"All I can say is, 'Yo! Jamaican sprinters taking over the world!'" said Usain Bolt, who has, for my money been the preeminent star of these games--even bigger than eight-time gold medal winner Michael Phelps.

Jamaican athletes won five of the six Olympic track medals but a botched handoff in the women's 400 relay prevented them from winning all six. The US was 0-6, a tally predicted by the great track coach Ron Davis who saw the trials and simply said to me, "This won't be pretty." At six-foot-five, barely resembling a sprinter so much as an NFL wide receiver, the breathtaking Bolt led the way for Jamaica's gold rush. Bolt set world records in the 100 and 200 meters during the games and raced a blistering third leg of the relay.

The question is how? How has Jamaica, a nation of 2.8 million people, so thoroughly humbled the world? The climate helps. The poverty in Jamaica helps as well. But what really deserves most of the credit is Jamaica' s thirty-year-old national track & field program. Track is like the NFL in Jamaica, a national sport whose heroes are held in the highest esteem. Of the forty-six medals won by Jamaica in Olympic history, forty-five have been in track. Success has bred success. Now Jamaica is the global champion in their national sport.

There will be a party in Kingston tonight.

Comments (20)

1. Just don't get tired of your leftist anti-America bashing mr Zirin?

   But then instead of merely writing about the very deserved accomplishments of Bolt and other Jamaicans, you simply lie about the US.

   the US leads in track and field medals with 21. Jamaica is 3rd with 10 medals.

   Or perhaps you wanted to just ignore events like the 400mm mens where the US men led by LaShawn Merritt swept the medals.

   Bolt deserves all the accolades he is receiving, but to dismiss the US as dominated in track and field ignores the facts.

   Posted by lvliberty1 at 08/22/2008 @ 5:29pm

2. BTW, no one had to teach me how to run and I bet, even a hate-America Lib like Zirin, knows how to run! Posted by 2HAPPY at 08/22/2008 @ 5:18p

   Elitist liberals don't know how to run Happy. They get their servants to do it.

   Posted by Cccomfo1 at 08/22/2008 @ 6:26pm

3. Posted by lvliberty1 at 08/22/2008 @ 5:29pm

   It's true. The US is doing well. It was sad that both the men's and women didn't qualify due to dropped batons. To see the hurt on the their faces.

   The US is doing very though.

   My problem is that misrepresentation and the thing about Phelps. Granted Bolt is amazing and deserves his kudos. But this is not a pissing contest between Phelps and Bolt. I would rather run the 100 than swim the 100 any day.

   Posted by Cccomfo1 at 08/22/2008 @ 6:30pm

4. Agreed. Why set up a pissing contest between Bolt and Phelps (and more broadly, Jamaica and America, and more broadly than that, knee-jerk liberalism and knee-jerk conservatism)? At the risk of sounding treacly, let's just enjoy these amazing Olympic achievements.

   Posted by rbross at 08/22/2008 @ 6:45pm

5. I would contribute to the tar fund...this self loathing is trouble some.. Posted by JOMAMMA at 08/22/2008 @ 6:35pm

   Why just the tar? You won't throw in some feathers too?

   Posted by Cccomfo1 at 08/22/2008 @ 6:48pm

6. My problem is that misrepresentation and the thing about Phelps. Granted Bolt is amazing and deserves his kudos. But this is not a pissing contest between Phelps and Bolt. I would rather run the 100 than swim the 100 any day.

   Posted by Cccomfo1 at 08/22/2008 @ 6:30pm

   I notice Aussie commentators at the games also think Bolt's shade Phelp's accomplishments on the grounds that there are many more styles of swimming than track events.

   As one commentator said: If they ran 1oo and 200 metres backwards and sideways with other variations as in swimming, Bolt would have won all those too.

   (These sort of comments came from x-track and field Olympians who seem to think swimming, along with other leisure activities and hobbies, such as ladies beach volleyball (my favourite) should not be part of the games).

   Posted by lrjones4 at 08/22/2008 @ 11:21pm

7. MC-CINDY-CYNICAL!

   Beloved fans, TheNation parasites Ponti, Jommi, LVii, all you Limbaugh echo chambers:

   I know you're fine with it, just another brick in the wall of denial - your guy's a LIAR:

   As was pointed out yesterday by the Christian Science Monitor, the McCain campaign was called out for LYING about the purported urging of Cindy McCain by ***Mother Teresa*** herself to adopt two children at her orphanage back in 1991. Turns out, McCain never met or even spoke with Mother Teresa on that trip.

   Once confronted by the Monitor about the deception, the campaign quickly erased such claims from the website....

