media_artricles :: 2017

Anguish and anxiety

We were hoping for something memorable from Usain Bolt in his farewell individual sprint and he delivered, although not in the manner most expected.

In finishing third behind the American pair of Justin Gatlin and Christian Coleman in the men's 100-metre final at the World Championships in London on Saturday the big Jamaican inadvertently highlighted how much he has meant to a sport dogged by scandals during his nine years of unprecedented dominance.

Much of the ceaseless cheering for the 30-year-old holder of eight Olympic and 11 World Championship titles at the Olympic Stadium following his first-ever defeat in a major final (he false-started in the 2011 100-metre World Championship final and was stripped last year of sprint relay gold from the 2008 Olympics after confirmation of teammate Nesta Carter's positive test) seemed a combination of heartfelt appreciation and deep regret.

Even experienced BBC television commentators were tearing up as they watched Bolt do a lap of honour around the track, stopping occasionally for innumerable hugs, high-fives and fist-bumps, not to mention the inevitable selfies, with delirious fans at the same time that Gatlin tried to savour a moment of success that few in attendance appeared willing to appreciate given that he is seen by many as an embarrassment to athletics.

Gatlin had already served one drug ban when he won Olympic gold in the 100 metres in Athens in 2004, the same games at which the 17-year-old Bolt made his Olympic debut as a 200-metre specialist only to be eliminated in the first round. Now the 35-year-old, who was banned from the sport for four years in 2006 following a second positive test, is back as world champion for a second time.

While his endurance and determination in the face of virulent condemnation for more than a decade are to be commended, Gatlin's snatching of the farewell glory from the greatest sprinter of all time, and certainly its most popular and charismatic figure of the modern era, is being seen as an insult almost too much to bear for those not only enraptured by Bolt's success and endearing personality but concerned about the image of track and field now that it's brightest light will be off the competitive scene after Saturday's sprint relay final.

It is the essence of competitive sport that no-one, not even Bolt, is guaranteed success, certainly not in an event where competitors are separated by hundredths of a second and where advancing years, his perpetually poor starts and maybe even the lack of a fiercely competitive edge may have proved costly. Keep in mind as well that he didn't finish second to Gatlin but third, with Coleman also ducking for the finish line just ahead of the gangling defending champion.

Still, it is the fact that a man labelled a "cheat" has claimed one of the most prestigious titles in all sport that rankles, to the extent that the International Association of Athletics Federations president Sebastian Coe, the two-time Olympic 1500-metre champion, was moved to say yesterday that "I'm not eulogistic that someone who has served two bans has walked off with one of our glittering prizes."

Coe, the IAAF and indeed the International Olympic Committee are all too aware now that with the magical Bolt era almost over, the issues that perpetually bedevil the sports and events they govern will now earn the full glare of a highly critical and suspicious spotlight without the benefit of anyone on the competitive scene now or likely to emerge from the horizon soon even approaching the aura and positive impact of the departing Bolt.

No doubt every effort will be made to keep him in the forefront as the smiling face of athletics. But without his magnetic presence on the track it won't be the same and we have to come to terms with a less energised, less electrifying, less entertaining environment now that his never-to-be-forgotten competitive career is just five days from the finish line.

Yes indeed, he will be missed, but it is not the end of Jamaica as a global powerhouse in sprints on the track, even after hot favourite and Olympic champion Elaine Thompson could only finish fifth in the women's 100-metre final yesterday.

They have been winning gold medals at Olympics since 1948 and at World Championships from the inaugural edition in 1983. Post-Bolt the dominance obviously won't be the same but their tradition of excellence will survive and prosper even beyond his incomparable brilliance.

Trinidad and Tobago remain a considerable distance from the Jamaican standard but in Michelle-Lee Ahye and Kelly-Ann Baptiste making the final, won by American Tori Bowie, we can celebrate our own world-class performers who, like so many others for many years to come, will continue to be inspired by the astonishing athletic feats of Usain Bolt.

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