THE SPIRIT OF USAIN BOLT

Usain Bolt is in news now!

Yesterday, the newspapers carried the story of Bolt surpassing the legendary Carl Lewis’s record tally… and, this Jamaican sprinter – the fastest man alive on our planet – simply left me with goose bumps, all over my body… Yes, all over again!

Track-events, particularly the 100-meters contest, have, always, set my belly on fire… And, when I see Usain Bolt running, the bolt of lightning is certain to strike my heart with awe!

Today, I have been watching some of Bolt’s inspiring videos… I was, particularly, interested in his early days and his training programme… And, yes, the humble country he comes from.

Jamaica is a small island nation – about two-hundred-odd miles in length and fifty-odd- miles in width.  People are simple and humble. God hasn’t blessed this island with loads of wealth… There are hardly any industries there… People are deprived of many, many things…

And, so, when someone like Usain Bolt puts his country on the world map and compels us to sit up and take notice, it is something very inspiring!

I used to be very fond of the pop-group – Boney M. It was in the seventies and eighties… I was young. I remember the goose bumps I would get every time I listened to a ‘By the Rivers of Babylon’, a ‘Rasputin’ or a ‘Somewhere in the world there is a place for me’… Yes, that was the time, I wasn’t aware of the island-countries the famous four-some hailed from… It was much later that I started realizing how difficult must’ve been for this Jamaican/West Indian group to explode on the world music-map… to make the world take notice of their tiny-pieces-of-land-in-the-ocean called Jamaica or West Indies!

West Indian cricket, too, was at its glorious best during the same time… and, I was really inspired by the legends: Clive Lloyds, Viv Richards, Andy Roberts and Malcolm Marshall…

Today, Usain Bolt (and many others athletes along with him) are doing precisely the same thing… We are talking about the island of Jamaica, today, just because of her exceptionally blessed son – Usain Bolt!

Like his nation, Usain, too, was not born with the proverbial Silver Spoon in his mouth.  But, the burning fire in his belly to be the best sprinter in the world – the fasted man ever to run on this planet… followed by almost a brutal training-schedule… Yes, that has made all the difference…

And, yes, like all other records in the world, 

one day, Bolt’s records will also be broken 

by someone… 

Yes, as they say, all records 

are meant to be broken!

The reason why I am featuring Usain Bolt in my Post, today, is that, a question has been haunting me for some days now: If our giant nation – a sub-continent in deed – still gets goose bumps on rewinding her son Milkha Singh’s story, for whatever little-bit he did over half-a-century ago, how must be the experience for the tiny island of Jamaica on her son Usain Bolt’s mind-blowing achievements?

Run Usain run… and, keep our bellies fired up!

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Gloria Pinto
Video: YouTube