   ------------------------------------------

   1- lying

   2- destroying evidence

   Posted by winyahn at 08/22/2008 @ 11:31pm

8. What the hell does McCain have to do with Jamaican sprinters and US swimmers?

   Posted by sallenmd at 08/22/2008 @ 11:43pm

9. Usain Bolt may the fastest man in the world in the 100 meters and he deserved the medals he won, but the guy is a conceited asshole.

   Nobody likes seeing self congratulatory folks parading themsevles and patting themselves on the back. It's no better to watch a Jamaican athlete do it than American ones.

   Part of sportsmanship is also supposed to include a little humility which Bolt has none of. I'd rather watch the guys who took where in the last three time slots versus watching that kind of crap.

   You can't watch an NFL or NBA game these days without watching this same out of control hot dogging. I think they ought to make a rule where if the guy starts showing off after a good play, he should also have to have take his helmut off after a major screw up and pose for the camera as well. Same thing goes for arrogant sprinters. When they get their asses kicked, they camera ought to zero in on them losing and rerun it over and over and rub that into them as well.

   Posted by Wolfgang1 at 08/22/2008 @ 11:45pm

10. I'd rather watch the guys who took where in the last three time slots versus watching that kind of crap.

    er, meant to say, I'd rather watch the guys who placed in the last three time slots versus watching that kind of crap.

    Posted by Wolfgang1 at 08/22/2008 @ 11:46pm

11. Long live Jamaica!

    Posted by winyahn at 08/23/2008 @ 12:53am

12. For those who still haven't figured it out, these sprinters were going at nearly 24 miles per hour, close to the speed limit for an auto on American city street.

    Posted by Zero at 08/23/2008 @ 12:29am

    Zero, As you pointed out, it was an amazing athletic feet and one has to marvel at the time Bolt ran the race in. HOwever, Bolt showed zero class after completing such a feat.

    There's nothing run with being excited about winning and performing well, but there is something wrong with sticking it in the other runners' faces and acting like an asshole at the finish line.

    Posted by Wolfgang1 at 08/23/2008 @ 12:56am

13. i just wish the olympics were on earth instead in the oppressedpeasants republic of china.

    nonetheless, in commemoration of these games the IOC has unveiled a new event, the 100 metre bulldozer eviction.

    fans of labour campathalon are disappointed their sport will only be allowed demonstration status.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 08/23/2008 @ 01:39am

14. what a bunch of sourpusses ye all are.

    Posted by emile duBois at 08/23/2008 @ 12:36pm

15. the greatest Olympian is Carl Lewis. he won gold in long jump in FOUR consecutive Olympics. he also won the 100m and the 200m in one year and the 100m again four years later.

    Posted by emile duBois at 08/23/2008 @ 12:46pm

16. ATTENTION E.D.:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiea8g6SqvQ&fmt=18

    Posted by frosty zoom at 08/23/2008 @ 6:37pm

17. It is about who sells more. T&F probably sells 1/100,000 of what the NFL or baseball can sell, so it is not good business.

    Jamaica on the other side, takes its pride on it, good for them although it seems that Mr. Bolt is the modern version of Muhammad Ali.

    Finally, it is not wise to compare Bolt with Phelps. Both are superlative athletes but frankly Bolt's victories were in general much clearer than Phelps'. The true winners are the youth of the world with all they can achieve.

    Posted by Frank42 at 08/24/2008 @ 03:25am

18. frosty zoom

    just delicious, made my day.

    makes one realize what a good singer Jack Bruce was.

    Posted by emile duBois at 08/24/2008 @ 09:27am

19. Jamaica on the other side, takes its pride on it, good for them although it seems that Mr. Bolt is the modern version of Muhammad Ali.

    actually Bolt is the modern version of Cassius Clay. youthful exuberance is allowed when you got the goods.

    like Ali in his field, Bolt stands to rewrite the sprinting book. he's six foot five. in the 100m he takes four FEWER(not less) strides than his competitors. he could easily add the 400 m to his repertoire.

    had his exuberance and ego, (a good thing, it is that which compels us to succeed) not gotten the better of him in the last seconds, he would have totally demolished the world record.

    of course Muhammed Ali's contribution is far greater than his pugilistic accomplishment, peerless as they are. he was and is simply a great American, giving up everything for his convictions. Paul Robeson comes to mind.

    Posted by emile duBois at 08/24/2008 @ 09:48am

20. he was and is simply a great American,

    Posted by emile duBois at 08/24/2008 @ 09:48am

    no, a great human.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 08/24/2008 @ 11:38am