Campbell-Brown – a great champion

Veronica Campbell Brown in her online diary this week declared her unwavering loyalty to Jamaica following the reported bust up in Berlin where she was reported to have walked out on the women’s 4×100 metre relay team because she was told 90 minutes before the finals of the relays that she would not be running the anchor leg.

We may never know the truth about what happened but it did tarnish the success that the athletes achieved in Berlin. That, and the embarrassing impasse between the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA), killed some of the euphoria that would have been experienced by Jamaicans.

However, it is encouraging that Veronica seemed to have quickly put the situation behind her and is ready to focus on her future. What that future will be is already the subject of much debate. Should Veronica abandon her ambitions of becoming the Olympic 100 metre champion and concentrate solely on the 200 metres or should she continue to pursue her ambitions even though at the moment they seem unattainable.

Logic would suggest the former, and here’s why. While Veronica is a great champion – it is no easy feat defending an Olympic 200 metre crown – and has won gold medals at every level since her junior years, it is hard to see her achieving that gold medal at the Olympics in the 100 metres.

For one, there are just too many people running faster right now. Veronica is currently the fourth fastest Jamaican female sprinter. For her to even make the team as a 100 metre participant she would have to overcome Shelly Ann Fraser, who at 22 is already tied for the third fastest woman of all time. Her personal best of 10.73 is already 0.12 seconds faster than Veronica. That is a little more than the gap between Tyson Gay and Usain Bolt at in the finals of the men’s 100 metres at the world championships in Berlin; and in the sprints that is equivalent to a city block. Veronica is very capable of going as fast as Fraser and maybe she will achieve that time one day soon, but at the next Olympic Games in 2012 Veronica will be 31 years old, Fraser 26. One would be on the downside of her sprinting career, the other in her prime.

It would be foolhardy though to suggest that Veronica would not be able to upset the apple-cart by then because only a fool discounts a champion like VCB. Very few expected her to win the 100 metres world title in Osaka in 2007 but she did. She may very well have a few more surprises in store in the years ahead.

I just think that there are too many people in her way. Another of those is Kerron Stewart, who now that she has decided to focus solely on the 100 metres, is running faster than she ever has. When she clocked 10.75 seconds over the distance in Rome she became the fifth fastest woman in history and even though she finished second at the championships in Berlin in the same (10.75s), it must not be lost on observers that she ran that time after enduring three qualifying rounds. It would suggest that fresh, Kerron could go a lot faster.

Then there is the little darling of Jamaican track and field Sherone Simpson, who in 2006 clocked an amazing 10.82 seconds running into a 0.7 m/s headwind. Without the resisting wind her time would have been about 10.77 seconds. If Simpson can manage to remain healthy there is no reason to believe that she will not be able to attain those standards once more, but only if she can remain injury free. Those bad knees of hers could cause her to retire early.

Campbell Brown also has similar concerns. She has never been able to remain healthy the year after a major championships and this year was no different. An inflamed toe and a strained hamstring hampered her training and cost her a medal in Berlin.

Perhaps if she dropped the 100 metre and focussed on the half-lap herb body would hold up a lot better because of the lesser work load. That way, she could realistically go for an unprecedented three-peat in London.

If she accomplishes that she would make history and maybe she could live with never winning an Olympic 100 metre title.

Tags: Leighton Levy