This should have been posted from last month, but I can’t find any time to mess around with my photography hobby. Actually, that was not my only problem. I have bad memories of that day; while I was busy taking photos with my Nikon D40, a pick pocket was taking advantage of the thick crowd and stealing my new Sony Ericsson cellphone, a gift from my brother.

Anyway, the Jamaican athletes were treated to a massive welcome in Falmouth, Trelawny on October 7, 2008. Trelawny was chosen as we had by far the most representatives of any parish. Trelawnyites Usain Bolt, Marvin Anderson, Michael Frater, Ricardo Chambers, Veronica Campbell and Rosemarie Whyte were all present. Some elder residents of Falmouth remarked that it was the first time they were seeing the Falmouth square full to capacity. Asafa Powell, Melanie Walker, Shelly Ann Frasier, Kerone Stewart and the rest of the team were all also there.

Usain Bolt returned to his home parish as a king and reveled in the attention and adoration. The tie of his alma mater William Knibb Memorial High School (which was just a mile and a half away), was wrapped around his head and another was around his neck. The athletes spent about an hour signing autographs until they were ready to leave. Here are photos from this memorable occasion.

Prince Charles in Falmouth

I was filled with joy when I heard on the news that the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Bruce Golding had signed with officials from Royal Caribbean Cruises for construction of the long awaited Falmouth Cruise Ship Terminal. Many locals had said it could not be a reality, but it seems the doubters have been silenced (at least for the time being).

Royal Caribbean is working in partnership with the Port Authority of Jamaica to complete the new Falmouth Cruise Pier by March 2010 at a cost of $7.5 billion, as well as establish the associated infrastructure necessary to welcome cruise ship guests. A historically important 18th-century settlement, Falmouth was a colonial center of Jamaica’s sugar and fine rums industry. The town’s rich history and Georgian architecture has most recently drawn the attention of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales (Prince Charles), who has been a long time supporter of restoring historic buildings of Great Britain. Indeed the Prince made a historic visit to the town earlier this year.

The plan calls for development of a trolley route and the renovation of historic buildings, including Hampden Wharf, Tharpe House and the Old Foundry.

I am particularly pleased at the prospects of employment in this town that has unemployment of over 15 per cent, higher than the national average of 10.3 per cent (in 2006). That figure should be now be higher with several hotel construction projects on hold due in part to the delay in the wharf project, which is seen as the catalyst for future development of the town and parish. Now the ball should start rolling quickly and give the town a well needed lift.  The possibility of two Genesis class ships docking with almost 11,000 pasengers in total, means huge opportunities for locals.

Could this be the return to the ‘boom town’ era of the 18th and 19th century? I hope so.

Usain Bolt and I

There is a big party homecoming planned for Usain Bolt this Saturday at his (and mine) Alma Mater, William Knibb Memorial High in Trelawny. The all-day, all night affair will culminate in a grand live stage show that should feature Jamaica’s leading Dancehall artistes. Usain has been in the island since last week, but with his unparalleled performance in the Beijing Olympics in China, he is an unofficial National Hero.

Usain has unintentionally stolen the spotlight from the other athletes and I feel sad for all of them. Crowds lined the streets for miles in Kingston to welcome him and he was appointed Ambassador-At-Large. Ambassador Bolt truly deserves all the accolades and it couldn’t happen to a finer person. I am honored to know him personally, seeing him grow and blossoming into the greatest of the great sprinters of all time. However, unlike a lot of people, I haven’t forgotten Veronica Campbell-Brown (like Usain, she’s from Trelawny), Shelly-Ann Fraser, Melainie Walker, Keron Stewart, Sherone Simpson, Asafa Powel, Michael Frater (can’t forget him, he’s also from my parish, Trelawny).

