Jonathan Williams made Belizean history on Friday when he advanced to the semi-finals
of the 400 metre hurdles at the Beijing Olympics, the first time any Belizean
runner had gone fast the first round in 40 years at the games. But that was
as far as he would get. On Saturday the 24 year old Williams ran the same time
of 49.64 seconds – and while that was good enough to get him qualified
for the semi-finals, he needed to be about a second faster to get to the final.
He wasn’t and that was the end of his Olympic run.
The result is much the same for Jayson Jones. He ran his qualifying heat in
the men’s 200 meter on Monday morning in Beijing, which was Sunday night
in Belize. He ran the race in 21.54 seconds and came in 6th of the 7 who completed
the race.
With that, he failed to qualify and that also ends his Olympic bid. He does
so with some controversy as the 31 year old’s mother had made a public
flap about the Belizean Athletic Association not providing him with a new uniform
for the Olympics. That claim was flatly denied by the vice president who called
him a problematic athlete.
Both Jonathan Williams and Jayson Jones are born in the United States with
a Belizean parent or parents. Tricia Flores is the next Belizean to compete.
Her sport is the long jump and that is scheduled for 9:40 am, Beijing time,
which is about 2 and a half hours from now.