Leleith Hodges

Leleith Hodges (born 22 June 1953) is a Jamaican former track and field sprinter who competed mainly in the 100 metres. She was one of Jamaica's most prominent female runners of the 1970s.

She appeared three times at the Summer Olympics (1972, 1976, 1980) and three times at the Commonwealth Games (1974, 1978, 1982). Her highest honours came with the women's 4×100 m relay team, with which was a silver medallist at the 1979 Pan American Games and a bronze medallist at both the 1982 Commonwealth Games and 1983 World Championships in Athletics.

Hodges won numerous at regional level at the Central American and Caribbean Championships and Central American and Caribbean Games, including back-to-back victories in the individual 100 metres and relay at the championships in 1979 and 1981.

She was the 100 m champion at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 1978 – a feat for which she was chosen as the Jamaican Sportswoman of the Year. Her 100 m personal best of 11.14 seconds (a former Jamaican record) was set at that meet. She ran collegiately in the United States for Texas Woman's University and won the 100 m at the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women championships.

Career

Early life and career Born in Islington in Jamaica's Saint Mary Parish, she attended nearby St Mary High School. While there she took up running and became the 100 m champion at the Jamaican Girls High School Championships in 1970.

In her first international championship, she won the 100 m junior title at the newly inaugurated 1972 CARIFTA Games. At the age of nineteen she was chosen to represent Jamaica in the 4×100 metres relay at the 1972 Munich Olympics. The team were disqualified in the first round, however. Hodges also ran at the British Commonwealth Games that year, but failed to make it to the 100 m final. Another 100 m bronze followed at the Central American and Caribbean Championships in 1975 and she also won gold with the Jamaican relay team. After a run at the 1979 Pan American Games, where she was seventh in the 100 m, she returned to the Olympic stage at the 1976 Montreal Games. She was only a quarter-finalist individually, but managed sixth place in the relay on the lead off leg alongside Rose Allwood, Carol Cummings and Jacqueline Pusey. She was seventh in the 100 m final at the 1978 Commonwealth Games. In recognition of her achievements that year she was honoured as the Jamaican Sportswoman of the Year.

Returning to international competition in 1979, she achieved a 100 m individual and relay double at the Central American and Caribbean Championships. A relay silver medal came at the Pan American Games, where she was again the starter for the Jamaican team, which included Allwood, Carmetta Drummond, and Merlene Ottey. Hodges ranked fifth individually, where American rivals Ashford and Morehead took the top two spots.

She had mixed fortunes in 1980 as she endured hamstring pain. She won the 60 metres at the AIAW indoor meet, but failed to defend her AIAW title, coming fifth, and dropped out of the relay due to her injury. Hodges was disappointed with the relay team's Olympic result, as a poor baton change between Allwood and Ottey led to a slower time. Hodges blamed Ottey, who had run off too early and performed poorly in practice, saying "She never focused on the relays. She was just so obsessed with her own race."

Hodges last season with coach Bert Lyle's Texas Woman's Pioneers team was in 1981. She attempted to recapture her AIAW title but was beaten to the 100 m championship by fellow Jamaica Merlene Ottey, 11.20 to 11.24 seconds. At the 1981 Texas Relays she defeated American Jeanette Bolden to take the 100 m title there, in spite of tumbling heavily at the start of the race. Her season's best time of 11.21 seconds that year marked her second highest career ranking at tenth place globally. In her last major international Hodges led off the Jamaican women's 4×100 m relay team at the World Championships. With Ottey on the anchor leg, and Pusey and Juliet Cuthbert on the middle legs, the team finished in a new time of 42.73 – just two hundredths behind the British women who were runners-up. This marked the first medal that began a long period of World Championships podium finishes for the Jamaican women's team. She had won the 100 m title at the Jamaican Athletics Championships that year.

Hodges aimed to make the team for Jamaica at the 1984 Summer Olympics, but after falling pregnant she missed the competition and did not compete internationally again. Jamaican Athletics Championships 100 metres: 1983

International competitions