The Achilles International Track and Field Society has announced the 2019 Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome Track Classic will be held at historic Swangard Stadium on Thursday, June 20.
This will be the 36th edition of this international athletic competition that honours the B.C. sprinting legend and creates the opportunity for the top Canadians to face athletes from a dozen countries around the world.
The one day competition is an important step in obtaining the critical Olympic and World Championships qualifying standards. The 2019 World Championships are set for Doha, Qatar from September 28th to October 6th in preparation to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
There is some significance that the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo will mark 56 years since North Vancouver’s Harry Winston Jerome won the 100m bronze medal in the 15th version of the Summer Olympics.
He was a talented athlete who excelled in a variety of sports, including baseball and football. But exceptional speed was his trademark and special gift, propelling him not only to success on the gridiron and baseball diamond, but also to the pinnacle of international athletics competition as one of the top sprinters of the day and one of the best to ever represent Canada.
At age 18 the North Vancouver native broke the 31-year-old Canadian record for the 220-yard sprint - held by 1928 double Olympic gold medallist Percy Williams.
A year later he emerged as an international sensation by equalling the world record for 100 metres by clocking 10.0 seconds at the Canadian Olympic Trials in Saskatoon. That effort marked the young Canadian as one of the sprinters to watch at the upcoming 1960 Summer Olympic Games in Rome.
BWhat should have been a promising Olympic debut became instead the first of many difficult trials that served as a test of the athlete's personal motto: Never Give Up.
Jerome pulled a muscle in the 100-metre semi-finals in Rome and was out of the competition. Two years later, at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia, world record holder Jerome pulled up lame and finished last in the 100-yard final.
The media lambasted him as “a quitter” even as tests confirmed he had suffered severely torn left thigh muscles that would keep him out of competition for all of 1963, with a possible prognosis of never again being able to compete.
He returned, however, in 1964 and was finally able to reap the benefit of his work, tenacity and considerable talent.
At the Summer Olympics in Tokyo Jerome earned a bronze medal in the 100-metre final, rightfully earning his spot on the Olympic podium and a respected place among the ranks of the world's fastest men.
Two days later he finished fourth in the 200 metres, confirming his place among the great sprinters of his day while finally earning some grudging respect from Canadian media that seemed to relish in judging him harshly.
Two years later Jerome won the 100 yards final at the 1966 British Commonwealth Games in Jamaica, his first gold medal at a major international Games. That year he also set a world record of 9.1 seconds over 100 yards. In 1967 he also took gold at the Pan-American Games.
In 1968 he represented Canada at his third Olympic Games - an extraordinary feat in itself given that longevity in the sport was not what doctors were predicting when he suffered his first major injury back in 1960. He finished seventh in the Olympic final at Mexico City, confirming that despite the array of physical troubles and negative press that had plagued him over the years, he never gave up.
