Elva first represented Jamaica at the 1997 Pan American Junior Championships. Her first gold medal in the senior ranks came at the 2002 Commonwealth Games where her triumph over home favorite Jade Johnson provided her most pleasant moment in the sport at the time, coming after her experiences of 2000 and 2001 when she made the finals of the Olympic Games and World Championships but could only manage 10th place on both occasions.

Nevertheless, her favorite track is in Edmonton where, with all of her country’s top sprinters out injured, she was called upon to lead off the sprint relay team which finished just out of the medals in fourth position.

Trinidad and Tobago sprinter Ato Boldon is her role model but the greatest influence on her career has been provided by her parents and close friends. Her favorite food is rice and peas with fish or curried chicken. Leisure time is spent doing various activities including swimming, dancing, baking, writing and playing basketball, which is her favorite sport other than athletics, and ace player Michael Jordan is her hero.

Gospel is Elva’s first choice for music with her favorite artist being Usher, and The Oprah Winfrey Show is her favorite television viewing. Elva is a graduate of Auburn University in the United States and she won the NCAA indoor double of the long jump and triple jump in March 2003. Elva was the Jamai