Wednesday 23 May 2007
17-year-old Ramone McKenzie will aim at taking the World Youth 200m title back to Jamaica when the 5th edition of the World Youth Championships is held in Ostrava, Czech Republic from 11 to 15 July. Mc Kenzie is not only a power sprinter on the track, but also in dream.
In reality McKenzie’s personal record is 20.58 seconds, but in his dreams he has already run 18.6 twice!
Most people believe in dreams, and if McKenzie’s dream becomes a reality, America’s superman Michael Johnson’s 200m World record of 19.32 seconds could be history before McKenzie calls it a day on his career.
“My dream is to record the World 200m record,” he said. “I dreamt of crossing the finish line in 18.6 on two occasions,” said McKenzie, who is presently one of Jamaica’s top youngsters.
McKenzie also wants to add what he called the ‘big three’ to his name sometime during his career.
“I want to win the big three - Olympic Games, World Championships and Commonwealth Games,” said the 16-year-old ???Calabar High School student.
Though many may see this dream as one that would never come through, McKenzie has made progress every year, the biggest from 21.17 in 2006 to 20.58 for Carifta Games gold in 2007.
He won the 200m/400m Class Two (Under-17) double at March’s National High School Championships in 20.89 - ahead of Dexter Lee (21.28) - and 47.24 respectively.
Ramone McKenzie celebrates with his mother after winning the 400m at the High School Boys & Girls Championships in March
(Anthony Foster)
However, it was at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Junior Championships in Trinidad & Tobago that he made a name for himself, winning four gold medals. He won the 400m Under-17 boys event in 47.59 and 200m in 21.17 while helping the sprint and mile relay teams to victory.
All this build-up started at age three by running around the place, though he was not serious at the time.
“I only got fully involved in the sport at Half Way Tree Primary.” During his first three years at Primary School, this after leaving Hagley Park Prep, he was crowned champion boy three consecutive years with an average of three gold medals per year.
He said the sport is a part of his family as his father (Ralston McKenzie) and his mother (Loraine McKenzie) along with other aunts and uncles are all former athletes.
However, notable among the family members who practiced track & field was his cousin Daniel England, who during his days dominated the local High School Championships.
The kid, who recently established a style of his own, running with glasses without lenses “because Edward Clarke, who had the Class Two 400m Champs record used to run in glasses, and coach Michael Clarke told me to portray that image, but customized it in my own style."
He explained how he came up with a glass without lens: "One day I was with some of my friends playing with the glasses and decided to take out the lens, and after trying it on, they said it looked good, so I just decided to try it at Champs.”
McKenzie also wore his particular glasses at Carifta Games in Turks and Caicos, and he was quick to make it clear that come the IAAF World Youth Championships, his glasses without lens will be on the world stage.
McKenzie whose favourite place is Devon House, which justified his love for ice cream, now switches his focus to the World Youth Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
He targets the World Youth record of 20.13 seconds held by compatriot Usain Bolt, winner of the 2005 edition in Sherbrooke, Canada.
“My coach expects me to break the 200m record and to win the gold, which I am working hard towards,” said the Kingston resident, who admires Portugal’s Olympic silver medallist Francis Obikwelu.
"I also want to finish the meet injury free, because I am also looking to get a spot on the World Championships team.”
And for these opportunities, McKenzie is working very hard. “Right now I am kind of overweight, coming back from Turks and Caicos, I am just trying to get back on track,” he said.
McKenzie’s most memorable moment was “at the World Junior in China, because China is the other side of the world.” His favourite movie, like most Jamaican junior athletes, is Love and basketball while chemistry is his favourite subject at school.
He remembered his worst experience at the 2005 National High School Boys & Girls Championships when he pulled up in the Class 3 100m semi-final.
Anthony Foster for IAAF