KEMARLEY BROWN NOW LEADS THE PACK

Young Kemarley Brown has stolen a march on his contemporaries. On Saturday, the 21-year-old Brown became the 13th Jamaican to break the 10-second barrier in the 100-metres (16th if you include Donovan Bailey, Linford Christie and Ben Johnson) when he ran a blistering 9.93 at the California State Junior College Championships.

For a few hours between Saturday and Sunday morning, he was the fastest man in the world. That was until Justin Gatlin went a hundredth of a second faster in Shanghai.

When the news of Brown’s performance first hit the media on Saturday in the US and Sunday here in Jamaica, the first reaction of many Jamaicans was, ‘Who is Kemarley Brown?’ It kind of tells you how much we pay attention to our developing athletes. Brown, and Andrew Fisher, the second fastest Jamaican man this year; were members of gold- medal winning sprint relay squad from St. Elizabeth Technical back in 2011. They pretty much beat all before them, but few remember who the individuals were, partly because they were more successful as a team than they were as individuals and partly because they were not from Kingston College, Calabar or Jamaica College; partly too because once these kids transition away from high school, we often forget about them.

It is something I find a bit odd since the greater glory is obtained internationally and not at Champs, but, hey, this is Jamaica where we do everything upside down.

It was a similar situation with Nesta Carter. I remember when he first caught the world’s attention many Jamaicans didn’t even remember that he was a finalist in the 100 metres at Champs back in 2003. But I digress.

After leaving STETHS Brown attended the University of Technology but got hurt. He then opted to attend school in California and the rest, as they say, is history.

Brown’s breakthrough performance however, does teach a very valuable lesson that many Jamaicans and Jamaican athletes must learn. Ever since Asafa Powell exploded onto the scene just over a decade ago, and the subsequent success of Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, and Shelly Ann Frazer-Pryce and Warren Weir, we have come to feel that all our athletes must be developed here. It is a foolish way to think.

Of course. we don’t know what would have come of Brown had he remained here, he may very well have run 9.93s at the All Comers meet on the weekend had he stayed here. What we do know is that in one race he surpassed Julian Forte, Andrew Fisher, Oshane Bailey, Dexter Lee, Jason Livermore, Rasheed Dwyer and many others who have been in training here for the past three years. This is not to say our coaches here have not been doing a good job but it does say that Jamaica is not the here all and end all of athletic development.

Earlier I mentioned Donovan Bailey, the 1995 World Champion and 1996 Olympic champion, who attended Knox but migrated to Canada and from there went onto become the fastest man in the world when he broke the world record in Atlanta. Sometimes, we have to leave home to find what is right for us and Kemarley Brown did just that.

He graduates from Merritt College on Wednesday (May 21) with an associate degree in psychology and now ponders what he will do in his immediate future. Texas Christian University (TCU) looks like his best bet for now and we may even see him go much faster while he is there.  I am certain there are many agents out there wanting him to go pro right now. He has tough decisions to make.

What we do know is that when he chose to leave Jamaica two years ago, he made the right decision for him. It was one that put him in touch with his coach Brock Drazen who helped push from him the back of the pack chasing Usain Bolt and company to the front. Only God knows if his fortunes would have been the same had he remained here. Sometimes, we need to test ourselves by leaving the nest and Brown has tested himself and has emerged with flying colours.