Jamaican women have over the years contributed significantly to making the country one of note on the world stage.

As we continue to recognise Jamaica’s remarkable women, in honour of Women’s History Month, today we shine the spotlight on five women who have made history in sports.

1. Veronica Campbell-Brown

Veronica Campbell-Brown, known by fans simply as VCB, is one of the most successful sprinters in Jamaican history.

A force to be reckoned with ever since her days at Vere Technical High School, Campbell-Brown remains the only Caribbean woman to win world titles at the youth, junior and senior level of an athletic event – one of only nine athletes in the world.

Following a stellar athletic performance in the 200m at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, she became the first Caribbean woman to win an Olympic sprint title.

In the year 2007, after taking gold in the 100m at the World Championships, Campbell-Brown earned the distinction of becoming the first Jamaican track and field athlete, male or female, to win a major senior international title in the 100m.

2. Alia Atkinson

Now-retired swimmer Alia Atkinson acted as a pioneer for Jamaica in the world of competitive swimming.

Venturing into unchartered territory for Jamaica, Atkinson, through her swimming career endeavoured “to place Jamaica on the world map of swimming; to agitate for the improvement of the infrastructural support for swimming in Jamaica so as to be able to take it to the next level; and to realise my full potential for myself, my parents, and my country”.

With this mission in mind, Atkinson in 2014 won gold in the 100m breaststroke at the FINA World Short Course Championships in Doha, Qatar, making her the first black woman and first Jamaican to win a swimming world title.

Making her historic accomplishment an even more impressive one, Atkinson equaled the world record of 1:2.36.

3. Sara Misir

Jamaican motor car racer Sara Misir has become the latest forerunner in a global bid to #BreakTheBias.

Going where no Jamaican woman has gone before, Misir became the Caribbean’s first Formula Woman finalist, showcasing herself as a cut above some 10,000 applicants.

Following her last qualification event in Are, Sweden on March 10, Misir emerged among the top four out of 11 finalists, signaling to other Caribbean women that motorsport can be considered a viable career choice.

4. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, well known to the world as Jamaica’s ‘Pocket Rocket’-turned-‘Mommy Rocket’ has throughout the course of her athletic career earned many history-making accolades.

At 21 years old, she became the first Caribbean woman to win gold in the 100m at the 2008 Bejing Olympic Games.

Following this, at the 2012 London Olympics, she successfully defended her title in the event and became the first non-American woman to win two consecutive 100m races at the Olympic Games.

In the year 2013 at the Moscow World Championships, Fraser-Pryce added yet another history-making achievement to her repertoire, becoming the first woman to complete the triple (win the 100m, 200m, and 4 X 100m) in a single World Championship.

5. Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw

Reggae Girl Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw has earned the title of Jamaica’s goal-scoring phenomenon and rightly so.

The national female football player made history as Jamaica’s leading all-time goal scorer across genders in the year 2019, when she scored five goals to shepherd Jamaica to a 7-0 win over the United States Virgin Islands in a Concacaf Women’s Olympic Caribbean Qualifying game.