BEIJING, China (CMC):CARICOM nations are poised to unleash their best-ever showing in Olympic Games history when the world's greatest sports show starts this weekend.
Propelled by a tremendously strong Jamaican track and field outfit, the Caribbean Community is well placed to bag at least a dozen medals at the Games of the 29th Olympiad.
After the Beijing Organising Committee of the 29th Olympic Games (BOCOG) stages a promised unmatched opening ceremony - with over 15,000 performers for close to four hours - yesterday, the world will spend the next 16 days glued to sports' biggest global event, and the form book suggests a glorious summer for English-speaking Caribbean athletes.
Boosted medal haul
When the 'smog' clears, the expectation is for the region's medal haul to be within the range of its previous most successful Olympics in Australia eight years ago.
CARICOM landed 12 medals at the Sydney 2000 Games, a figure boosted to 15 subsequently with the elevation of several Caribbean athletes to medal status after the demise of American drug cheats.
Guilty of doping offences, Marion Jones and Antonio Pettigrew were stripped of their medals from the Sydney Olympics, allowing Jamaican sprinters Merlene Ottey (100 metres) and Bev McDonald (200) to climb from fourth to bronze medal positions and the Bahamas men's 4x400-metre relay unit to move up from fourth to third.
The immense quality of runners representing Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and The Bahamas guarantees huge prominence for the Caribbean in the sprints and all the relay events.
Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell, the fastest men in history, are the media's most sought-after competitors on the Olympic roster here, and the two Jamaicans' clash with American World Champion Tyson Gay in the men's 100 metres is the premier event on the Olympic schedule.
Powell held the 100-metre world record from June in 2005 to May this year when Bolt ran a blistering 9.72 seconds to erase his Jamaican colleague's mark of 9.74 seconds.
Gay has been bothered by a hamstring injury and has not raced since the US Olympic Trials in late June.
The American's untimely setback tilts the balance in favour of Bolt and Powell scoring a Caribbean one-two finish, like the region achieved 32 years ago in Montreal when Trinidad and Tobago's Hasely Crawford won ahead of Jamaican Donald Quarrie.
Veteran speedsters
Bolt and Powell are joined in their 100-metre bid by several other impressive Caribbean speed men, including veteran Kim Collins, the 2003 World Championship gold medallist from St Kitts and Nevis, Bahamian Derrick Atkins, who beat Powell while placing second to Gay at the Osaka World Championship last year, and T&T's 2003 World Championship silver medallist Darrell Brown.
Add to them T&T's Richard Thompson and Marc Burns, who are among the top 10 fastest in the world so far this year with times of 9.93 seconds and 9.97 seconds, respectively.
Bolt, who broke Quarrie's 36-year-old 200-metre national record when he clocked 19.75 seconds at the Jamaica National Championship last year, is a heavy favourite for the half-lap sprint.
The 21-year-old marvel has three of the quickest four 200-metre times in the world this year, and his season's best 19.67 at the Athens Grand Prix last month is almost 2/10ths of a second faster than anyone else.
Women's sprints
CARICOM is no less imposing in the women's sprints. Kerron Stewart (10.80), Shelly-Ann Fraser (10.85) and Sherone Simpson (10.87) are the three designated 100-metre entries for Jamaica, and they are among the five fastest women in the world so far this year.
Veronica Campbell-Brown defends her 200-metre crown as the world leader at 21.94 seconds, and the other quickest athletes in the world this year in the event are all her teammates, Stewart (21.99), Simpson (22.11) and Fraser (22.15).
Their sprinting depth will give the Jamaicans an excellent chance in both men's and women's sprint relays.
