JAAA Sports man/woman of 2011

There was little surprise as Jermaine Gonzales and Veronica Campbell Brown were named 2010 Male and Female Athletes of the Year at the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA) Golden Cleats Awards at the Terra Nova All Suite Hotel yesterday.

Jermaine Gonzales

An obviously astonished former World 400-metre champion Bert Cameron was crowned Coach of the Year for guiding Gonzales in what has proved to be the most successful year of the athlete’s professional career so far.

Gonzales, who won a World Junior Championships bronze medal in 2002, became Jamaica’s fastest quarter-miler in 2010 after breaking Roxbert Martin’s 13-year-old mark (44.89secs), lowering it to 44.40 at the IAAF Monaco Diamond League meet on July 22.

This came after a remarkable year which started with a 46.71-seconds clocking in his season opener at the Camperdown Classic in February, to 45.22 at the Jamaica International Invitational in May, to 44.72 in Lausanne on July 8, and 44.63 in Paris-St Denis on July 16.

The slender runner ended the season as the second fastest man over the distance behind 2009 World Championships silver medallist Jeremy Wariner of the United States.

“Nobody has been doing well over the past couple of years and I know that Jamaica appreciates the great work that I’ve been doing. I just want to say thanks. It’s good when you work hard and people appreciate it, so I’m feeling really good,” Gonzales told the Observer.

He topped sprinters Nesta Carter, Yohan Blake and double world record-holder Usain Bolt for the award.

Campbell Brown’s prize capped an outstanding 2010 in which she added the World Indoor 60m title in Doha, Qatar to her cadre of IAAF World Championships and Olympic accolades.

In addition, she set world-leading times of 10.78 in the 100 and 21.98 seconds in the 200 and remained unbeaten all season in the longer event.

Read more –  Jamaica Observer