Olympians Cheered By Jamaicans During Motorcade

Amid a festive atmosphere of cheers and joyous shouts, with throngs of persons clamouring to embrace them or shake their hands, members of Jamaica’s Olympic team were warmly greeted by their countrymen and women at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, yesterday (October 14).
The athletes, numbering 35 Olympians and four Paralympians, were at the airport to take part in a motorcade, which would see them travelling along a planned route through the streets of Kingston to meet Jamaicans who had thrown enthusiastic support behind them and rejoiced in their medal hauls at the Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
In recognition of the athletic victories of the island’s sportsmen and women, the Government of Jamaica is hosting a series of celebratory events to honour them, the motorcade being the first.
Arriving on a flight from Miami, several of the athletes, including gold medallist, Veronica Campbell and swimming star, Janelle Atkinson met with other athletes already in the island, in the VIP lounge.
Speaking with JIS News on her arrival, Veronica Campbell said she felt honoured by the Government’s move to publicly celebrate the national team’s victory.
“I am happy that I was able to make my entire country proud, as well as myself, my coach and all my family, so I am very overwhelmed,” Miss Campbell said.
For her immediate future, the gold medallist said she would “stay healthy, continue to do well, and try to see if I can motivate a lot of the youth growing up, so they can strive for whatever they want in life”.
Meanwhile, Minister of Local Government, Community and Sport, Portia Simpson Miller told JIS News that it was fitting that the Olympians were being feted “when we are looking forward to celebrating our heritage and remembering our Heroes”.
Minister Simpson Miller noted that an important element of the medal haul by the athletes was that “their spirit will ignite a fire in the spirit of a number of young Jamaicans”, who will aspire to achieve similar greatness, in their own endeavours.
The athletes departed the airport for an almost three-hour trek around Kingston, with Jamaicans waving and hollering to them on the flatbed trailers they stood on.
The motorcade culminated at the National Stadium with a cultural presentation, hosted by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson.