Olympic champs pleads for peace in Jamaica

KINGSTON (Reuters) - Olympics 400 metre hurdles champion Melaine Walker grew up in one of the most crime-ridden places in Jamaica, where she often ran a gauntlet of gunfire and violence on her way home from school.

When she won at the Beijing Olympics on Wednesday, Walker put her new-found fame to work with an immediate appeal for peace in her neighbourhood and in the crime-tarnished Caribbean island.

"I would like the people of the area to put the guns down and stop the crime," Walker said in a TV interview.

"I want to ask the Jamaican people, particularly those in Maxfield Avenue, to hold down the crime. I am from that area and at one time it was good to live there.

"I know that if we can control the crime we can get back to that point," Walker said.

Walker's poignant plea from Beijing highlighted Jamaica's glowing reputation as one of the world's top producers of sprinters and the stain of crime that Jamaicans often name as their number one concern.

The lush, mountainous Caribbean island has long had an almost mystical allure -- the birthplace of reggae and its iconic Bob Marley with a bountiful marijuana crop, nudist beaches and world-famous Blue Mountain coffee.

But that image, and its tourism industry, has been deeply wounded by entrenched ghetto crime in the capital and one of the world's highest murder rates, fuelled by drug gangs.

A nation of 2.7 million people, Jamaica recorded more than 1,500 murders last year. This year police have reported 986 killings, down from 1,002 to the same point last year.

"We need to stop the violence and come together as one," said Maxfield resident Myrtle Williams. "I never heard of Melaine Walker before and look at what she has done for the area already."

Former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, who represents the area in parliament, helped with Walker's education. Walker's uncle is one of the legislator's bodyguards.

"I want to appeal for peace so that everyone can live in peace and love and unity," Simpson Miller told Reuters.

SHOTS FIRED

"Melaine survived through tough times and her father, as well as high school coach Raymond Graham, would ensure that no matter how many shots were being fired, she would get home safely," Simpson Miller recalled.

Walker's schooling began a stone's throw away in Trench Town, close to the boyhood home of reggae great Bob Marley.

She grew up along pot-holed Sunrise Street in Maxfield, where scores of unemployed youth gather smoking marijuana, listening to music or debating the latest events.

An informal survey recently found 76 percent of residents between 18 and 65 years of age were out of work.

Other statistics show that more than 150 murders occur in the area annually. Robbery, rape and drug dealing are widespread.

Maxfield is known for brutal killings. In 2006, gunmen shot up a house close to Sunrise Street, killing four adult members of one family and setting the house on fire. A five-year-old girl was shot dead as she tried to leave the house.

But for several hours on Wednesday, traffic piled up along that roadway as residents saluted Walker's performance.

"This shows you that people from the ghetto can rise and conquer the world," said Warren Brown, who jumped, danced and played music on makeshift instruments following the race.

Jamaica's performance at the Beijing games -- Usain "Lightning" Bolt won gold in the 100 and 200m races -- solidified its long-held reputation as a sprint capital.

Don Quarrie won the 200m at the 1976 Olympics and Veronica Campbell took the 200m at the Athens Games and Beijing.

(Editing by Jim Loney/Jon Bramley)