Jamaica continues dominance at 50th Carifta Games despite organizational bungling

Jamaica topped the medals table for the 45^th time as the 50^th Carifta Games ended at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium in Nassau, Bahamas on Monday.

Despite being well off their record 96 medals accomplished in Kingston last year, Jamaica totalled 78 medals, including 40 gold, 22 silver and 16 bronze.

They were well clear of their nearest rival, hosts The Bahamas who ended with 46 medals – 10 gold, 13 silver and 23 bronze. Trinidad and Tobago finished in third place with 31 medals – nine gold, 10 silver and 12 bronze, with St Kitts and Nevis claiming fourth place with five gold, two silver and four bronze in their 11-medal haul.

Rounding out the top five places was Guyana with three gold, two silver and three bronze medals, for eight.

Jamaica swept the 4x400m relays with dominant performances in all events. The Under-17 girls beat Barbados and The Bahamas comfortably, while the boys defeated The Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago with ease.

For the Under-29 girls, Jamaica ran 3:33.35 minutes to spank Trinidad and Tobago 3:44.19 minutes and The Bahamas 3:47.68 minutes, and in the boys’ equivalent, they ran 3:07.68 minutes to beat Trinidad and Tobago (3:09.97 minutes) and Grenada (3:10.59 minutes).

The sprint hurdles also proved a happy hunting ground for Jamaica as they won all gold and silver medals in three of the four events, and gold and bronze in the other event on the night.

The girls Under-20 and Under-17 won gold and silver through Alexis James and Asharria Ulette, respectively in the senior event, and Bryanna Davidson and Camoy Binger, respectively in the junior event.

In the boys’ Under-17 110m hurdles final, Kahiem Carby and Shakir Lewis did likewise with gold and silver, respectively.

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Demario Prince passed the finish line first in the Under-20 final in 13.37 seconds ahead of Otto Laing of The Bahamas in 13.49 seconds, with Shaquane Gordon third of Jamaica third.

However, in a strange turn of events, it was reported at the end of the meet that Prince was disqualified for false-start, even as the official results show Gordon being hit with a false-start designation.

Meanwhile, there was a further blow to Jamaica’s medals hope when Sabrina Dockery false-started in the final of the girls’ Under-20 200m final. She entered the final with the second fastest time of 23.62 seconds behind eventual winner Sanaa Federick of Trinidad and Tobago with 23.49 seconds.

But the bungling did not stop there as during the closing ceremony the track was cleared for an athlete to run a 200m time final having been left out of the event earlier in the day. He missed a medal, which more likely had already been presented, by 100^th of a second.

And Jamaica’s management probably spared the organisers further embarrassment when it decided not to comply with an offer to rerun the boys’ 4x100m relay final at 3:15 pm on Monday.

The race had already been run on Sunday with Jamaica winning in 39.68 seconds ahead of The Bahamas in 39.78 seconds and Trinidad and Tobago third in 40.83 seconds.

It is understood that Barbados, who had finished fourth in 40.85 seconds, lodged a protest claiming that their athlete had suffered a disadvantage when the Bahamian lead runner was left in his starting blocks on his own accord while the other seven teams made their way only for the starter to make a belated recall of the race.

The jury panel accepted the appeal and called for a rerun but Jamaica led the way by declaring early that its athletes would not be participating in the event, as the jury did not declare Sunday’s original event null and void.

Jamaica’s Roshawn Clarke won the prestigious Austin Sealy Award for being voted the Most Outstanding Athlete of the three-day Carifta Games. Clarke won the Under-20 400m hurdles running 49.92 seconds and then helped his team to a comfortable victory on the second leg of the 4x400m relay final.

Complete Medal Table Standings 

Team                                       G       S       B       Total 

Jamaica                                   40      22      16      78

The Bahamas                          10      13      23      46

Trinidad & Tobago                 9        10      12      31

St Kitts & Nevis                       5        2        4        11

Guyana                                    3        2        3        8

US Virgin Islands                    3        0        0        3

Barbados                                 2        6        2        10

Grenada                                  2        4        4        10

Cayman Islands                      2        0        1        3

Belize                                                2        0        0        2

St Lucia                                   1        5        2        8

Guadeloupe                            1        2        3        6

Antigua and Barbuda            1        1        0        2

Bermuda                                 0        4        3        7

British Virgin Islands              0        3        0        3

Martinique                             0        2        2        4

St Vincent & the Grenadines0        2        1        3

French Guiana                        0        1        1        2

Curacao                                  0        1        1        2

Turks & Caicos Islands           0        0        3        3

Haiti                                        0        0        2        2