NADINE PALMER - the next Merlene Ottey

Merrick Andrews, Staff Reporter

ASTHMA did not stop Nadine Palmer from reaching her goal. Though she fell at the finish line many times at inter-house athletics meets, her determination drove her to become one of the top junior athletes in the island and the Caribbean today.

Palmer who broke the Under-17 100 metre record by clocking 11.37 at the recent Carifta Games in Grenada, suffered from asthma while attending Craighead All Age School. Currently a student at Holmwood Technical, her illness still affects her sometimes.

"I always thought about running at Craighead, I did try run but I was asthmatic," said Palmer who now lives in Fine Grass, Christiana.

"I used to run at Craighead's sports day in the 400 metre but I always fell. My asthma acted up on me at the end of races," she added.

She was so sick that when coach of Holmwood Maurice Wilson had her undergo a fitness test to recruit her to the school, he refused to take her.

"After she had undergone the test I was not going to take her because she was too sickly. I feared that if I took her something would go wrong, but because she expressed disappointment I decided to take her."

Today Wilson does not regret his decision, as Palmer improved in every major race.

In her first appearance for Holmwood at the 1998 Girls Championships, she was second in the Class 3 100m (12.03) and third in the 200m (25.04).

Last year in her debut for Jamaica at the Carifta Games in Martinique, despite an injury caused by a minor car accident, she finished third in the Under-17 100 metres final in 12.33 seconds.

Prior to her debut last year, she mined bronze in both the class 2 100 metres (11.68) and the 200m final (24.27) at the newly combined Boys' and Girls' Championships.

"Her first outing for Holmwood was at the Kirkvine meet where she ran the 100 and the 200. She finished way down, I don't remember what she finished," Wilson stated.

"Basically after that it was a building phase. What I tried to do was to run her on the shorter distances because she was asthmatic. I had her concentrate on the 100m and she came on well as the season progressed."

Palmer, 17, who shattered two records at this year Boys' and Girls' Champs in the class 2 100m (11.50) and the 200m (23.50), says Merlene Ottey is her favourite athlete.

"I always admired Merlene Ottey. I want to be on top like her," she said.

Wilson in describing Palmer's attitude towards training and academics, said: "Basically she is a very trying girl. If she decides to go abroad she could enter division one or a division two because she has a good attitude and commitment towards her training and academics."

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