Can Lavern medal in Beijing?

Lavern Spencer

As the track and field events at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing China

gather momentum, many are asking the question, “can any of our athletes do

the near impossible and medal?”

It is with hushed anticipation they view via television, the performances of the

Olympians, while in their subconscious is pray to the Almighty to give Saint Lucia

the strength and fortitude to bring home some medal ware.

The most realistic chance lies with Saint Lucia’s world ranked high jump queen

Levern Spencer, who fine tuned her Olympic Games preparation under the

watchful eye of Wayne Norton, Head Coach at the University of Georgia.

Levern who si the leading Caibbean high jumper, has stated her intention of

making the finals of the high jump, which in itself would be a first for Saint Lucia

and will again put our small island under the sporting spotlight.

The results for the 2004 Athens Olympic Women’s high jump finals make for

interesting reading.

Levern currently has jumped 1.94 metres for 2008, and is hoping to achieve at

least a 1.95 metres. This would have placed her easily in the 2004 Finals and

with a good jump on the day, she could have contended for 4th place. The major

challenge is clearly that quantum jump into the 2-metre domain.

The results for 2008 also make for interesting comparisons. Once again the

event is dominated by the East Europeans.

The number one performer for 2008 to date is Blanka Vlasic of Croatia who has

been jumping 2.03-metres to 2.06 metres, followed by Ariane Fredrich of

Germany with 2.03 metres and Chaunte Howard of USA with 1.98 metres.

After those leaders comes the pack numbering nineteen jumpers including

Levern, whose jumps range from 1.99 metres to 1.93 metres.

Many of those heights are of very recent vintage, May or June 2008, during which

the athletes made their qualifying times in their Olympic quest. Levern’s height is

the 20th best for the year.

Given the results of 2008 thus far, the finals in Beijing is expected to be a more

challenging affair and finals aspirants will need to jump 1.93 and above.

Levern’s medal hopes lie with her reaching the finals with already achieved

results (circa 1.94) and then for the finals, having the best of days against her

competitors to realize the Olympic dream.

What Levern Spencer has achieved is truly remarkable, for her regional and

international performances have taken Saint Lucia where no other athlete has.