Usain Bolt has dominated world sprinting for the last two and a half years. He won gold medals in the 100, 200 and 4x100 metres relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, all in record-breaking time. Two years later he was doing the same at the World Championships in Berlin. Again, the individual events were in record-breaking times. He has been described as a freak of nature because he defies the makeup of a normal sprinter; he is too tall. However, this gives him an advantage: he requires fewer steps than the average sprinter, enabling him to run times like 9.58 seconds over 100 metres and 19.19 seconds over 200 metres. No doubt, the world’s fastest man could never be like an average human.
But there is more to the success of Usain Bolt, than his freakish makeup. If he is honest, he will tell you about the wind of legacy which propels him whenever he is on the track. Long before Usain was an idea, his antecedents were setting a blistering pace for him. The history of Herb McKenley, Les Laing, George Rhoden, Arthur Wint, Donald Quarrie, Merlene Ottey, Juliet Cuthbert and others runs comfortably in front. Of course, he will never catch up, but it is a history that guaranteed him respect before he became the phenomenal athlete he is today.
The Exploits of Jamaica's Best Athletes in a Golden Era
Jamaica’s prominence in track and field jumped out of the blocks at the 1948 London Olympics with Herb McKenley and Arthur Wint winning silver medals in the 400 and 800 metres, respectively. Wint also took gold in the 400 metres. Had it not been for a mishap (Wint reportedly fell into a hole on the track, twisted his ankle and went down) the 4x400 metres team would have been well on its way to winning gold. The team comprised of world record holders, Wint and McKenley. The latter had the best times in the world in the 100, 200 and 400 metres, all achieved in 1947, a feat that has never been repeated.
Nineteen fifty-two was the year of redemption, however, as the relay team of McKenley, Wint, Rhoden and Laing won gold at the Helsinki Games. The black and white pictures of that race, which are a staple on Jamaican television during any Olympic period, tell a better story of the event than any individual could: The American team is dominating the race into the third leg when McKenley gets the baton. With his last chance at winning an Olympic gold medal, McKenley – head bobbing and arms and legs pumping – makes up what seems like miles (the commentator said 15 yards) on American, Charles Moore. At the end of that leg, the Jamaican sprinter, with a slim lead, hands over to Rhoden who clinically finishes.
Byron LaBeach who was an alternate member of that relay team remembered that the crowd in the stadium "responded not so much at the beginning (of the race), but when McKenley got the baton and actually started to accelerate around the turn and started to catch the American ... runner on the bend, cutting him down yard by yard.” In an interview with the Jamaica Information Service (JIS), he said: “The crowd was chanting, chanting, and when he caught him, the crowd reacted almost just like when Bolt broke the 200m record (Beijing).”
The 4x400 metres gold underlined other splendid performances at the Games. McKenley narrowly missed out on gold in the 100 metres, beaten by Moore. He also won silver in the 400 metres behind countryman, Rhoden, while Wint took silver in the 800 metres.
Donald Quarrie Later Carried the Torch
If the exploits of those giants are probably too far removed from the sensibilities of the 25-year-old Bolt, his tank could equally be fuelled by more modern stories of another Jamaican great, Donald Quarrie. In 1984, two years before Bolt’s birth, Quarrie was winning his last Olympic medal, and capping an illustrious international career which had started when he was selected for the 1968 Olympic team. In four subsequent Olympics he won one gold, two silver and a bronze medal. His golden run came in the 200 metres at the 1976 Montreal Games, making him the first Jamaican to have won Olympic gold since Rhoden in 1952. This was after narrowly missing out on first place in the 100 metres, beaten by Trinidadian Hasely Crawford. Quarrie also dominated the Commonwealth Games, winning the sprint triple in 1970 and repeating the feat four years later. Three years earlier, he had also done the triple at the 1971 Pan American Games.
Of course, none of these performances compare to the lofty heights Usain Bolt has reached. But, years from now when the history books are extolling his greatness, there should be a footnote that he had proper examples from the land of his birth.
