Sport at Tamba- Tamba: 9.94 Seconds

At the 100 metres final at the Los Angeles Olympics on August 4^th 1984, American Carl Lewis comfortably collected the gold medal with a time of 9.99 secs. This was .02 slower than Lewis’ personal best, recorded at Modesto, USA May 14^th 1984, and .03 slower than Mel Lattany’s world record [1] clocked in Athens, Georgia, USA May 5^th 1984.
In this context consider these two times which were achieved by Palmerston’s Johnson Cox.
9.96 - June 1^st 1983 The May 15th Stadium, Palmerston, PROTT
9.94 – August 11^th 1984 The May 15th Stadium, Palmerston, PROTT


Johnson Cox was born in the Cocktown Square district of Palmerston in August 1963. He was a good scholar and noted to be an all round sportsman, enjoying cricket, football and sevens. At the Palmerston High School Sports Gala in June 1981 he won the 100 meters in ‘a shade over ten seconds’.[2]

This astonishing feat led to the People’s Council taking a special interest in young Johnson. Charles Berry, (the islands greatest sprinter of what is now known as the pre Cox period) was given responsibility for mentoring him on a full time basis. Johnson was excused from his new job at The Glorious May Shellfish Plant in order to focus on his training.

The Peoples’ Council made unsuccessful overtures to both the United States and The Soviet Union in order to secure training scholarships or placements for Johnson. Help eventually arrived in the form of Cuban sprint legend Hermes Ramírez, who moved to Tamba- Tamba to supervise Johnson’s progress.

When in June 1983 Johnson clocked 9.96 At The May 15th Stadium, beating Carl Lewis’ world record time, Tamba- Tamba began to dream of Olympic glory. The process of gaining recognition from the IOC was well underway.

When told that the record time was not being internationally recognised Johnson Cox shrugged and said: It’s no worry. I can do it again. I can do it in Los Angeles next year with the whole world watching. Maybe they’ll accept it then.

The deterioration in international relations with the USA led to The Peoples Council announcing that they would be boycotting the Los Angeles games. The announcement was made on May 11^th  1984.

Just a week before Mel Lattany of the USA had equalled Cox’s time at Athens, Georgia.

On August 11^th 1984 Cox ran in a special event at The May 15th Stadium. The most sophisticated timing equipment available was loaned by Cuba, the track was relaid on the model of the Moscow 1980 Olympic surface, and two stars of the 1980 Olympics were in the field , Silvio Leonard of Cuba and Alex Aksinin of the Soviet Union. Dick Francis personally invited representatives of both the IAAF and the IOC to attend the event on an expenses paid basis, but his generous hospitality was shunned.
Cox won the race with a new record time of 9.94 seconds.
The record (spitefully but unsurprisingly) was not recognised.
In September 1984 Cox travelled to London to take part in an invitation meet at The Crystal Palace. Lewis and Lattany both withdrew from the competition and the anticipated showdown never took place. Cox won the race in 9.98 secs, with Canada's Benjamin Johnson in second.
The public now began to demand a Lewis /Cox head to head.
Cox returned to Tamba- Tamba and damaged his knee playing sevens in November 1984. That was the end of his career and it was twenty years before Tamba- Tamba produced another world class athlete.
 Johnson Cox , Hero of Tamba- Tamba, Master of Sport, continues to be involved in community sports. He has also had a moderately successful spell as coach of Workers FC.

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[1] Jim Hines’ 9.95 in the 1968 Olympics was achieved at high altitude

[2] Palmerston Newsletter, July 1981 edition.