Danielle Dowie of Jamaica (© Getty Images)
If there is one thing Jamaica’s 400m Hurdles silver medallist, Danielle Dowie, will take away from Italy, is how to adopt in various environments.
Dowie picked up silver in the girls’ 400m Hurdles on Saturday’s penultimate day, running 58.62 to finish behind Russian Vera Rudakova, who recorded a World Youth leading 57.83.
“One of the things I learnt is you have to adopt in everybody’s environment, especially with the food and the climate change,” explained Dowie, who was also a silver medalist at the Carifta Games, the Caribbean’s top meet for juniors, in April.
Apart from winning the silver medal, Dowie said another of her highlights in Italy is “as Jamaican everybody is watching you, so you feel like a star sometimes”.
Like many others, Dowie wants to become a professional in the sport and in her drive to achieve such status, she is already using Olympics 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser as her role model.
Fraser grew up in Waterhouse, an inter-city community in Kingston, but went on to Wolmer’s Girls’ school, one of Jamaica’s top High Schools then University of Technology where she was coached to Olympics stardom.
“To know where she is coming from and the way she takes her training, that is the way I want to be ... she is one of those persons who when they set their mind to something, they go for it,” said Dowie, the 2008 Carifta Games Under-17 300m hurdles champion.
“She is such a good inspiration, a good role model for someone to follow,” added Dowie, who left Titchfield High in Portland to attend Wolmer’s.
In order to achieve Fraser’s success in the sport, Dowie is aware of task ahead. “Every year I accomplished something, I said I am going to work harder and this year is no different.
Dowie, who also admires Olympics 400m hurdles champion, Melaine Walker and Usain Bolt, winner of the sprint double in Beijing, in world record times, was not too pleased with her silver medal.
“I don’t feel happy, but it’s still a medal and I have to be thankful. It’s also the first step,” added the third place winner at Jamaica’s High School Championships in April.
Anthony Foster for the IAAF
