Dacres removes doubt with discus Gold

Photo: Fedrick Dacres won the Pan American Discus Gold medal with a throw of 64.80m on Thursday.

If there was any doubt that Jamaica has made significant strides in the field, it was completely removed on Thursday when Fedrick “Banjay” Dacres struck gold for Jamaica in the Men’s discus, to help the country to its third gold (second in the field) at the 2015 edition of the Pan American Games now on in Ontario, Canada.

On Tuesday, O’Dayne Richards won gold in the Men’s Shot Putt to earn the country’s first gold at the championships, before Sherone Simpson won the Women’s 100m to grab the second on Wednesday. But the country that is regarded as the sprint capital of the world has now come of age in the field, with the current world leader in the Men’s discus being Jamaica’s self styled Jason “Dadz” Morgan.

Though not his furthest throw of the season, Dacres secured the gold with a distance of 64.80m, which will no doubt boost his confidence, ahead of his first Senior World Championships in Beijing, China, next month.

While Dacres was winning gold his teammate Roxroy Cato secured the bronze medal in the Men’s 400m hurdles in a season best time of 48.72s. The gold was won by Jeffery Gibson of the Bahamas (48.51) and Javier Coulson of Puerto Rico (48.67) finished second, Leford Green (49.42) placed 6th in the race.

The outstanding Jamaican performances continued in the sprints when Rasheed Dwyer broke the 44 year old 200m record of 19.86s held by fellow countryman Donald Quarrie, when he stopped the clock at 19.80 in semifinal 1.