Speaking of Trelawny, my parish has produced arguably some of the finest track & field athletes from any comparable area in the entire world. These athletes are all from within a 30 mile radius and include Usain Bolt (the world’s fastest man), Michael Frater, Omar Brown (Commonwealth 200m Champion who was taught by my brother at Albert Town High School), Veronica Campbell (World 100m and Olympic 200m Champion who is now married to Omar Brown), Marvin Anderson, who also went to William Knibb, the infamous Ben Johnson (who was a year or two ahead of me at Falmouth All-Age School ), Debbi-Ann Paris (Olympics 400m fifth place), Steve Mullings, Michael Green (also a William knibb Old Boy), Inez & Yvette Turner (Olympic 800m)to name a few. Indeed, 3 out of 4 members of Jamaica’s male 4×100m relay team for this Olympics are from this parish. However Marvin Anderson got injured and the number fell to two (Usain Bolt and Michael Frater) as he had to withdraw. It is arguable that a fit Trelawny team comprised of Usain Bolt, Michael Frater, Marvin Anderson and Omar Brown could win the gold medal at the Olympics!

Now I am learning that Rosemarie Whyte, one of our 400 meters runner is also from Trelawny along with Ricardo Chambers. 200 meters runner Christopher Williams‘ mother is reportedly also from Trelawny. We have totally overshadowed the other 13 parishes. These athletes have forced the rest of the country to respect us and have them wondering what it is about Trelawny that makes our athletes so good. People are talking about the food (yams) which are a staple here. No one knows for sure, but I think it is genetically linked. No doubt, we are truly special!

Guess what? It is only going to get better! the track programs in the local schools are now filled to capacity as everyone has been motivated by the performance of our athletes. Parents will now give their children 100% support although they have supported them well in the past, instead now every parent more passionately wants their children to do track and that augurs well for Jamaica’s future.

Blog To The World sends congratulations to all the athletes who made the Jamaican team to the Olympics, not just those who won. You all made us proud! Yu zi mi!

With 10,708 athletes competing from 204 countries for 906 medals in 28 sports, two competitors will be propelled into immortality by their outstanding performance in Beijing 2008: Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps.

photo credit: sagicel

Michael dominated the pool, breaking Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals set at the Munich Olympics in 1972, snatching 8; seven of them being World Records. This adds to the 6 he bagged in Athens in 2004 making him the closest human relative to a fish. The 6 ft 4 inches, 195 pounds, 23 year old native of Baltimore Maryland, confessed to doing nothing but eating, sleeping and swimming.  To be swimming in 8 events is no mean feat as each has its rigorous rounds. To win all including a 7 World Records is truly super-human. He swam 17 times over 9 days breaking the record in 4 out of 5 individual events in which he participated. His 3 relay teams also set world records.

Phelps who started swimming at age 7, made his Olympic debut in Sydney at age 15 when he qualified for the 200m fly by finishing second at U.S. Trials, but despite his age and lack of international experience, he made the final in Sydney and finished fifth. Five months after that race, Phelps became the sport’s youngest male world-record holder when he claimed the 200m fly mark. Now we will speak of him with the same reverence as Mark Spitz.

photo credit: rich115

Usain Bolt won three gold medals on the track, all in World Record times.  He won the 100 meters in 10.69, the 200 meters in 19.30 and ran the third leg on Jamaica’s 4×100 meters team that posted 37.10 seconds. Bolt will also be long remembered for his dancing and celebrations after winning the events, and people who don’t understand him have criticized him for everything from walking barefooted after the race, not shaking hands after the race, beating his chest after the race, lifting up his shirt, looking in the camera and saying “I am number one”, his mother running through the crowd to hug her son in the front row and sticking out his tongue are just a few that come to mind.

I have never heard a champion so criticized, yet his records will stand and we will soon forget the critics. The 21 year old from Coxheath, Sherwood Content in Trelawny has realized his true potential after winning the World Junior 200 meters title at 15 years old. What makes his performance more impressive is the fact that the 100 meters was never his race; he was originally a 200 and 400 meters runner and only ran a few competitive 100 meters races before this Olympic win.

