Olympic - Haiti Observer Blog

Jeffrey Julmis was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., though he has deep Haitian roots.

His parents - Jackson Julmis and Nicole Jean-Pierre - are native Haitians. The young man who has never lived in Haiti is proud to represent his country of origin. On his official website, Jeffrey says, "I had my choice of countries to represent between the United States and Haiti. Since I was a kid, I always said if I get to the Olympics, I want to represent Haiti. I'm proud to be Haitian."

Jeffrey Julmis has been shortlisted to represent Haiti in the upcoming Olympics that are in London, where he will be running the 110m hurdles race. He will join other Haitian athletes in France to attend a training camp and participate in several European competitions of qualification for the London Games.

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Edrick Floreal, a former long and triple jumper, born on October 5, 1966, in Gonaives, Haiti, is a naturalized citizen of Canada.

As a track and field athlete, he competed at two successive Summer Olympics, representing Canada. At the 1988 Summer Olympics, he competed in the Triple Jump qualifying round, finishing in 18th place; and in the 1992 Summer Olympics, he placed 28th in the qualifying round for the Long Jump.

Edrick Floreal greatest success as a track star occurred, when he competed for the NCAA Track and Field Championships, while at the University of Arkansas, a school known for excellence in jumping. He won, both in the Indoor and Outdoor Triple Jump, winning Indoor Championships in 1989 and 1990, and Outdoor Championships in 1988, 1989, and 1990.
Floreal now directs the Track and Field Program at Stanford University, and is wed to another track star, LaVonna Martin-Floreal, who earned an Olympic Silver Medal in the 100-meter Hurdles event, in 1992. Floreal's most recent honor was being named the "2010 Indoor West Regional Coach of the Year", a recognition bestowed upon him by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

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Jean-Thenistor Pascal, a Haitian-Canadian professional boxer, was born on October 28, 1982, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. At the age of four, Pascal moved with his mother and brother to Laval, Quebec. During his pre-teen years, he played hockey and soccer, but changed course when his older brother won the 1996 Quebec Boxing Championship. Now Pascal started working out at Club Champions St-Michael gym, under trainer Sylvain Gagnon, who saw Pascal's potential as a champion boxer.

At the 2004 Summer Olympics, Jean Pascal fought for Canada in the Light Middleweight category. He turned pro on February 3, 2005, beating his opponent, Justin Hahn, in a round two TKO. Pascal competed for the national Super Middleweight title and won the match in a round seven KO. He won another three Super Middleweight titles in the Trans American Boxing, WBC Latino, and WBO NABO events. Pascal competed in NABF National Championships, winning against Christian Cruz with a round ten TKO, which burnished Pascal's image as Canada's premier Super Middleweight.

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Finishing in 6th position in the men's triple jump, in group A on Tuesday, August 7, 2012, Samyr Laine with a triple jump of 16.81 meters his personal best is 17.39 meters and his best jump for the season 16.88 meters. Samyr Laine is now qualified for the final of Triple Jump.

He is currently 15th in the world rankings in the triple jump. Haiti has never been represented at this level since Sylvio Cator won a silver medal in the long jump in the 1928 Summer Olympic.

This is a declaration by Samyr Laine after his successful jump at the Olympic:

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In the 2012 Summer Olympics currently being held in London, Haiti has been able to produce five Olympians in hopes that they will be able to bring international fame and pride to the country.

One of these Olympians is the 28-year-old Samyr Laine, a friend and former roommate of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg while studying at Harvard. Aside from his Summer Olympic gig, Laine is planning on creating a non-profit organization called the Jump for Haiti Foundation that caters to producing future Haitian Olympians. He plans to do this through several camps and clinics and acquiring the needed funding from his friends, including Zuckerberg.

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Haiti struggles on many fronts to raise its profile on the world stage. Progress is happening, but one area that needs funding to achieve recognition is the development of native-born Haitian athletes. At this year's 2012 Olympic London games, four Haitian-Americans are competing for gold. The fifth Olympian, Haiti's only native-born competitor, is 21 year-old Linouse Desravine, competing in the Judoka Event.

One of the barriers to developing Olympic-level athletes from Haiti, is the 2010 earthquake. Thousands of earthquake refugees found shelter at three of Haiti's running tracks. Another problem is the budget. The U.S. Olympic Committee budget is a whopping $170 million, 300% more than Haiti's, a mere $400,000.

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One of the most promising and rising young judokas today is Haitian Linouse Desravines. The 21-year-old is the only judoka to have qualified for the upcoming London 2012 Olympics this July. This is very remarkable for her young age and her judo training of just four years. Desravines currently ranks number 28 in the world in her weight class, weighing around 52 kilograms. In addition, she has also been named Haiti's Athlete of the Year last 2011.

Linouse Desravines was introduced to judo in 2008 by her brother who was a national judo champion. After only a few years of training, she has been able to win several nation and international judo tournaments such as the bronze title in the Pan American Games in 2011 which was held in Guadalajara.

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Linouse Desravines book her ticket for London Summer Olympic 2012 scheduled between July and August in this year. She is the only Haitian athlete to make her place for the London competition in judo. Linouse will compete in 52 kg category in the Olympic.

Four other Haitian athletes also received their tickets for the upcoming Olympic. However, all of them will compete in athletics. Moise Joseph will participate in 800 m competition, Marleine Wesh in 400 m, Samyr Laine in triple jump and Jeffrey Julmis in 110m/hurdles. In addition, there are still hopes for four other Haitians to join the Summer Olympic in London. Josué Louis, Pascale Delaunay, Jonathan Juin and Roody Monrose are still going through qualilfication round which will end in the middle of July to book their place in London Olympic.

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London, England is hosting the Summer 2012 Olympic Games, which will run from Friday, July 27th to Sunday, August 12th. Haiti has a total of nine representatives, five of whom have already qualified to compete in the 30th Olympiad.

Competing for the Gold in Field and Track is Marleine Wesh, who will run in the 400 m Event. Though not as taxing as the 800 m race, the 400 m demands a strong sense of timing to gain enough momentum during the crucial mid-way point, and to avoid over-taxing mental and physical energy during the last 100 meters.

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Marleine Wesh has been confirmed to participate in the Summer Olympic which is going to start on July 27, 2007 in London. Ex-Landstown sprinter Marline will compete in 400 meters for Haiti. The Haitian-American has recently been in tremendous form in track which earned her spot in the Olympic team. In ACC Outdoor Championship in last month, she won in 400 meters and placed second in 200 meters. Having qualified for the NCAA Championships next month, Wesh has a high hope to challenge for a tittle in 400 meters.

Marleine Wesh will be accompanied by four other Haitian athletes who also have booked their place in the London Olympics. Linouse Desravines is the only Haitian to compete in Judo whereas Jeffrey Julmis will participate in 110 m/hurdles, Samyr Laine in triple jump and Moise Joseph in 800 meters.

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