Yohan Blake
Encyclopedia
Yohan Blake is a Jamaican sprinter
and the current 100 metre World Champion. He holds the national junior record for the 100 metres
, and tied Seun Ogunkoya
as the youngest sprinter to have broken the 10-second barrier
(at 19 years, 197 days). Blake's personal best of 9.82 seconds makes him the fourth fastest Jamaican runner, after Nesta Carter
, Asafa Powell
and Usain Bolt
. His fastest run under any conditions is 9.80 seconds in May 2011 in Kingston, but the wind assistance
(+2.2 m/s) was over the legal limit. He is coached by Glen Mills
, and is training partners with Bolt and Daniel Bailey
. On September 16, 2011 in Brussels, Belgium, he won in a time of 19.26 seconds, the second fastest 200 m ever.
in Spanish Town
.
held in the Turks and Caicos islands
where he also won the 200 metres
and led his team to record breaking runs in the 4 × 400 metres relay and 4 × 100 metres relay.
Blake won the 100 metres "B" race at the 2009 Reebok Grand Prix
. His exploits at the Golden Gala
in July represented a significant improvement. He proved himself to be a serious competitor at the senior level: he took third place behind Tyson Gay
and Asafa Powell
and improved his personal best with a 10-second barrier
-breaking run of 9.96 seconds, becoming the youngest athlete ever to do so. He improved to 9.93 seconds shortly after, taking third place behind training partners Bolt and Daniel Bailey
at the Meeting Areva.
Prior to the 2009 World Championships
, Blake (along with Marvin Anderson
and Sheri-Ann Brooks
) tested positive for the stimulant 4-Methyl-2-hexanamine. A disciplinary panel organised by the Jamaican Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) cleared him of a doping infraction on the grounds that the drug was not on the World Anti-Doping Agency
's banned list. However, JADCO appealed their own panel's ruling, stating that the athlete should be disciplined as the drug was similar in structure to the banned substance tuaminoheptane
. As the panel would resolve the issue after the World Championships, the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association
took the precaution of withdrawing Blake from the relay race
. The appeals tribunal decided that a ban would be appropriate, and Blake and the three other sprinters each received a three month ban from competition.
At the 2011 World Championships
, Blake comfortably made the final. Following the disqualification of compatriot Usain Bolt
, Blake won the Gold medal in a time of 9.92s. Alongside Bolt and other Jamaican teammates in Daegu
, Blake won the 4×100 m relay final and broke the world record (set by the Jamaican team at the Beijing Olympics in 2008) with a time of 37.04 seconds.
At the 2011 IAAF Diamond League meeting in Zurich, Blake beat Asafa Powell
in the 100 m with a personal best of 9.82 seconds. The following week in Brussels
, Blake set a 2011 world leading time in the 200m with a personal best of 19.26 seconds, the second fastest time of all-time of the event with an improvement of more than half of a second (0.52 s) from his previous best 19.78 s set in Monaco in 2010.
Sprint (race)
Sprints are short running events in athletics and track and field. Races over short distances are among the oldest running competitions. The first 13 editions of the Ancient Olympic Games featured only one event—the stadion race, which was a race from one end of the stadium to the other...
and the current 100 metre World Champion. He holds the national junior record for the 100 metres
100 metres
The 100 metres, or 100-metre dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, it is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896...
, and tied Seun Ogunkoya
Seun Ogunkoya
Seun Ogunkoya is a Nigerian sprinter and two-time African Championships gold medalist over 100 metres.-Career peak:He was born in Akure and is a cousin of Falilat Ogunkoya. He improved his personal bests from 10.43 seconds in 1995 to 10.15 seconds in April 1996 in Makurdi, at the 10th National...
as the youngest sprinter to have broken the 10-second barrier
10-second barrier
The 10-second barrier is a term used in track and field athletics which refers to the physical and psychological barrier of completing the men's 100 metres sprint in under ten seconds...
