September 01, 2015
Jamaica at the World Championships
We’ve had a fantastic week at the World Championships in Beijing, (placing second overall!) and the Internet has been blowing up with excitement. From live tweeting the races to critiques of each Jamaican athlete and their competitors, Jamaicans have come together online in shows of solidarity, but also fickleness.
The female athletes got mostly positive reviews, while the males provoked mixed feelings and conditional support. First Usain Bolt's incredible win in the 100m final sparked controversy as the British press publicly and unashamedly bashed Justin Gatlin, heralding Bolt as the saviour of the sport. Jamaican twitter capitalised on Gatlin's always placing second, and found every way of pointing this out:
The rivalry prompted Bolt to joke that Gatlin had sent the cameraman on the segway, after his 200m win, to purposely take him down. Twitter erupted with video footage from different angles, and the cameraman was both threatened and pitied – who knows what fate he could suffer for this offense?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSo8sfJnLgU
Asafa Powell has long been a victim of Jamaican fickleness. This time was no different. But many people seemed to feel guilty about their attacks on the athlete after he issued an apology to his fans:
Warren Weir is relatively new to Jamaican social media's wrath. He recently made distasteful statements online about a woman, and then placed seventh in the semi-finals of the 200m. The ridiculing hasn't subsided, with people continuing to play on his last name:
Overall, an exciting and eventful World Champs, both on and offline.
~ Written by Marie-Liese George