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Assignment: Jamaica's sprint factory

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29/07/2010

Jamaica's sprint factory

BBC World Service - Assignment, Jamaica's sprint factory

The pressures on Jamaica's generation of junior athletes aiming for Olympic success

Nina Robinson reports from Jamiaca where the country's young atheletes are coming under pressure as they set their sights on the Olympics in two years time.

Jamaica has a reputation for producing world class athletes, the most famous being the record breaking Usain Bolt who won the 100m sprint at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. 

Athletes in Jamaica are nurtured from a young age: boys and girls as young as six enter competitions and train intensively throughout their school years to compete in fiercely contested national athletics championships.  

Most of these children come from poor socio-economic backgrounds and their knowledge of the risks of drug taking - whether for medicinal or performance enhancement - is limited.  

There is a debate now in Jamaica about how early young children should be introduced to the world of anti-doping and even whether it is time to start testing children as young as 10 years old.  

Nina Robinson reports.

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