Latest news with #Shelly-AnnFraser-Pryce
Belfast Telegraph
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Belfast Telegraph
In a place where children sit transfer tests how come everyone needs to be a winner on school sports day?
A summer of World Cup football was to follow, Gerry Armstrong's goal against hosts Spain and all that when yer man got the ball. Sadly I had arrived home on Friday, June 25, from an end-of-primary-school week-long trip to the Isle of Man and fell asleep on the sofa at half-time, missing one of NI's greatest sporting moments. The previous week had been spent sneaking out of the tent 'complaining' of a sore head to sneak peeks at matches in the teacher's centre where they were all crowded around the only TV. And as the wonderful sporting moment rolled in, I enjoyed one of my own, claiming the sweetest Mars Bar of my life when I won the class long distance race (twice around the football pitch was a long way for the second smallest boy in the year) during school sports day. No Mars Bar has ever matched that slightly melted one. I can still remember licking the remains off my fingers, savouring the moment that taught me if I put the effort in, there would be a reward in the end. I was also in the piggy back race that year. As one of the smallest, I was paired with one of the biggest boys, a seemingly fool-proof route to another victory. No one told us it would be a 'two-way' race. I had to carry him for the second leg and hopes of another Mars Bar melted in a heap of laughter as he could almost run when he was on my back with feet dragging on the ground before the inevitable collapse. There was the other side of the story. The taking part despite having no chance of winning. No one cried because they didn't 'win'. Unclaimed chocolate bar prizes were shared out once the final race was run. I was struck a few weeks ago watching a video of a school sports day on social media — a mum's race across a bumpy grass pitch, with one mum destroying the field of competitors. It helped that she was Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, three times an Olympic gold medallist track and field sprinter. Aged 38, she's still the third fastest female sprinter on the planet. The other mums had barely left the line as she finished, still pushing herself to be the best she can be. It was a lesson for all those watching, too. No matter what stage you are in life, giving your all to be the best you can be, whether you win or not, is a success in its own right. 'I only want to finish when I cross the line knowing I have given it everything,' the Jamaican said after the sports day event. Strange, then, that so many schools have now made sports days 'non competitive'. No need to push yourself to be better. It's the taking part that counts and that, it's believed, is reward in itself. My daughter excelled in sports day through primary school. Imagine the horror when, in her final year, she learned there would be a 'non-competitive' event. In truth, she was left wondering why she had bothered. And by post-primary school, her enthusiasm had all but disappeared after children were split into groups to perform various sporting activities. A day off work to watch children run around in a field. And the point of the 'exercise' was to 'take part' and feel 'included'. Strange, too, that these same schools take so much pride in pushing children in other ways. No A grade at GCSE has ever been awarded for making a few marks on a page to confirm 'I was there'. Are children really so delicate these days that they can't be seen to come second in an egg and spoon race, while we still run transfer tests dividing success and failure? Since when, in the wider world, has a job interview been successful for turning up and smiling sweetly despite not being equipped to do the job as required? There's no protection from that disappointment. Being successful in life can be shaped by how we deal with our disappointments as well as how we handle our successes. If they do believe that 'taking part' is all that's required, will they ever learn to push themselves to be better people in the future? Frank Dick was the head of athletics coaching for Great Britain in the 1980s, working and inspiring the likes of Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett to Olympic glory. But much of his early work was further down the pecking order. 'I was Scottish national coach,' he recalled in a famous interview on what it means to be a winner, one that's well worth a watch. 'I went round the tracks, working with other coaches, and at one of the tracks a little girl comes up to me, nine years old, shouting Mr Dick, Mr Dick? With a name like mine, you never know what's coming, but she asks me if I would work with her. She wanted to run the 100 metres. I worked with her for a few weeks and she goes to her first race. She lines up with seven other kids. Bang, runs down the track, hurls herself at the line. Eighth out of eight in 18 seconds. She comes back upset, 'Mr Dick, I was last'. I said no, you were 18 seconds. 'You've smashed the 20-second barrier and I had you down for 19 seconds. You're a whole second fast than that. This means it's your lifetime best performance. Your own personal world record. In a few weeks time, she'll have another race. What does she think winning is now? If she does 17.9, she'll grab a flag and run round the track, because that's what winning is. It's being better today than you were yesterday, but we've killed our definition of a winner. 'The reason you go into tough arenas in life is to be challenged to perform better. You do not learn to climb mountains in life by going around them or asking someone for a ladder. You learn to climb mountains by climbing mountains.' Defaulting to the lowest common denominator so everyone feels 'included' means only those who want to try to win leave sports day disappointed. It is, in the end, not just about the winning, nor should it be simply about the taking part. A reward for taking part does nothing to provide an incentive to improve. Some parts of education seem to have lost sight of what they're there to do. Surely it's better to bring up children to be the best they can be in whatever they choose to do, rather than emerge from their cotton wool wrapping as a snowflake to melt away like that Mars Bar left out on a sunny summer day sports day in 1982 when life turns out to be a hotter competition than they might have imagined.
