Two-time Olympic sprint relay gold medalist Michael Frater said Team Jamaica is aiming to strike gold for a third time this year at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. The 33-year-old Olympic veteran ran on the team’s star-studded teams that swept gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Games, where the team set world records of 37.10s and 36.84s respectively.
“We’re looking to do the same thing we did at the last Olympics and the one before that,” said Frater. “We’ve been very dominant over the past 10 years and I doubt we have lost a relay other than the World Relays last year.”
The race may also be a poignant one for many of the athletes, as 2016 Olympics may be their last games, like 29-year-old world-record holder Usain Bolt and former world-record holder Asafa Powell, who is also 33.
“It’s the last go-around for most of us,” notes Frater. “and we’re looking to continue our winning trend and end on a high.”
Frater hopes their run is just the beginning of many more wins to come in the iconic event, with some many promising young athletes coming up the rank.
“Before us Jamaica was good, but not that good, other than Herb McKenley and Don Quarrie in the ’70s,” says Frater. “There is now a tradition of sprinting and the Boys’ Championships is one of the biggest sporting events of the year. Track and field is our major sport, bigger than soccer, and that’s what most of us excel in.”
