Jackson, Grace (1961—)

Jamaican track and field athlete. Born on June 14, 1961, in St. Ann, Jamaica; educated in Jamaican public schools; attended Alabama A&M and conducted graduate studies at Queens College in New York City.

Won the silver medal in the 200-meters in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea.

Born in the Jamaican village of St. Ann on June 14, 1961, Grace Jackson demonstrated a strong interest in athletics as well as considerable ability at an early age. Encouraged during her school years, she began her formal training after winning an athletic scholarship to Alabama A&M. She later enrolled in graduate studies in computer science at Queens College, New York City, while running as a member of the Atoms Track Club of Brooklyn. According to Jackson, it was there that she matured into a serious competitive runner; prior to Brooklyn, "If my coach said, 'You can take a week off,' I'd take a week off.… Now if he says, 'You can take a week off,' I know that means, 'You can come in and jog.'"

In 1988, competing in London at the International Amateur Athletic Federation Mobil Grand Prix track and field meet, Jackson turned in a time of 22.40 seconds to win the women's 200-meter run. She also beat Cuba's Ana Quirot in the 400-meter run with a time of 49.57 seconds, the second-best time recorded worldwide for that race during 1988. At the Olympics that year in Seoul, South Korea, Jackson won the silver medal in the 200-meters with a time of 21.72, just behind gold medalist Florence Griffith Joyner 's time of 21.34.

sources:

The New York Times Biographical Service. March 1984.

Page, James A. Black Olympian Medalists. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1991.

Don Amerman , freelance writer, Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania