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Date of Birth: Apr. 9, 1970 Residence: San Francisco Education: BS Degree in Business Marketing, Anderson College, South Carolina Ethnicity: Jamaican Rating: 2469 Style: Shakehand attack from both sides Equipment: Butterfly Iolite Blade, Stiga Magna Rubber Sponsor: None Clubs Played: Oakland, Concord, Palo Alto |
Michael, representing Jamaica, is one of 5 Olympians living in Northern California along with American stars Khoa Nguyen, Whitney Ping, Michelle Do, and Diana Gee. He qualified for Jamaica in the 1992 and 1996 Olympics and he called those experiences the highlight of his table-tennis career. Michael is the only Caribeean player to ever win a match at the Olympics since the inclusion of table-tennis into the Olympics in 1988. He has also been on three Jamaican World Championship Teams and been Jamaican National Men's Singles Champion on three separate occasions. Thanks to "Cool Runnings" and common knowledge, many know that bobsledding is not a big sport in Jamaica. How about table-tennis in Jamaica? Surprisingly, it is one of the eight most popular sports there.
How were the Olympic experiences for Michael? In the 1992 Olympics, Michael sent a note to Dream Team Member Patrick Ewing through Sports Illustrated reporters to get a ticket to a Dream Team basketball game. Patrick Ewing was born and lived the first 12 years of his life in Jamaica and came to the Olympic Village to give the ticket to Michael and this was written up by the reporters in the August 1992 edition of Sports Illustrated. Michael also had breakfast on a couple occasions with then-world-ranked #1 tennis player Jim Courier.
Before the 1996 Olympics, Michael got a two-year deal from Radio Shack that paid him $4,000/month to train fulltime with all expenses paid for his national and international trips. This is the best deal a player trained in the Americas has ever gotten in the history of our sport as table-tennis in the Americas is still in the developing stages. He was going to wear Radio Shack clothing in his Olympic matches but the Jamaican Olympic Committee had a deal with Reebok right before the beginning of the Olympic Games that Jamaican Olympic athletes had to wear Reebok clothing. Radio Shack executives were present to watch Michael in his Olympic matches and Michael was now caught in a dilemna. So what did he do? He gave himself a haircut that said "RS" on the back of his head!