'Usain Bolt is a real boss!' Trinidad and Tobago celebrates its fifty-third Independence anniversary tomorrow so we could use that common T&T phrase to describe the unbelievable efforts and successes of the big man who has bossed everyone at the World Championships. In two tremendous races, USA's Justin Gatlin was absolutely crushed by 'de boss.'
The 1960's were tumultuous and ambitious times for Caribbean countries such as Guyana, Barbados, Jamaica and T&T getting independence from Great Britain that decade. While personally, August has been a happy and sad month too. I was married, no. 2 on August 31. My young queen, Shannon, was born August 29. Very sadly for us both, her mom, Gail, died this August 27.
Life goes on, and World Athletics Championships 2015 has provided opportunities to focus on divergent, alternative situations, none more so than exploits of "Lightening" Bolt, whose country Jamaica also celebrated its 53rd Independence anniversary on August 6.There will always be political, religious or other comparisons of Bolt, boxer Muhammad Ali, athlete Jesse Owens, swimmer Mark Spitz and footballer Pele, to name just a few.
James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens had to overcome racial prejudice for his black skin in native USA long before taking on deadly and selective politics of Germany's Adolph Hitler, in order to win at Berlin Olympics 1936. Amazingly, Jesse still managed four gold medals which America and Germany had to accept very grudgingly.
Still the greatest sporting, religious, even political hero of all time must be Muhammad Ali. Bolt is magnificent but he never had to overcome racial, political or religious obstacles as did Ali, who overcame those, and refused induction into USA's army, thus losing his world title.Having won gold at Rome Olympics 1960, Ali did the impossible in boxing, when, still a pup at twenty-two, he twice beat indestructible champion Sonny Liston in 1964 and 1965.
Still undergoing severe religious persecution for his conversion to Islam and changing his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali, he won world's heavyweight championships on two come-backs. Ali shook up the world by beating George Foreman in The Rumble In The Jungle in Zaire 1974. Still the biggest boxing upset ever, before beating Leon Spinks in 1978 to regain his title for the third time, having lost that very title to a Spinks upset months earlier.
T&T's multi-Olympics medalist Ato Boldon's opinion on NBC television, that "Bolt has transcended the sport," was spot on. Bolt may not have only aided in the revival of athletics, but, after so many drugs scandals over the last decade, Bolt may have actually saved the sport overall.
When Bolt won that 100 metres dash last week, his hardest race ever, USA's Michael Johnson, who also compares well to Bolt, after Johnson's four Olympics gold medals at Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000, and eight gold medals at 'Worlds' from Tokyo 1991 to Seville 1999, made an astonishing observation on BBC television: "Half of the runners in that 100 metres final had bans and problems using performance enhancing drugs. This sport needs help!"
Majestic queens–Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, England's Jessica Ennis-Hill and Kenya's Vivian Cheruiyot, with honourable mentions to Jamaica's Veronica Campbell-Brown, Ethiopia's Genzebe Dibaba, Holland's Dafne Schippers and USA's Allyson Felix.
Schippers is a sprinter converted from heptathlon. Being second to Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price in 100 metres, then dominating 200 metres, makes Schippers anticipate the Rio Olympics 2016. What a conversion! Similarly, Felix converted from 200 metres. Confident that she could go 400 metres with the same results, gold, her stellar win, magnifying the embarrassing lack of production by USA team mates.
VCB has been such a royal presence in world sprints for so long that we forget that she is only thirty-three. That she can still get bronze in that memorable 200 metres after starting her international career in 1999. Keep going, girl!Genzebe Dibaba is trying hard not only to emulate her older sister, three-time Olympic champion Tirunesh, but to actually outdo her. One wonders what Genzebe can achieve, as she runs so smoothly for a middle-distance runner.
'Pocket Rocket' Fraser-Pryce, since she is only five feet tall, was imperious in that 100 metres. If she can exclude injuries in the next year, she will dominate the 100 metres at Rio to augment her already bulging golds cache and crown a great career.
But absolute heroines are heptathlon champion Innis-Hill and Cheruiyot, 10,000 metres winner. Both had babies last year, so to compete and win dominantly, especially Ennis-Hill with seven disciplines at the 'Worlds,' are truly miraculous.I lost a beautiful queen last week, but several magnificent athletic queens still persevere. Enjoy!