From field of dreams to Olympic glory: Jamaica's sprinting conveyor belt

KINGSTON: On a dusty, sun-bleached grass sports field in Kingston, a crop of Jamaican schoolchildren are being put through their paces with dreams of following in the footsteps of Usain Bolt or Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

Lines of chalk mark out the lanes of a rudimentary running track, where a few dozen young hopefuls are racing in the kind of athletics meeting that is popular across Jamaica, the spiritual home of sprinting.

"Most of these kids want to become professionals; they all dream of becoming the next Usain Bolt or the next Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce," track coach Shanti Blake tells AFP. "Pretty much everybody here that does sports wants to try to become a professional, because everybody wants to become the next Usain Bolt.

"Blake looks on approvingly as this young crop of runners, some only six years old, strive to replicate the running style of the Jamaican track icons who have been regular visitors to Olympic and World Championship medal podiums over the past two decades.

"I'm dedicated to making some of these kids professionals," said Blake, 40, whose own dreams of a sprinting career were cut short by injury. "Most definitely, I am going to".

''Part of our history'' For Joseph Heron, whose daughters Nayeli (10) and Jaya (nine) are both competing in the meeting, the lure of a professional career is only part of the appeal. Athletics also represents a pathway to academia via the possibility of scholarships.

"(Running) keeps them healthy and and strong," Heron says. "The track is a very powerful part of our history, not just for those who go on to become professionals, but the impact on general life.

- Passing the baton - MVP -- "Maximising Velocity and Power" -- was founded in 1999 and has been home to Jamaican sprint stars such as Fraser-Pryce, five-time Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, Asafa Powell and Nesta Carter.

The club trains at dawn at the modest Stadium East, in the shadow of the national stadium, under the watchful eye of revered coach Stephen Francis, the great rival of Glen Mills, the coach of Usain Bolt.

Unknown sprinters can often find themselves working alongside established professionals such as Shericka Jackson or Kishane Thompson, the 100m silver medallist at last year's Paris Olympics.