Straits Times
16-05-2025
- Sport
- Straits Times
Clayton twins shine in Diamond League 100m, Tebogo wins 200m by a whisker
Athletics - Diamond League - Doha - Qatar Sports Club Stadium, Doha, Qatar - May 16, 2025 Luxembourg's Patrizia van der Weken and Maia McCoy of the U.S. in action during the Women's 100m REUTERS/Ibraheem Al Omari Athletics - Diamond League - Doha - Qatar Sports Club Stadium, Doha, Qatar - May 16, 2025 New Zealand's Zoe Hobbs, Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Switzerland's Mujinga Kambundji and Jamaica's Tia Clayton in action during the Women's 100m REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa DOHA - Jamaica's Tia Clayton edged her twin sister Tina Clayton in the women's 100 metres at the Doha Diamond League meet on Friday while Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo nearly threw away a victory near the finish line in the men's 200 metres. Tia clocked a world-leading 10.92 seconds, 0.1 second faster than her sister Tina who edged Amy Hunt by one hundredth of a second after the Briton ran a personal best to deny Jamaica a podium sweep. "I made the world leading mark, but honestly I didn't do the best possible because I couldn't do the start I always get," Tia said. "But other than that it was a great race for me. It is very special for me and my twin sister to finish first and second in this event tonight." The two sisters are training partners and Tina said family ties are set aside when they race. "When we line up for a race, we are no longer sisters, we are rival competitors," she said. "But after the race is over, it feels really good to make the top two places." Twice 100m Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce had to settle for fourth on her return to Diamond League as the 38-year-old failed to defy the odds in Doha, where she won the world title six years ago. Tebogo started the 200 metres final well out on lane seven but the Botswanan sprinter eased up towards the end and nearly paid the price for a cheeky look over at American Courtney Lindsey in the next lane as he won by a whisker. Tebogo clocked 20.10 seconds, just 0.01 seconds ahead of Lindsey. WEBER BEATS CHOPRA Twice Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra of India breached the 90-metre mark in the men's javelin for the first time in his career but his joy was short-lived when he was pipped to top spot by Germany's Julian Weber. Chopra warmed up with a world-leading 88.44 metres with his first throw before a monster 90.23 metres attempt in the third round for a personal best and national record. But Weber's final effort saw the javelin soar into the night sky and land at 91.06 metres to steal victory. Earlier, Paris silver medallist Salwa Eid Naser got things underway when she cruised to victory in the 400 metres, tying the meet record with a time of 49.83 seconds, while Tshepiso Masalela won the men's 800 metres. Molly Caudery claimed her first win of the season in the pole vault when the Briton became the only woman to clear 4.75 metres. Reynold Cheruiyot had the Kenyan fans in raptures when the 20-year-old stormed to victory in just his second career race in the men's 5,000 metres. Cheruiyot switched gears in the final lap and took the lead in the last 200 metres to win with a time of 13 minutes and 16.40 seconds while South Sudan's Dominic Lobalu and Bahrain's Birhanu Balew had a photo finish for second and third. The Kenyan fans were on their feet once again after the final event where Faith Cherotich clinched victory in the 3,000 metres steeplechase, beating Paris gold medallist Winfred Yavi in the final few metres with a sudden burst of speed. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Sydney Morning Herald
11-05-2025
- Sport
- Sydney Morning Herald
Star-studded Jamaican team pipped by Spain
A women's 4x100m team from Jamaica featuring the legendary Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and world champion Shericka Jackson is beaten by Spanish underdogs in the heats at the world athletics relays in China.
The Age
11-05-2025
- Sport
- The Age
Star-studded Jamaican team pipped by Spain
A women's 4x100m team from Jamaica featuring the legendary Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and world champion Shericka Jackson is beaten by Spanish underdogs in the heats at the world athletics relays in China.
Express Tribune
11-05-2025
- Sport
- Express Tribune
Mixed 4x100m relay makes global debut
Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Tia Clayton, Germany's Nele Jaworski in action during the women's 4x100 metres relay at Guangdong Olympic Stadium. PHOTO: REUTERS Italy, Canada and Jamaica reached the mixed 4x100 metres relay final in the event's global debut while heavyweights the United States experienced mixed fortunes on a dramatic opening day at the World Athletics Relays on Saturday. Victory in 41.15 seconds in the first heat amid challenging conditions in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou following a spell of rain earned the Italians a place in the medal round to be held on Sunday. They will be joined by France, who finished second in 41.28 seconds, while pre-race favourites the U.S. saw their hopes of advancing fade when Jada Mowatt and Kendal Williams botched their baton exchange during the second changeover. Jamaica's mixed sprint quartet clocked 41.04 seconds to edge out Britain by a hundredth of a second in the next heat and they could deploy three-times Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and former world champion Yohan Blake in the final. Canada crossed the line in a scorching 40.90 seconds to second-placed Australia's 41.15 seconds in the third heat to send out a warning to their rivals. The Americans made up for their error by easing into the mixed 4x400m final, thereby also sealing their spot in the event at the world championships tin Tokyo in September. The world record-holders will be joined in the Guangzhou final by Belgium, Australia, Ireland, Britain and South Africa as well as the two fastest non-automatic qualifiers Kenya and Poland. Spain went quickest in the women's 4x100m relay ahead of Jamaica and Belgium, clocking 42.18 seconds, while South Africa dominated the men's event with Akani Simbine anchoring his team to a joint world leading time of 37.84 seconds. Japan, who were assured of a place in the worlds as hosts, matched South Africa's effort in their heat to finish in front of Olympic champions Canada. The U.S. women's team shrugged off the increasingly damp conditions to top the timings in the 4x400m race while the men's quartet were third in their heat and will have to wait until Sunday to book their spot in the worlds. South Africa's men were quickest again in that event with a world leading time of exactly three minutes.
