Latest update November 21st, 2024 1:00 AM
Olympic silver medalist delivers soul touching inspirational talk to local athletes
Grace Jackson
Local athletes, representatives of other sports disciplines and local sports administrators benefited tremendously from an inspirational talk delivered by three times Olympian and 1988 Olympic 200m silver medalist, Grace Jackson at a specially arranged session organized by the Guyana Olympics Association (GOA) at the YMCA Thomas lands, Thursday evening.
Miss Jackson, who finished second to the legendary Florence Griffith-Joyner in the 200 meters at the Seoul Olympics, boasted of being blessed with the gift of gab and backed that boast with a stirring 60 minute presentation that documented her experiences as an athlete and consequently, a sports administrator.
Her narration started from the scraggy tracks of Jamaica where she commenced her career as an athlete in high school before moving on to high and long jumps and subsequently a hurdler. She then moved on to the glamour of the United States of America and then to Europe and subsequently to almost every nook and cranny of the globe in search of athletic and academic excellence.
Those in attendance included 2009 runner up sportswoman of the year, Alika Morgan, cyclists from the Continental Cycling Club, 2009 Ms Guyana Female Bodybuilder, Alisia Fortune, President of the Amateur Athletic Association, Colin Boyce, former President of that institution, Claude Blackmoore as well as other executives of the GOA and other distinguished Guyanese sports personalities.
Miss Jackson depicted her battles against life’s vicissitudes even as she chronicled a bittersweet experience characterized by disappointments, bolstered by success and climaxed with sweet victory.
Coupled with her sports achievements Miss Jackson is trained in Accounts, and Computer Science at the Post Graduate Level, and was awarded the Order of Distinction, a national honour bestowed by the Jamaica Government for her contribution to Sports.
She is also the 1st Vice President of the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association and the Manager of the Student Services for Sports at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica, a position she has held since 2001.
Miss Jackson intimated that after years of perseverance in her native Jamaica, she acquired a scholarship to the USA. She appealed to the athletes present to inculcate academics within their sports life. “I urge you not to neglect your academics development otherwise the road looks longer and it becomes difficult to get where you want to go,” she said.
Miss Jackson pointed out that most Jamaican athletes are poverty stricken and face the very challenges experienced by many aspiring athletes worldwide.
She pointed out that athletics provided an avenue for those athletes to lift themselves from the proletariat. The rangy Jamaican, who was the only person to compete in four finals at the Olympic level, narrated the disappointment experienced after she failed to clinch a place in the Jamaican team to Seoul in 1987.
Conversely, she spoke of the joy of qualifying for the 1992 Barcelona Games despite the many challenges experienced. Eventually, an illustrious career came to a satisfying end in New Zealand.
“Having accomplished all that I could on the tracks, I set about redirecting my energies towards helping other athletes to achieve their goals,” said the silver medalist.
She told the audience that even though all athletes may nurture grand hopes and aspirations, not all of them would emerge as stars. “Notwithstanding this, it is important that you nurture ambitions of being that star you want to be,” she further emphasized.
The lanky Jamaican athlete further told the audience that determination and perseverance are two vital traits in the sporting world. “The measure of a man is not in how many times he falls but in his ability to rise after a fall,” she emphasized.
She also highlighted the intensity of the training sessions necessary for optimum fitness and success. “Some of these international athletes practice for as many as 6 hours daily in order to maximize their chances at international games,” Miss Jackson pointed out. Notwithstanding this she reiterated that not everyone that participates in athletics would emerge as a star.
Shortly after her delivery Miss Jackson e then responded to several comments and answered questions posed by some members of the audience.
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