(at 19 years, 197 days). Blake's personal best of 9.82 seconds makes him the fourth fastest Jamaican runner, after Nesta Carter
Nesta Carter
Nesta Carter O.D is a Jamaican sprinter, who specialises in the 100 metres event. In August 2010 he became only the fifth sprinter to ever run the 100 metres in less than 9.8 seconds....
, Asafa Powell
Asafa Powell
Asafa Powell C.D is a Jamaican sprinter who specialises in the 100 metres. He held the 100 m world record between June 2005 and May 2008, with times of 9.77 and 9.74 seconds respectively. Powell has consistently broken the 10-second barrier in competition, with his personal best of...
and Usain Bolt
Usain Bolt
The Honourable Usain St. Leo Bolt, OJ, C.D. , is a Jamaican sprinter and a five-time World and three-time Olympic gold medalist. He is the world record and Olympic record holder in the 100 metres, the 200 metres and the 4×100 metres relay...
. His fastest run under any conditions is 9.80 seconds in May 2011 in Kingston, but the wind assistance
Wind assistance
Wind assistance is a term in track and field, which refers to the wind level during a race or event as registered by a wind gauge. Wind is one of many forms of weather which can affect sport....
(+2.2 m/s) was over the legal limit. He is coached by Glen Mills
Glen Mills
Glen Mills C.D is a sprinting athletics coach from Jamaica. He was the head coach of the Jamaican Olympic athletics team between 1987 and 2009. He is currently head coach of the Racers Track Club which includes world and Olympic record holder Usain Bolt and the 100 metre World Champion Yohan Blake...
, and is training partners with Bolt and Daniel Bailey
Daniel Bailey
Daniel Everton Bailey is a male sprinter from Antigua and Barbuda who specialises in the 100 metres. He carried the flag for his native country at the opening ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics and was a 100 m semi-finalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.He came to prominence in 2009 with a...
. On September 16, 2011 in Brussels, Belgium, he won in a time of 19.26 seconds, the second fastest 200 m ever.
Early life
Born in St. James, Jamaica, Blake is the son of Veda and Shirley Blake. He attended St. Jago High SchoolSt. Jago High School
St Jago High School in Spanish Town, St Catherine, Jamaica, founded in 1744, is one of the oldest, continuously operated schools in the Western Hemisphere...
in Spanish Town
Spanish Town
Spanish Town is the capital and the largest town in the parish of St. Catherine in the county of Middlesex, Jamaica. It was the former Spanish and English capital of Jamaica from the 16th to the 19th century...
.
Career
Blake set the fastest time by a Jamaican junior sprinter over 100 m with 10.11 seconds. The record was set at the CARIFTA GamesCARIFTA Games
For the CARIFTA swimming meet, please see: CARIFTA Swimming Championships.The CARIFTA Games is an annual athletics competition founded by the Caribbean Free Trade Association . The games was first held in 1972 and consists of track and field events including sprint races, hurdles,...
held in the Turks and Caicos islands
Turks and Caicos Islands
The Turks and Caicos Islands are a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union consisting of two groups of tropical islands in the Caribbean, the larger Caicos Islands and the smaller Turks Islands, known for tourism and as an offshore financial centre.The Turks and...
where he also won the 200 metres
200 metres
A 200 metres race is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 m track, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques are needed to successfully run the race. A slightly shorter race, called the stadion and run on a straight track, was the first...
and led his team to record breaking runs in the 4 × 400 metres relay and 4 × 100 metres relay.
Blake won the 100 metres "B" race at the 2009 Reebok Grand Prix
Reebok Grand Prix
The Adidas Grand Prix, formerly the Reebok Grand Prix, is an annual athletics meeting at the Icahn Stadium in New York City, United States. Previously one of the IAAF Grand Prix events, it is now part of the IAAF Diamond League.-World records:...
