Jamaica at the 2008 Summer Olympics
| Jamaica at the 2008 Summer Olympics |
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| IOC code | JAM | ||||||||
| NOC | Jamaica Olympic Association | ||||||||
| Website | www |
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| in Beijing | |||||||||
| Competitors | 50 in 4 sports | ||||||||
| Flag bearer | Veronica Campbell-Brown | ||||||||
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Medals Ranked 15th |
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| Summer Olympics appearances (overview) | |||||||||
| Other related appearances | |||||||||
 British West Indies (1960) |
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Jamaica sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, People's Republic of China from August 8 to August 24, 2008. This was, by far, Jamaica's best showing at the Summer Olympics; it was the nation's largest delegation yet, and its athletes nearly doubled its total gold medal count in addition to breaking the nation's record for number of medals earned in a single games. Jamaica's appearance at Beijing was its fifteenth consecutive appearance and appearance as an independent nation, although it had previously participated in four other games (including its 1948 debut) as a British colony and as part of the West Indies Federation. In the 29 events that included Jamaican athletes, there were 26 cases in which a Jamaican athlete or relay progressed to a final round. Usain Bolt won three of Jamaica's six gold medals at Beijing, breaking an Olympic and world record in all three of the events in which he participated. Shelly-Ann Fraser led an unprecedented Jamaican sweep of the medals in the Women's 100 m. Female sprinter Veronica Campbell-Brown carried Jamaica's flag at the ceremonies.
Jamaica is a large island with approximately 2.8 million residents that lies in the northern Caribbean Sea. Lying to the south of Cuba and to the southwest of the countries on Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), the island was originally colonized by the Spanish Empire until the British seized control of the island in 1655. Jamaica first competed as a British colony at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, England, and competed at the next two Summer Olympics under the same auspices of the British Empire. The colony joined Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados in 1958 to form the West Indies Federation,competing jointly with those nations at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy. Jamaica later withdrew from the West Indies Federation, declaring complete independence from Great Britain in 1962, And participated as an independent nation for the first time at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Between 1964 and 2008, the Caribbean nation sent delegations to all twelve Summer Olympic games, in addition to five Winter Olympic games.
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