Jamie Adjetey-Nelson

Jamie Adjetey-Nelson was not fully aware that track and field would be in his future as he meandered from event to event in elementary school. The Scarborough native born May 20, 1984, grew up in Toronto, and the east end of Windsor and attended St. Joseph’s High School. Under the leadership of head coach Gary Malloy, Adjetey-Nelson began to develop into a dedicated and determined athlete. He attended his first Canadian nationals in grade 11 and began to develop a rapport with Lancer head coach Brett Lumley and the rest of the training staff at the University of Windsor. By grade 12, he knew that he wanted to follow a path that would take him to the Olympics.^[1] 

In Adjetey-Nelson’s first year as a CIS athlete, he both won and broke the record for the indoor pentathlon at the national championships. This was the beginning of what would come to be an extraordinary career with the Windsor Lancers, eventually earning All-Canadian prestige. Adjetey-Nelson also pursued events outside of the university circuit, and in 2004 he finished second at the Canadian Olympic trials in the decathlon. This solidified his place as a decathlete and ensured further support from the Canadian national team.  Upon graduation, Adjetey-Nelson continued to train at Windsor and pursued even more international competitions. A third-place finish at the NACAC U23 Championships in 2004 and another third-place finish at the Jeux de la Francophonie in 2009 were stepping stones on the way to a gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India.^[2]

Things were much different after putting up that score of 8070. Adjetey-Nelson saw funding coming back in from Athletics Canada and the Olympic dream became closer than ever. However, 2011 was a tough year for him, as much more attention was being paid to his performances, and along with it, more comments and criticism.^[3] Adjetey-Nelson pushed through and earned his spot at the 2012 Olympic trials in Calgary. Moving into the final event of the competition, Adjetey-Nelson needed to finish the 1500m within 15 seconds of friend and up and comer Damian Warner in order to clinch his spot in London. Tragedy struck on the second lap as a hamstring injury forced Adjetey-Nelson to withdraw from the race, leaving him short of the total points needed to qualify.^[4] Sometime after the competition, Adjetey-Nelson decided he was ready to move on and focus on his career and family. He still remains close to the University of Windsor and lends his experience to the coaching and development of young athletes.^[5]