. His exploits at the Golden Gala
Golden Gala
Golden Gala is an annual track and field event at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, Italy. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the IAAF Diamond League.-History:...
in July represented a significant improvement. He proved himself to be a serious competitor at the senior level: he took third place behind Tyson Gay
Tyson Gay
Tyson Gay is an American track and field sprinter. His primary events are the 100 meters and 200 meters. His personal bests establish him as the second fastest athlete in the 100 meters and the fifth fastest athlete in the history of the 200 meters, with times of 9.69 and...
and Asafa Powell
Asafa Powell
Asafa Powell C.D is a Jamaican sprinter who specialises in the 100 metres. He held the 100 m world record between June 2005 and May 2008, with times of 9.77 and 9.74 seconds respectively. Powell has consistently broken the 10-second barrier in competition, with his personal best of...
and improved his personal best with a 10-second barrier
10-second barrier
The 10-second barrier is a term used in track and field athletics which refers to the physical and psychological barrier of completing the men's 100 metres sprint in under ten seconds...
-breaking run of 9.96 seconds, becoming the youngest athlete ever to do so. He improved to 9.93 seconds shortly after, taking third place behind training partners Bolt and Daniel Bailey
Daniel Bailey
Daniel Everton Bailey is a male sprinter from Antigua and Barbuda who specialises in the 100 metres. He carried the flag for his native country at the opening ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics and was a 100 m semi-finalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.He came to prominence in 2009 with a...
at the Meeting Areva.
Prior to the 2009 World Championships
2009 World Championships in Athletics
The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg Gate....
, Blake (along with Marvin Anderson
Marvin Anderson
Marvin Anderson is a Jamaican sprint athlete.He finished sixth in the 200m final at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka where he also won a silver medal in the 4×100m relay team for Jamaica. He is a former student of Duncans All Age and William Knibb Memorial High School.Anderson represented...
and Sheri-Ann Brooks
Sheri-Ann Brooks
Sheri-Ann Brooks is a Jamaican sprinter, who specializes in the 100 metres.Brooks represented the Jamaica at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. She competed at the 4 x 100 metres relay together with Shelly-Ann Fraser, Aleen Bailey and Veronica Campbell-Brown...
) tested positive for the stimulant 4-Methyl-2-hexanamine. A disciplinary panel organised by the Jamaican Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) cleared him of a doping infraction on the grounds that the drug was not on the World Anti-Doping Agency
World Anti-Doping Agency
The World Anti-Doping Agency , , is an independent foundation created through a collective initiative led by the International Olympic Committee . It was set up on November 10, 1999 in Lausanne, Switzerland, as a result of what was called the "Declaration of Lausanne", to promote, coordinate and...
's banned list. However, JADCO appealed their own panel's ruling, stating that the athlete should be disciplined as the drug was similar in structure to the banned substance tuaminoheptane
Tuaminoheptane
Tuaminoheptane is a nasal decongestant drug which is a sympathomimetic stimulant and vasoconstrictor. However, it can cause skin irritation, which limits its usefulness as a nasal decongestant...
. As the panel would resolve the issue after the World Championships, the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association
Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association
- Jamaica Administrative Athletic Association :The Jamaica Administrative Athletic Association is an amateur athletics association based in Kingston, Jamaica. The current president of the association is Howard Aris....
took the precaution of withdrawing Blake from the relay race
Relay race
During a relay race, members of a team take turns running, orienteering, swimming, cross-country skiing, biathlon, or ice skating parts of a circuit or performing a certain action. Relay races take the form of professional races and amateur games...
. The appeals tribunal decided that a ban would be appropriate, and Blake and the three other sprinters each received a three month ban from competition.
At the 2011 World Championships
2011 World Championships in Athletics
The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011....
, Blake comfortably made the final. Following the disqualification of compatriot Usain Bolt
Usain Bolt
The Honourable Usain St. Leo Bolt, OJ, C.D. , is a Jamaican sprinter and a five-time World and three-time Olympic gold medalist. He is the world record and Olympic record holder in the 100 metres, the 200 metres and the 4×100 metres relay...