There are other memorable results for me from Beijing 2008:

1. The dominance of the Jamaican sprinters on the track.
2. The brilliant performance of the British in hauling in 47 medals, including 19 golds, 13 silver  and 15 bronze coming from 9 golds, 9 silver and 12 bronze in 2004.
3. The Chinese surprisingly winning the overall medal standings over the USA and Russia with 51 golds to the USA 36 and Russia 23.
4. The Swedes having their worst Olympics since 1896, placing 56th in the medal table, winning only 4 silvers and a bronze down from 4 golds, two silver and a bronze in 2004.
5. The Jamaican team placing 13th out of 204 countries with 6 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals up from 2 golds, 1 silver and 2 bronze in 2004.
6. The depth of the USA in winning the most silver, 38 and the most bronze, 36 to go along with 36 gold medals, winning in the total medal count 110 to China’s 100.
7. Jason Lezak posting the fastest relay split in history, 46.06, to catch Frenchman Alain Bernard for the win, by just .08 of a second in the 4×100 meters freestyle relay to keep Michael Phelp’s hopes of 8 gold medals alive.
8. Rebecca Lyn Hammon from Rapid City, South Dakota, USA, playing for Russia against her native USA in women’s basketball.
9. USA “Dream Team” re-claiming gold after losing in the last 2 Olympics.
10. Argentina re-claiming gold by defeating Brazil 3-0 in semi-final and Nigeria 1-0 in the final of men’s soccer.
11. The USA defeating Brazil in women’s soccer.
12. The performance of the Chinese “baby” girls in gymnastics.
13. The brilliant opening ceremony.
14. South Korea upsetting Cuba for baseball gold.
15. China sweeping the medals in table tennis (one of my favorite sports).
16. Ethiopian and Kenyan dominance of the long distance athletics races.
17. USA and Jamaica disastrous baton changes in sprint relays (USA in men and women’s 4×100 meters and Jamaica in women’s 4×100 meters).
18. The poor performance of South Africa in bagging only one medal, a silver and placing 71st in the medal table.
19. Matthew Mitcham of Australia winning the Men’s Platform, preventing a clean sweep of the diving medals by China.
20. Chris Hoy of Great Britain winning 3 gold medals in cycling.

It has been a wonderful, memorable olympic games. There are many more great moments and everyone will have their favorites, but these are the ones that will stick with me. Now on to London 2012.

The gold medal winning, world record breaking run of Usain Bolt in the 200 meters men at the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing, China (19.30 seconds) further strengthened by the Olympic record breaking run of Melanie Walker in the 400 meters hurdles final (54.62), sparked off wild celebrations starting in Usain’s hometown of Sherwood Content, near Falmouth in Trelawny. There was a massive motorcade and partying throughout the day and night.

Productivity was at its lowest in history as almost everyone took to the streets in wild celebrations that end with a street dance in Sherwood. I was too tired to make it to Sherwood in the night but here are some photos taken during the day, The full photo set can be found here on my photo blog.

photo credit: rich115

What a day it was for Jamaican athletics, as the increased dominance of the world by the tiny 4,411 square miles island continued. The twelve year old 200 meter record seemed so impregnable, but Usain turned the doubters into believers today as he broke the 19.32 seconds record previously held by Michael Johnson in easily winning the event in 19.30 seconds ahead of Churandy Martina of the Netherland Antilles and Wallace Spearmon of the USA. Martin and Spearmon were both disqualified for running out of lane and the Americans Shane Crawford and Dix Walter were handed silver and bronze in 19.96 and 19.98 respectively.

This has been the single greatest sprinting achievement in the history of the sport as he became the first person to set World Records in the two events (having previously done 9.69 in the 100m) at the Olympic games and the first person since Karl Lewis in 1984 to win the double (100m and 200m). Not even the great Jesse Owens accomplished that double world record feat. after the race Bolt did his version of the popular Jamaican dance, “Gully Creeper”. After the 100 meters record, he did the dance called “No Linger”, which means “don’t waste any time”.

Melanie Walker

Fifteen minutes later, Melanie Walker continued in the footsteps of fellow countrywoman Deon Hemmings by taking the 400 meters hurdles in a National and Olympic Record of 52.64 seconds. Walker, unbeaten in the event this year, executed her race perfectly by accelerating in the last 100 meters to win by over a second over Tosta Sheena of the USA in 53.70 and Tasha Danvers of Great Britain in 53.84.

