Merlene Ottey competed in six times for Jamaica

The stars were Arthur Wint and Herbert Mckenley.

Wint pipped his colleague to become the country’s first Olympic Gold Medallist in the last 100m of the 400 m race.

In the 1952 Helsinki they were back at it again but this time on the country’s gold medal winning 4 x 400 relay team.

Along with George Rhoden and Leslie Laing they beat the main contenders, the USA.

Arthur Wint and George Rhoden of Jamaica won gold in the 400 meter dash.

Wint won in 1948 and Rhoden in 1952.

But four years later the flame faltered and Jamaica won no meals at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

In 1976 Donald Quarrie became Jamaica's first Olympic champion in 24 years when he won the 200m at the Montreal Olympics.

He won the gold medal in the 200 meters and the silver medal in the 100 meters, missing out gold by .01 seconds.

He also won a bronze medal for his performance in the 200 meters during the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow – after recovering from a serious car crash.

Deon Hemmings is the first Jamaican woman to win an Olympic Gold. She triumphed in the women's 400 M Hurdles at the 1996 Olympics.

She also won two silver medals at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

The queen without a crown

Merlene Ottey competed in six editions of the Olympic Games for Jamaica and one edition for Slovenia (Athens 2004).

At the Moscow games in 1981 she shone to take the bronze medal, an Olympic first by a female athlete from Jamaica.

Only an Olympic title is lacking from her incredible career tally of eight medals at the Games (a record).

Along with Swedish fencer Kirstin Palm, she is the only woman to have competed at seven editions of the Olympic Games.