News Americas, LONDON, England, Fri. Aug. 10, 2012: South American giant, Brazil, and Caribbean sprint factory, Jamaica, are in the lead of the Latin America, Caribbean medal count at the 30th Olympiad in London, England.
Brazil, which hosts the 2016 Olympics, as of Thursday, August 9th, had a total of 11 medals with two gold, two silver and seven bronze. The gold medals are for judo and gymnastics while the silver medals were earned in the swimming and beach volley ball categories. The seven bronze medals were earned by the athletes competing in judo, sailing, swimming, boxing and beach volley ball.
Jamaica leads for the Caribbean with nine medals, earned largely by the world’s fastest man, Usain St. Leo Bolt, who made history by retaining not just the title of world’s fastest man by winning the 100-meters but grabbing the win in the men’s 200-m on August 9th as well.
Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce, who also re-claimed her 100-m gold medal and added a silver in the women’s 200-m on Wednesday, adds to that tally along with Yohan Blake, who scored silver in both the men’s 100 and 200-meters.
Jamaica now has three golds, three silvers and three bronze medals. Former 200-m record holder, Veronica Campbell Brown has one of the bronze medals while Warren Weir and Hansel Parchement grabbed the other two.
Cuba is second in the Caribbean and Latin America with 8 medals, including three gold, three silver and two bronze while Colombia has six – three silver and three bronze.
Mexico has five but no gold medals. The Dominican Republic has two, one of which is a gold, while there is one apiece for Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Guatemala and Argentina. Grenada’s one medal is a gold, earned by the historic win in the men’s 400-m of 19-year-old Kirani James.
With the relays set to begin today, August 10th, it is highly anticipated that the Caribbean region will add to its medal total before the end of the games on August 12th.
