On Saturday, Jamaica’s Nesta Carter ran a wind legal 9.78 for 100m. That makes Jamaica, a country with a population about the same as Brooklyn, NY, by far the most dominant sprint country in the world. They now have 3 of the 4 fastest men in history in Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, and Nesta Carter all running at the same time. That make’s the Miami Heat’s lineup of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh look like a YMCA pickup basketball team. As if that weren’t enough, they also have the precocious (20 years old) Yohan Blake backing these guys up with a time of 9.89 this year (in to a -0.4 m/s head wind nonetheless). That’s 3 of the 4 fastest men in history and a guy who has a chance at being faster than all of them as the ‘slow’ leg on their ‘dream team’ relay. With good handoffs and a healthy foursome they could likely go 36.7. Sick. There women aren’t too far behind either (3 of the top 6 this year). You can say it’s drugs, yams, or grass running, but whatever it is the stats speak for themselves now. Jamaica is the sprint capitol of the world. The continued dominance just validates my belief that Jamaica is the undisputed per capita champion for sprint talent in the world. And the combination of insanely talented athletes plus very good coaching means the world should take notice and see what can be learned to keep up.
Here’s some related posts from several years back: