Kaliese Spencer .... tremendous improvement in 400m.

It's the year of the Olympics and Jamaica's athletes have been on a high since the start of the outdoor track and field season.

Two athletes who should be key members of the national team to the August 8-24 Beijing Olympics are currently number one in the world in their events while a number of others are in the top 10.

Dorian Scott has a world-leading 21.45 metres in the shot put. His national record throw on March 28 in Tallahassee, Florida, makes him the only Jamaican shot putter to go over 21.0m. Scott may have to throw a lot further to get gold in the Olympics but 21.45m would have earned him a bronze medal at last year's World Championships in Osaka. He is getting stronger and stronger and could earn Jamaica's first medal in this event at the Olympic level when he competes in Beijing.

Kerron Stewart is also the world leader in the women's 200 metres with a best of 22.35 seconds while the gold medallist from Athens, Veronica Campbell-Brown, is number three on the list with 22.66.

Former Vere Technical student Simone Facey, now at Texas A&M University in the United States, is third on the list in the women's 100m with a personal-best 11.11. Trinidad and Tobago's Kelly-Ann Baptiste leads the way with 11.06.

In the 400m, Kaliese Spencer clocked an impressive personal-best 50.55 at the weekend in California to be number two in the world behind the Jamaican-born American Sanya Richards with 50.47. Sherone Simpson, who is returning to form after an injury-plagued 2007, is fourth on the list with 51.25.

Spencer has shown tremendous improvement in the one-lap event as her previous best was 51.56. The 2006 World Junior 400m hurdles champion should now be able to command a place on Jamaica's 4x400m team and be a major force in her pet event. Her performance also underlines the quality of coach Stephen Francis at the MVP Track Club where Spencer is a member.

Also highly rated in their events are Usain Bolt who is at number three in the 100m with 10.03 and world record holder Asafa Powell, whose 10.04 puts him at number four. Trinidad and Tobago's Richard Thompson is the fastest man so far with a 10.00 clocking. In the men's 200m Nesta Carter's personal-best 20.38 at the recent University of Technology 50th anniversary meet is at number four, behind Churandy Martina of the Netherlands Antilles who leads with 20.17.

One Jamaican, Ricardo Chambers (45.35), also features in the top 10 of the 400m where American World Champion Jeremy Wariner leads with 44.56.

Another event in which Jamaica could prove very competitive is the men's 400m hurdles. Adrian Findlay is now number three in the world with a best of 48.93 behind world leader, American Bershawn Jackson, with 48.32.

The times in most events should get better and better as the season progresses. In fact, at next weekend's Jamaica International Invitational meet at the National Stadium there should be a number of world-leading performances by athletes such as Tyson Gay in the 200m, Richards in the women's 400m and Campbell-Brown in the women's 200m. The clash between Usain Bolt and Wallace Spearmon in the 100m could also produce a time below 10 seconds.

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