Jamaica’s campaign in the London 2012 Olympic Games was a highly successful one that achieved and, in some cases, exceeded the high expectations set by the achievements in Beijing 2008. The stellar performances speak for themselves:

• -Overall 12 medals won, exceeding the Beijing watershed haul by one medal, and placing the country third in the track and field medal table behind U.S.A. and  Russia
• -Usain Bolt added to his already legendary status with his ‘double-triple’
• -Jamaica emphatically defended their title as the sprint capital of the world  with male and female champions in the marquee 100m events
• -The unprecedented one-two-three medal sweep in the men’s 200m
• -UWI’s Hansle Parchment winning the first Olympic medal in the men’s sprint hurdles with a national record 
• -A world record run in the 4 x 100m relay, closing the Olympics in superlative style 

London 2012 will undoubtedly join London 1948, Helsinki 1952 and  Beijing 2008 in the storied archives of Jamaica’s  Track & Field. As we enjoy  the euphoria of the achievement it is instructive to recall the role that the city  of Birmingham played in this campaign; examine the wider issue of how  Jamaica can use that experience to grow cultural and economic links with major Jamaican Diaspora communities around the world. MMBirmingham had  the distinction of hosting the pre-Olympic training camp for the Jamaican  track and field team, a distinction in the truest sense, given the prominence and popularity of Jamaican track and field, and the larger than life presence of Usain Bolt... 

About the Author

Maurice L McNaughton

Maurice McNaughton is the Director of the Centre of Excellence for IT Innovation at Mona School of Business & Management, UWI.

Dr. McNaughton is Director of the Centre of Excellence for IT-enabled Innovation at the Mona School of Business & Management and is currently doing active research in the areas of Open Source Software, Open/Big Data and Mobile Computing. He is a founding member of the Caribbean Open Institute, a regional coalition of Caribbean organizations that engages and works with regional governments, researchers, journalists, technologists, NGOs, and academics, to raise awareness, strengthen capacity, and foster collaborations towards the adoption of open development approaches.