Quarter-miler Jamil looks for gold

JAMIL JAMES is set to follow in the footsteps of Wendell Mottley, Edwin Skinner, Ian Morris and Alvin Daniel, as one of Trinidad and Tobago’s leading quarter-miler. The 18-year-old was recently named as the 2004 “Male Athlete of the Year” at the National Amateur Athletic Association (NAAA) prize-giving ceremony. James conceded: “I would have never expected something like that.” “When my dad gave me a call when I was over at the university that I got the Athlete of the Year, it was really a good feeling,” Jamil said. “(I felt) they gave it to me based on the World Juniors bronze medal that I got and it was really something unexpected. I really did work hard for it so it made me feel good.”

On the local track and field circuit, James is based with Quantum club under the guidance of his coach and father Trevor. But, for most of the year, the teenager is enrolled at the University of South Carolina, where he is pursuing a degree in management science. He has always been in the shadow of the likes of Darrel Brown, Marc Burns, Dion Rodriguez, Wanda Hutson, Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Marcus Duncan, Alicia Cave, Pilar McShine and Rhonda Watkins who have dominated the local junior circuit for the last five years. But James showed that he would be a force to be reckoned with in the future with a fantastic performance at the 2004 World Junior Track and Field Championships in Grosseto, Italy.

On July 16, in the final of the 200-metre sprint, he crossed the finish line in 21 seconds flat to claim the bronze medal. Only quadruple Olympic medallist Ato Boldon has earned a World Junior 200m medal for TT, at the Seoul Olympics, South Korea, in 1992. “I was really proud of myself,” James admitted. “It was at an international stage too. “I really had dreams of getting a medal overall and I was able to pull that off. I didn’t care what colour it was, as long as it was a medal.” James signalled his intentions a day earlier (July 15) when he clocked a personal best time of 20.97 seconds in the semi-finals.

Nevertheless, James has competed most of his career as a 400-metre runner, earning silver medals at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Youth Championships in 2002 and both the 2003 and 2004 CARIFTA Games. Looking back at his life, James who was born in San Fernando on September 16, and grew up in Marabella said, “I got seriously into track and field in Form One at Presentation College, San Fernando. From there, I started to make teams, started to win races and medals. Each and every year, I just kept going on and here I am today. “I am looking forward to a healthy, good, prosperous collegiate season (2005) at the University of South Carolina. And, I want to come back home, most likely to make the World Champs team and to get something out of that, like a medal in the relay,” he added.

The World Championships will be held at Helsinki, Finland, from August 6-14 and James is also gearing for his final attempt for a CARIFTA gold medal, during the Easter weekend at the Dwight Yorke Stadium, Bacolet, Tobago. He would also be looking to better his personal best clocking of 46.68 at the 2003 National Senior Championships. Who would James consider to be his role models? “Hasely Crawford, because he has (TT’s) only Olympic gold medal,” he replied. “Ato Boldon, who proved that he’s one of the best. On an international basis, (American) Michael Johnson because he has the (world) records in the 400m and 200m.” Outside of track and field, James described himself as “a really fun, good, wild when it comes to parties, like the average guy.”