Rising BC track star remains grounded
Jerome Blake handles media questions about being compared to Olympian Andre De Grasse with ease. “I don’t mind if I remind them of someone who is really good at the sport,” said the 21 year old from Kelowna after winning gold in the men’s 200-metre sprint. “I really look up to everyone in Canada and in the world as sprinters.” And Blake also has praise for the competitors at the 2017 Canada Games. “I look up to all of them. I get my inspiration from everybody.”
Blake won three medals in Winnipeg. He just missed the gold in the 100 metres by two one-thousandth of a second in a photo finish. He was clocked at 10.379 in the dash, a shade behind Ontario’s Karson Kowalchuck at 10.377.
After a disqualification in the men’s 4×100 on Thursday, Blake and his BC teammates bounced back by taking gold in the 4x400m in the final race of the athletics competition on Friday evening.
“It’s been a great time,” said Blake, as he reflected on his Canada Games experience. “I am pretty excited for the future and to see what the young guys in Canada are gonna do.”
Blake’s plan for next season is to take some time off and work on getting his Canadian citizenship. “My main goal is to represent Canada one day on the global stage.”
Prior to his Grade 12 year, Blake and his family relocated to the Okanagan from Jamaica.