, Blake won the Gold medal in a time of 9.92s. Alongside Bolt and other Jamaican teammates in Daegu
Daegu
Daegu , also known as Taegu, and officially the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea, the fourth largest after Seoul, Busan, and Incheon, and the third largest metropolitan area in the country with over 2.5 million residents. The city is the capital and principal city of the...
, Blake won the 4×100 m relay final and broke the world record (set by the Jamaican team at the Beijing Olympics in 2008) with a time of 37.04 seconds.
At the 2011 IAAF Diamond League meeting in Zurich, Blake beat Asafa Powell
Asafa Powell
Asafa Powell C.D is a Jamaican sprinter who specialises in the 100 metres. He held the 100 m world record between June 2005 and May 2008, with times of 9.77 and 9.74 seconds respectively. Powell has consistently broken the 10-second barrier in competition, with his personal best of...
in the 100 m with a personal best of 9.82 seconds. The following week in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Blake set a 2011 world leading time in the 200m with a personal best of 19.26 seconds, the second fastest time of all-time of the event with an improvement of more than half of a second (0.52 s) from his previous best 19.78 s set in Monaco in 2010.
Personal bests
| Event | Time (seconds) | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 metres 60 metres 60 metres is a sprint event in track and field athletics. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At outdoor venues it is a rare distance, at least for senior athletes... |
6.75 | Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the... , New York New York New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east... , United States |
1 February 2008 |
| 100 metres 100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-metre dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, it is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896... |
9.82 | Zurich Zürich Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich... , Switzerland |
8 September 2011 |
| 200 metres 200 metres A 200 metres race is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 m track, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques are needed to successfully run the race. A slightly shorter race, called the stadion and run on a straight track, was the first... |
19.26 | Brussels Brussels Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union... , Belgium Belgium Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many... |
16 September 2011 |
- All information taken from IAAF profile
Achievements
| 2005 | World Youth Championships 2005 World Youth Championships in Athletics The 2005 World Youth Championships in Athletics is the 2005 version of the World Youth Championships in Athletics. It was held in Marrakesh, Morocco.The host stadium was Stade Sidi Youssef Ben Ali.-Boys:-Girls:-Medals table:... |
Marrakech Marrakech Marrakech or Marrakesh , known as the "Ochre city", is the most important former imperial city in Morocco's history... , Morocco Morocco Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara... |
7th | 100 m | |
| 2006 | World Junior Championships 2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics is the 2006 version of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held from 15 August to 20 August at the Chaoyang Sports Center in Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China.... |
Beijing Beijing Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's... , China |
3rd | 100 m | |
| 1st | 4x100 m relay | ||||
| 2008 | World Junior Championships 2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics is the 2008 version of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held in Bydgoszcz in Poland at the Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak Stadium between 8 and 13 July 2008.... |
Bydgoszcz, Poland Poland Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north... |
4th | 100 m | |
| 2nd | 4x100 m relay | ||||
| 2011 | World Championships 2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011.... |
Daegu Daegu Daegu , also known as Taegu, and officially the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea, the fourth largest after Seoul, Busan, and Incheon, and the third largest metropolitan area in the country with over 2.5 million residents. The city is the capital and principal city of the... , South Korea South Korea The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south... |
1st | 100 m | 9.92 2011 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 100 metres The men's 100 metres at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Daegu Stadium on August 27 and August 28. The event was won by Yohan Blake of Jamaica, who became the youngest ever world champion in the 100 metres at . The highly favored defending champion and world record... |
- National Junior Championships: 2006 (1st, 100 m & 200 m)
- CAC Junior Championships: 2006 (1st, 100 m)
External links
- Jamaican flavor – Yohan Blake showcases speed, talent at Penn Relays SI.com, May 1, 2007
- Do You know Yohan Blake Windies Sports, March 29, 2008