Olympic legend Don Quarrie off to China
BY MARK CUMMINGS Observer staff reporter
Sunday, November 13, 2005
FALMOUTH, Trelawny - Olympic legend Donald Quarrie will leave the island this week for China to assist in the training of Chinese athletes in their preparation for the 2008 Olympics.
QUARRIE… will help Chinese athletes prepare for 2008 Olympics
Prime Minister P J Patterson made the announcement on Friday during the ground-breaking ceremony for the US$30- million multi-purpose stadium at Greenfield, Trelawny.
“I’m pleased to say today that we are sending to China next week (this week) one of the greatest sprinters of all times - the quickest man going around the 200m curve, the great Don Quarrie himself - to assist in the training of Chinese athletes,” Patterson said.
The prime minister’s announcement came less than five months after he offered the premier of the People’s Republic of China, Wen Jiabao, help in the training of Chinese athletes in track and field.
The offer was made during bilateral talks between the two in Beijing, China in June.
At that time, it was also agreed that Jamaican athletes would also be invited to China to participate in warm-up races in the run-up to the Games.
Quarrie, 54, an executive member of the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA), is one of the island’s most outstanding athletes.
He was the first male athlete to win six Commonwealth track gold medals when he triumphed in the 100m at the 1978 Games.
He reached the highest point of his career at the 1976 Olympic games in Montreal where he won the 200m and finished second in the 100m.