Melanie, is from Gordon Lane off Maxfield Avenue, located in a tough, violent, gang plagued area in East Central St. Andrew. Like 100 meters silver medallist Kerron Stewart, she went to  high school at St.Jago High where at various times in her school career she ran 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters and 110 meters hurdles. That made her a rounded athlete and her considerable sprinting speed helped her in the last 100 meters when she won moving away from the field.

Melanie’s victory was very special to Jamaicans as Usain was expected to win, but people were wondering if she would fold under the pressure. she did not disapoint and had the entire nation in a frenzy. Before the race she gave a small demo of the Jamaican dance called “Dutty Wine”, thereby underlying the importance of dancehall reggae to the athletes.

Coach Stephen Francis

Her winning performance underlined the success of Coach Stephen Francis and the MVP club located at the High Performance center in Kingston. Coach Francis needs to be given his credit as the greatest coach in the entire world today, having his athletes cop the following medals:

1. Shelly-Ann Fraser - 100 meters women: gold.
2. Sherone Simpson - 100 meters women: silver.
3. Sherika Williams - 400 meters women: silver.
4. Melanie Walker - 400m hurdles women: gold.
5. Jerome Mason (Great Britain) - High Jump men: silver.

He is also the coach of 100 meter 5th placed finalists Asafa Powell (former world record holder) and 6th place Michael Frater; Markino Buckley (7th place in 400 meters hurdles men final)  along with seven other top class athletes.

Melanie Walker

Coach Francis started the MVP track club after being tired of seeing Jamaica lose talent in the tough collegiate system in the USA. Many of our most talented athletes over the years gave up the sport due to various problems caused by the relocation. It is now reaping rich benefits as more and more of our athletes are staying or coming back home, thereby realizing their true potential.

The double victory sparked wild celebrations and a huge green, gold and black motorcade in Trelawny.

Jamaican Lips -celebrating Jamaica's Olympic victories in Falmouth ,Trelawny on Wednesday

Little Jamaica, the poor developing country of less than 2.7 million people is now leading the athletics medal table with strong medal contending performances expected to come in the women’s 200 meters in which we have 3 ladies who have the potential to win (Veronica Campbell, Kerone Stewart and Sherone Simpson) , men’s decathlon (Maurice Smith), men and women’s 4×100 meters relay and to a lesser extent, women’s 4×400 meters relay.

Scorpion disco will be playing in Sherwood Content tonight to celebrate Usain’s 22nd birthday after Jamaica plays Canada in World Cup Football qualifying against Canada in Canada. Photos of the motorcade and celebration in his hometown can be found here and the full set is available on my photo blog.

Usain Bolt

It was pandemonium and wild celebrations as Jamaica’s Usain Bolt won the Olympic 100m sprint in a World record time of 9.69 seconds (breaking his own record of 9.72. What was so surprising about this performance is that he started celebrating with about 20 meters to go. Second place went to Trinidadian Richard Thompson in 9.89 while Walter Diggs of the USA was third in 9.91. Official Results.

This is a sweet victory for me as I know Usain personally. He is from Sherwood Content in my parish of Trelawny. When he was at high school (William Knibb Memorial High) almost every evening he used to hang out in my video store before going home so I have always watched his progress over the years.

It was a bitter sweet event as his teamate Asafa Powell, who was expected to challenge Bolt for the gold medal, once again failed to perform to expectations in a final and finished a disappointing fourth in 9.95. Another Jamaican (also from Trelawny) finished fifth in 9.97 - going below 10.0 for the fist time in his career.

At the moment, there is a motorcade in progress in Falmouth, so I am going to celebrate.

photo credit: anton hazewinkel

photo credit: anton hazewinkel

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Rape has been on the rise in western Jamaica over the past few weeks, but has taken a sick, hideous, outrageous turn for the worst. You may wonder if rape can get any worse as it is the ultimate violation of a woman. Below are excepts from an article entitled: “Rapists Fuel Concern Out West” published in today’s Edition of the Daily Gleaner.

