extremely proud that all the hard work that my coach (Lance Brauman) and I had put in had paid off."
Now she wants to win many more medals at the Olympics.
"As many as God permit me to," she said.
Campbell's preparations for the Athens Games were carefully planned by Brauman.
"I did a lot of background work, to get strong, so my body would be able to take me through the season and to run many races at the Olympics," Campbell said shortly after her triumph. The training also helped her to remain healthy and injury-free.
Her non-participation in the 100 and 200m at the annual NCAA championships in the United States proved to be a blessing in disguise.
She was ruled ineligible for the Austin, Texas meet on a technicality as a slight injury had forced her out of the qualifying rounds of the 100m and 200m at regional meet in Baton Rouge.
Her withdrawal from the gruelling championships meant she could be fresh for the Olympics having only to run at the Jamaican national championships and two or three European meets before the start of competition in Athens.
The original plan was to run just the 200 metres at the Olympics but Campbell surprised even herself with a good showing in the 100 metres against top level opposition at a Grand Prix meet in Switzerland.
"I was having problems with the start in the 100m and it was only after running a good time in the Zurich Grand Prix 100m, two weeks before the Games, that I decided to run that event there."
STRONGER AND BETTER
She got stronger and better with each round of the 100m in Athens.
"Throughout the rounds I realised that I could win and ran a personal best 10.93 in the semi-finals but I had a 'little mishap' (a bad start) in the 100m final and got bronze. I was not training for that event so that was a good bonus ahead of the 200m."
In Athens the careful planning included studying the 200m races of her main rivals, especially eventual silver medalist Allyson Felix of the United States.
The conclusion was that she needed a fast curve to win the gold.
"It was important to run
the way I did," she said in an interview published in the International Association of Athletics Federations' (IAAF) Athens review.
"That's why I ran a hard curve. I had expected to win the gold and I knew with the perfect race I would win for sure. When I got to the straight and I didn't feel Allyson anywhere I knew I had the race won," Campbell said.
She had given it her all. Her winning time was a personal best 22.05 seconds.
In the midst of her Olympic triumph Campbell remembers those who have stood by her as she climbed the ladder of success.
MANY SACRIFICES
Her mother, Pamela Bailey, made many sacrifices to give her a good early schooling.
"My parents have always been supportive. I remember in the early days when my mother would awake as early as 3 a.m. to get me on the bus to school.
"I think I got the gift for speed from my father Cecil Campbell. He told me his friends called him 'Honda' (after the famous Japanese motor bike) because he could run very fast as a young man."
Now she says her mother and father are both proud parents.
Then there is Neville Myton who competed in the 800m and 1500m at the 1964 and 1968 Olympics.
Myton has been a mentor to several Vere Technical High athletes.
"Mr. and Mrs. Myton, they are like my second parents and have always tried to lead me down the right path.
"If Mr. Myton says jump off the moon I am going to ask him, when, how? I trust him because he is a very good person.
"He has not only been a mentor to me but other Vere Technical girls like Simone Facey and Shellene Williams."
It's two Olympics and four medals for Campbell but she is unsure whether at half her age, she will remain on the track as long as her role model Ottey.
"I don't know," she said. "Sometimes I think that I want a family but right now I really do not know what the future will bring. I just need to make some money so that I can be comfortable and then I will see."
The Olympic 200m gold medallist already has a contract with clothing company Adidas is hoping her talent will help give her a lot more of the finer things in life.
