VCB MARCHES TOWARDS GREATER GREATNESS

If Veronica Campbell Brown was to retire today, her legacy would be secure as Jamaica’s greatest ever Olympian. Not even the shiny stardom of Usain Bolt can outshine Campbell Brown’s success at the Olympic Games.

The thing is Campbell Brown isnt at the end of her career, she is in her prime and even though by comparison, 2009 was not a stellar year for Veronica, she seems well on her way to creating an even greater legacy.

She has begun 2010 in a fashion that not many would have envisioned but who could have asked for better. Laverne Jones and Carmelita Jeter had dominated the 60 metre sprints all indoor season with respective personal bests of 6.97s and 7.02s.

VCB meanwhile, last ran indoors six years ago, while she was still a Razorback and her PR was 7.04s. So realistically, heading into the World Indoors, outside of VCB’s camp, not many would have picked her to be champion. In fact, she was not even among the conversation surrounding who was going to claim the 60-metre title. A few eyebrows were raised when she dropped a 7.07 in the semis but still, 6.97s was still a-tenth of a second away; perhaps she would earn a medal but certainly not gold.
However, as they say, you can never discount a champion and that is what Veronica Campbell Brown is, a champion. She went into that final on Sunday, a two-time Olympic Champion 200-metre champion, a 100 metre World champion, an Olympic 4x100m relay champion, as well as a multiple junior World champion. She had more pedigree than anyone else in that race and she made it count.
A personal best seven-seconds flat is what it took, but she got it done over Ferrette 7.03 and Jeter, who has been described as the female Asafa Powell by American champion sprinter Maurice Greene. Jeter finished in 7.05 seconds.
It was another display of why VCB is Jamaica’s greatest female champion sprinter. Merlene Ottey may have more medals, a World Indoor 200-metre Record and an IAAF Athlete of the Year Award -feathers that VCB do not have in her cap – but when it comes to winning against the odds, for all of Ottey’s greatness, VCB is the true queen.