An eight-year-old St James girl is the latest victim to suffer at the hands of rapists who went on a rampage last weekend in the parish, assaulting five women in the process.

The youngster from an inner-city community was gang-raped by five men at the Charles Gordon Market, Fustic Road, in the second city, while the other women were abducted and taken to various sections of downtown Montego Bay where the acts were carried out between Friday and Saturday night.

St James is the second parish in the western side of the island rocked by rapists. Over in Bounty Hall, in neighbouring Trelawny, a 19-year-old was hospitalised after being raped last weekend.

Her attack came days after a 13-year-old, who was here on vacation, was carnally abused in the presence of her father, who was tied up and robbed.

Those victims bring to four such cases in Trelawny over the last two weeks. On Emancipation Day, the body of a 15-year-old girl was found in bushes, while items of clothing believed to belong to her attacker, were found at the scene. She was raped and stabbed several times.

These are official reports and news abounds of other atrocities being committed including 2 kidnappings of under-age girls. The entire district of Bounty Hall (only 6 miles away from here) is in fear, as the rapist seeks to carry out his sexual executions on his alleged “list” of young girls. It is said that the rapist is HIV positive, seeking to take revenge for having contracted the virus from a young girl. The alleged rapist’s cousin got raped last night 4 miles away in Green Park. in what seems to be a reprisal.

What is happening? Are we trying to compete as to who can do the more extreme crimes? Why is it that there are so many serial criminals here? Why can’t they be caught? Why do we have such scant disregard for human life? Most of all, how can 5 men rape an eight year old? How easy is it to get 5 people together who can all agree to rape a baby?

Finally, do you think it is fair for the lives of these men to be spared when they are caught? Should they spend the rest of their lives in prison for these unscrupulous acts?

In committing certain crimes, I think the criminal has given up his right to life.

Dancehall Divas in Concert, a live reggae dancehall event at Club Naz in Falmouth, Jamaica took place last night.It showcased the leading female artistes in Jamaican dancehall. Miss Thing, Diva, Sasha, Spice and D’Angel were there, but missing were Macka Diamond, Patra and Lady G. The undisputed Queen of dancehall Marion Hall, aka Lady Saw was not billed, but gave a surprise appearance and as expected, stole the show and made us forget about the two absentees. Here are a few of the photos I took, but the full photoset can be viewed here on my photoblog, amateurphotoblogger.com.

The rest of the photo set can be viewed here

It just dawned on me that I have a relatively unused Panasonic GS-90 in my drawer. I bought it 2 years ago at Abe’s of Maine with an extended life battery, all the accessories anyone could need and hardly ever use it. I’m so in love with still photography and my Nikon D40, that I sometimes forget I have this camcorder. Yesterday (Independence Day), there was a wonderful civic ceremony that included a marching band made up of teenagers.

Drummers perform at Independence Day Ceremony in Falmouth

The band did a really good job, especially playing the National Anthem and there was no video camera there to preserve that exceptional rendition. I took still photos and they will be uploaded to Amateur Photoblogger.

The importance of the camcorder became more evident to me today when going over some old DV tapes used last year, I saw a brief but absolutely priceless clip of a close friend who was killed earlier this year. It was really touching and made me realize that if I  had not used it that day, I would not have such a precious memory preserved.

I will have to start using my camcorder again and upload videos to YouTube as a motivator so that I can preserve and share all those memories. Learning YouTube stuff like editing, outputting and uploading video to the web should be fun.

The day in Falmouth was a memorable one, starting with a civic ceremony (that was poorly attended as usual) and then a Street Dance and concert featuring L.U.S.T. (Tony Curtis, Singing Melody, Thriller U and the 4th member that I can’t recall right now ) and Turbulance. I finished the night at the local hot spot, Club Nazz, ending up at Donna’s till daylight. Incidentally, there will be a live concert inside Club Naz on Friday called Divas of Dancehall featuring Macka Diamond, D’Angel, Patra, Lady G and Sasha. I should be there taking some photos which I will post to Amateur Photoblogger. Well, got to go catch some well needed sleep!