The Islands of the Caribbean. Where pirates lived out their
golden age and where middle to upper class Americans and Europeans live out
modern day vacation fantasies. These countries have long been known for their
crystal clear waters, warm weather, scenic vistas, and water sports. But this
Olympics they’ve begun blowing up in another way – Caribbean nations, with
populations smaller than a UC extension school, GDP’s tied directly to
agribusiness and tourism (translation: the locals work in the fields or serving
visitors while the executives are shipped in from economic powerhouses to run
the resorts and as such pocket the money) have been dominating the marquee
Olympic Track and Field games in London. And all I can say is good for them.
The Caribbean’s a strange experiment in post-conquest. That
is, it’s a conglomeration of nations brought into the modern era by discovery
of said islands by commerce-hungry Europeans. The natives, if any, were
subjugated as ports were built, followed by plantations peopled by African
slaves brought over to grow the bananas and sugar and spices, coffee, so on as
dictated. These unblemished floating fertile paradises were the ideal place to
build satellite farms to provide goods for the more civilized folks in cities
both up on the American mainland as well as back in the mother nations on the
continent. As such, these islands were also the homes of many legendary battle,
St. Lucia for example earning the name the Helen of the West Indies after
switching hands 14 times between Britain and France between 1663 and 1814, when
the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending their 1812 conflict after what is still
considered one of the most important naval battles just off the coast.
These nations went on to begin the slow process of freeing
themselves from first slavery, then from the reign of their colonizers (though
many are still parts of international commonwealths presided over by Britain or
France or the Netherlands). What this left, then, were nations of freed slaves
suddenly trying to build national economies that didn’t depend on foreign
investment in resorts, mines (bauxite in Jamaica, for example), and plantations
as said investments mostly just took advantage of the land but sent the money
elsewhere. But such is easier said than done and now, many decades after the
Caribbean nations were liberated the levels of poverty are still astounding.
All you have to do is leave the grounds of your finely-manicured resort whether
in the Bahamas, St. Lucia, Jamaica (where gun and drug violence is entering
frightening levels) and of course countries known for such poverty (like the
Dominican Republic, not to mention its island-sharing neighbor Haiti) and you’ll
quickly find yourself confronted with shanty towns and slums, extant reminders
of the colonizing that still goes on (taking their land, resources, and labor
force in exchange for giving them back just enough to survive – tourists buying
7 figure vacation homes to use a few weeks a year while the locals raise their
families in corrugated steel and cinder block 1-bedrooms).
Such a financial discrepancy doesn’t leave much room for
high-level athletic training. Olympic programs are expensive, requiring
equipment expenditures ranging from GYMNASTICS (endless amounts of chalk, bars,
rings, ropes, pommels, trampolines) to SWIMMING (pools and necessary chemicals, etc...) to SHOOTING
(ammo and weaponry) to BASKETBALL (requiring a large enough population to field
6 men of freakish height and keep said athletes' straining joints and gargantuan muscles functioning properly) to the ability to not only pay an athlete to train
and travel full-time but just feeding said athlete. As such, there’s really one
event where an athlete can be properly measured by heart and determination
alone: that is, the track. Running. As long as you have a dirt road and drive,
you can be one of the greatest.
So it goes in the Caribbean. As Grenada wins its FIRST EVER
gold medal in Kirani James’ victory of the 400M (in true living analogy to the
obsession of the US, China, Russia, and the Europeans with winning as many gold
medals, the Grenadans have finally made it onto the gold board for the first
time ever) he’s followed by Dominican Republic's Luguelin Santos and Trinidad
and Tobago's Lalonde Gordon, a Caribbean sweep. That’s on top of Felix Sanchez
from the Republica Dominicana winning a gold in 400M hurdles and of course
golds for Jamaican superstars Usain Bolt (countryman Yohan Blake silvered) and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. In fact, the Caribbean nations' track and field medal count as of yesterday (a little less than halfway through the 47 track and field events) was "four gold, two silver and three bronze medals. The US count was two gold, three silver and four
bronze. European athletes are top with eight gold, six silver and five
bronze." (this quote thanks to digibet.info).
So what will this mean going forward? James says he plans on using this to help continue motivating natives to his small island country of 100,000 people best know as the location of a regime overthrow led by the US in the early 80's. Olympic medals are like luxury automobiles - once you have one, it lets the world know you've arrived, just like China's topping of the count in Beijing (and current #1 jockeying with the U.S.) is just another indicator of their emergence as the preeminent global superpower. So what does this mean for the Caribbean? Hopefully it means it'll give the average kid growing up in Trenchtown (yes, I know about this slum only from Bob Marley) hope of doing something besides drug-running or working at a hotel. And maybe this will also allow more money top flow in to other Olympic programs in these nations which, if nothing else have proven their field of athletics is as fertile as the soils the white man first came in to sow 4 or 5 centuries ago.
But one thing is certain - that if our athletes, considering their top of the line facilities, development programs, coaches, supplements, training scientists, and so on had half the heart of these Caribbean bastards, we'd be sweeping every medal.
Enjoy the closing days of the games. It's nice to be back ... well maybe not nice but it's... whatever, I'm back in the flatlands. So it goes.
- Ryan
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