Anthony Foster displaying his Sports Journalist of the Year award which he received from the Press Association of Jamaica last month. Foster was honoured for his story on Stephen Francis and his role in bolstering the career of world 100m record holder Asafa Powell. - IAN ALLEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The following is an excerpt from Gleaner Writer Anthony Foster's award-winning piece.
STEPHEN FRANCIS is a man who puts his all in whatever he is doing. He gets up 4:00 a.m. and is at the University of Technology by 5:00 a.m., when training starts.
Francis has some good reasons to get up before the tedious Kingston traffic gets in his way. His reason is to train world beaters Asafa Powell, Brigitte Foster, Sherone Simpson and a long list of other up and coming stars.
'Frano', as he is called in the track and field circles, is preparing his athletes to hold world records and he is confident they can do it.
"We are going after the two world records in the 100m and the 100m hurdles. I think Brigitte has recovered enough now and is the healthiest she has been in five years, so I think a lot of our problems are going to be solved,' Francis said.
Based on his track record his boast may not be idle. Over the past 10 years Francis has improved the times of several athletes.
However, perhaps Francis' crowning glory has been Powell. An unknown in 2001, Powell has improved markedly.
Joining Francis' camp with a personal best of 10.70 seconds three years ago, he now holds the national 100m record of 9.87. He also achieved a personal best, 20.06 in the 200m under Francis.
Francis said the first time he saw Powell was in 2001 at Champs. Watching the action from the stands, Francis said although he was not sure what position Powell finished in, he was up against one of the favourites and his time was 10.70.
Although he (Asafa) did not win a medal in Athens, Francis said, "We knew from day that he would pretty much be unbeatable this year based on the progress he had made over the years and that fact this was his third full year of proper training."
The rise of Francis, who holds an M.A. in accounting from the University of Michigan, has been swift and controversial. He is one of the most outspoken coaches in Jamaica and has been on the receiving end of bad press in recent times when it was reported that he and Simpson had parted company. Nevertheless, 'Frano' believes not enough attention is paid to the sport of athletics.
"To build a programme like what we trying to build here, requires money. But unfortunately, we have had difficulties trying to attract money - people to sponsor our athletes."
"We pretty (much) have had to live from hand-to-mouth. Sometimes we didn't know where our next meal was coming from, but thank God the athletes worked hard," Frano said.
"The main obstacle was the difficulty in convincing Jamaicans - the Government, the companies, the federation, the Jamaica Olympics Association - that what we were doing here was possible. Nobody believed it and even now, after they have seen the fruits, they still ignore us, but that's how life goes," he concluded.
