Lance Neita | Give thanks and praises for our heroes returning from Tokyo

In the unlikely event that you missed it, Jamaica came third in the medal table total in the World Athletics Championships held in Tokyo. Consider this. More than 2,000 athletes from almost 200 teams competed for medals in 49 disciplines.Lance Neita | Give thanks and praises for our heroes returning from Tokyo

Jamaica’s tally of 10 medals ranked behind the US (population 342 million) with 26, and Kenya (population 53 million) with 11. Jamaica’s population is just under three million. This makes it one of the best performances overall by Jamaica on this major world platform.

Our 2025 team did not disappoint. We were behind target in the 2024 Olympics, but in a column following those Games, I wrote, “No doubt we have been a bit shocked by the results, but guess what: the world is apprehensive of what Jamaica will do in their bounce-back, with the youngest team in the track and field category coming of age next time around and not having to look over their shoulders on their way to the finish line.”

The timing of the events was perfect. That 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. schedule each morning sent us off to work and school with an extra bounce that made those days of our lives better than it ever was before.

Bob Marley’s One Love boomed out around the 67,000 seat Japan National Stadium in honour of our athletes. The world saw the best of Jamaica displayed in the energy, the competitiveness, the resilience, and the positive vibes exuded by our athletes on the track and the Jamaicans in the stadium.

Sports has provided an ideal avenue for us to pursue excellence in a field where mastery comes to us in a natural way born out of a combination, some might say, of peculiar genetic factors and even the wild assaying of yam as a roots food for our athletic superiority.

FELT CHEATED

The Jamaican qualities of good manners and sportsmanship have been best expressed through our athletes. We felt cheated and bawled out ‘tief when Kishane Thompson was ruled second in a dead heat with Noah Lyles in the 2024 Olympics. Until Thompson himself graciously acknowledged Lyles as the victor and spoke in the most self-effacing terms of his setback in finishing.

Our own Herb McKenley was being congratulated by the press corps for winning the 100 metres final at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952 when word came that the photo finish showed his US rival Lindy Remigino winning by an ‘eyelash’. The irony is that Remigino had already congratulated McKenley. Herb was shocked and disappointed - as was the rest of the world. Like Kishane, he was gracious in defeat. “The fairest thing would have been to declare a draw,” he famously said, “but I will not protest”.

And did you notice how the best-looking faces of all the competing teams were Jamaicans, a ready-made advertisement for the Tourist Board to ‘make Jamaica the place to be, and the place to be seen’.

Contrast those interviews we saw with our sports ambassadors to the constant media portrayal by the foreign press of shady and smoky places overrun with guns and crime, substance abuse, and gang-related violence at every corner.

Our athletes were from all levels of our society, but they spoke the same language, demonstrated the same dignity and graciousness, smiled the Jamaican smiles, showed love of country, and significantly, most gave the praise to God.

It bears out my argument exchanged with some of my colleagues that Jamaica is still a God-fearing country. Notwithstanding the challenges to standards and values or the invasion of foreign temperament and culture, we know church.

PRAISE AND THANKS

The praise and the thanks given to God by most of our athletes would stand out in any conglomeration of young people from all over the world who are not as familiar with the liturgies as Jamaicans are.

Certainly that deference to God Almighty by our Jamaicans whether lose, win, or draw is always a standout whenever our athletes meet at Olympics or World Athletics or at Diamond meets. I have seen the Under-14 Alpart-sponsored Essex Valley primary school football teams from St Elizabeth at the world’s largest junior soccer tournament in Norway do just that. They consistently had devotion in the mornings and said grace before meals, to the amazement and puzzlement of a good portion of the 3,000 competitors from 50 countries that were in the competition.

On the final day of the Helsinki Olympics, the relay team of McKenley, George Rhoden, Arthur Wint, and Les Laing stunned the world with a record-breaking victory in the 4x400 metres. The four young men stunned the world again when they prayed together on the field before and after the race, an early indicator that almost all our leading athletes acknowledge that their accomplishments are not solely due to their own efforts.

As our athletes continue to represent us well in performance and in decorum, out of their stories we can reap hope, love, courage, and endurance — gifts of the spirit that can transform our lives from the hard times of our daily existence and place us on the same world stage of hope and endurance as exhibited in the achievements of our pioneer athletes and the lives of our heroes returning from Tokyo.

We need to preserve this praise and worship on the sports field. Let us give thanks to God for the many accomplishments of our athletes, coaches, organisers, and team managers, by holding a day of national recognition and thanksgiving for them.

Lance Neita is a public relations professional. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and lanceneita@hotmail.com.