Anthony Foster, Gleaner Writer
Dwight Thomas is welcomed home by his mother, Pearline Reid, shortly after arriving at the Norman Manley International Airport last Thursday. - Peta-Gaye Clachar/Staff Photographer
OLYMPIC SPRINT relay gold medallist Dwight Thomas said he will return to the 110-metre hurdles next season.
"I am going to run the 100m and 110m hurdles. I am going to step away from the 200m and focus on both my races on the straight away next season," said Thomas, a 1998 World Junior 100m bronze medallist.
Thomas, who has not run the sprint obstacle event competitively since his 13.34 personal best for third at the US Open in Stanford, California, in May 2004, said the Olympic results motivated him to return to the event.
At the Beijing Games, only the top-four men, led by Cuban world record holder Dayron Robles (12.93), ran below 13.3.
"In 2005, I did 13.3 practising more than once and 13.3 could have got you fifth place at this Olympic Games, so it was sad to see," said Thomas, who has a personal best of 10.00 in the 100m and 20.32 in the 200m.
He said Olympic champion Robles and China's Xiang Liu, who failed to advance to the final, are the only two consistent athletes in the sprint hurdling field.
"That event is going to get weak," said Thomas, who was, on Saturday, honoured by the Government of Jamaica with a Order of Distinction in the rank of officer class.
Americans David Payne (13.17) and David Oliver (13.18) finished second and third, respectively, in Beijing while Jamaicans Maurice Wignall (13.46) and Richard Phillips (13.60) were sixth and seventh, respectively.
So, come next year's World Championships in Berlin, Thomas thinks he has a good chance of picking up a medal.
Medal chances
"Most definitely," he said of his chances of winning a medal, "because if not I would not have planned to attempt it."
Overall, he said 2008 was "an above-average year" because "I still won a gold medal in the 4x100m in the Olympics, even though I only ran in the heats.
"To come out with a gold medal, it carries you a far way but as an individual performance, I don't think I was at my best, probably because I got hurt earlier in the year ... but no excuses.
"Hopefully, next year I will pick up and come out with a tremendous year," he said.
"I am going to make some adjustments to training and my times should get better."
