Jamaica on top of the world

By ELTON TUCKER, Assistant Sports Editor

JAMAICA'S VICTORY IN the men's 4x400m at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland is still, 52 years later, regarded as the finest moment in the island's sporting history.

As a performance of class and quality it surpasses the much herald Reggae Boyz qualification for the World Cup finals in France in 1998.

To equal the feat of Arthur Wint, Herb McKenley, Les Laing and George Rhoden, the Reggae Boyz would have had to not only qualify but go to the finals and beat world number one Brazil.

That's what the Jamaican quartet did in 1952 they qualfied for the final and went on to defeat the mighty Americans, who had only lost the relay twice since it was first contested in 1912 at the fifth staging of the modern games in Stockholm, Sweden.

In an article entitled 'Caribbean pearls upset the mighty USA' in the IAAF's The Magic of Athletics - A Century of Great Moments, the atmosphere for the final on July 27, 1952 was described as 'electric'.

Wint, fifth in the 400m final, ran the first leg in 46.8 seconds but handed over behind American Ollie Matson (46.7).

Les Laing, fifth in the 200m final, clocked 47.0 on the second leg but he was scorched by Eugene Cole (45.5) as the Americans took a 15 metres lead.

In an amazing run on the third leg McKenley closed the gap rapidly and went on to hand the baton to 400m gold medalist Rhoden a metre ahead of Charles Moore.


Ample warning


McKenley had clocked an incredible 44.6 leg to Moore's 46.3.

In a titanic battle to the line on the final leg Rhoden prevailed over 800 metres champion Mal Whitfield. The winning time was 3:03.9, a fantastic new world record. The Jamaica quartet had smashed the old mark (3:08.2 set in 1932) by almost five seconds.

Earlier at the Games Jamaica had served ample warning that they would have been a real force in the 4x400m with three finalists in the 400m.

For the second consecutive Olympics Jamaica won gold and silver in the 400m. Gold went to then world record holder Rhoden (45.8) in a Games record 45.9 with McKenley second again and Wint fifth.

McKenley won a second silver when he was just edged out by American Lindy Remigino while Wint (1:49.4), just as he did four years earlier, was runner-up in the 800 metres to America's Whitfield (1:49.2).

Jamaica's tally in 1952, two gold and three silver medals, still remains the island's best performance at the games.

Jamaica had one competitior in cycling for the first time. Ken Farnum finished 20 of 28 in the 1000m time trial and was eliminated in the heats of the 1000m sprint.

There were also females on the team. Sprinter Hyacinth Walters dropped out in the heats of the 100m and 200m. Kathleen Russell who went to the final of the long jump in 1948 failed to advance after a 5.10m leap, a mark well below the 5.61m which took her to sixth spot in London.


1952 medal tally
Gold Silver Bronze
2 3 -