GERMAINE MASON, the Jamaican-born British high jumper who took a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, died today in a motorcycle crash near Kingston.
34-year-old Mason was killed in an early morning mishap when he lost control of his motorcycle as he drove toward Kingston and died at the scene.
“Our sincere condolences to the entire sporting fraternity,” tweeted Jamaican prime minister Andrew Holness.
Mason began competing for Britain in 2006 having taken bronze for Jamaica at the 2004 world indoors, silver at the 2000 world juniors in Chile and bronze at the 2002 world juniors in Kingston.
“Germaine was an outstanding athlete and a truly lovely man,” said Fuzz Caan, a senior high jump coach at British Athletics who worked with Mason during his time as Olympic champion. “He had a wry sense of humour and was a pleasure to be around.
He was a great ambassador of British high jumping. It is an honour for us to have him as part of our sporting history.”
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Mason, still the Jamaican national record holder in the event, matched his personal best of 2.34m to claim silver at Beijing, one of a then-record 47 British Olympic medals taken in China.
“The whole of the British Olympic Aassociation is incredibly sad to hear of the passing of Germaine Mason,” said BOA chief executive Bill Sweeney.
“Germaine was a great athlete, an Olympian and a silver medal-winning part of Team GB who made history at Beijing 2008. Our thoughts and condolences are with his family and friends at this difficult time.”
Other British athletics stars were stunned and saddened at the news. Fellow Olympian medallist Jessica Ennis-Hill tweeted:
British Olympic silver medallist Germaine Mason killed in motorcycle accident
GERMAINE MASON, the Jamaican-born British high jumper who took a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, died today in a motorcycle crash near Kingston.
34-year-old Mason was killed in an early morning mishap when he lost control of his motorcycle as he drove toward Kingston and died at the scene.
“Our sincere condolences to the entire sporting fraternity,” tweeted Jamaican prime minister Andrew Holness.
Mason began competing for Britain in 2006 having taken bronze for Jamaica at the 2004 world indoors, silver at the 2000 world juniors in Chile and bronze at the 2002 world juniors in Kingston.
“Germaine was an outstanding athlete and a truly lovely man,” said Fuzz Caan, a senior high jump coach at British Athletics who worked with Mason during his time as Olympic champion. “He had a wry sense of humour and was a pleasure to be around.
Mason, still the Jamaican national record holder in the event, matched his personal best of 2.34m to claim silver at Beijing, one of a then-record 47 British Olympic medals taken in China.
“The whole of the British Olympic Aassociation is incredibly sad to hear of the passing of Germaine Mason,” said BOA chief executive Bill Sweeney.
“Germaine was a great athlete, an Olympian and a silver medal-winning part of Team GB who made history at Beijing 2008. Our thoughts and condolences are with his family and friends at this difficult time.”
Other British athletics stars were stunned and saddened at the news. Fellow Olympian medallist Jessica Ennis-Hill tweeted:
1992 Barcelona Olympic 100m champion Linford Christie added:
Denise Lewis, the 2000 Sydney Olympics heptathlon champion, added:
Beijing Olympic 400m hurdles bronze mediallist Tasha Danvers called it “a very sad day for track and field… He will missed.”
– © AFP 2017
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Germaine Mason High Jump Olympian RIP Team GB Tragic