USAIN BOLT is Jamaica's latest track star far and above the horizon. Having not only set a World Junior 200m record at the recent CARIFTA Games in Hamilton, Bermuda of 19.93 seconds, breaking one set in 1985, he is the only athlete - senior or junior - to run under 20 seconds in two years.
He is only 17 years old.
That is simply amazing, if one can consider that word sufficient enough praise. This comes for the Trelawny native, of course, after becoming a triple-medallist at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Kingston. He won gold in the 200m and 4 x 400m events and a silver in the 4x100m relay at the age of 15.
HUMILITY
In some ways, that is almost scary. The former William Knibb High student, now enrolled at the High Performance Centre at the University of Technology (UTech) seems to have taken everything that has happened to him since 2002 with remarkable grace and humility, since he still comes across like the affable teen the nation, and indeed the world, got to know two years ago.
He never boasts or comes across as brash or overconfident, gently deflecting talk of him breaking the record pre-CARIFTA until he went out and did just that in breathtaking style. Another thing is his apparent patriotism, since he never speaks to the media without making mention of the fact that he is running for Jamaica, which he wants to make proud. He does exactly that.
Incredibly tall for his age, standing at 1.96 metres, watching him on the track appearing to move almost effortlessly while going incredibly quickly is a thing of grace to see, awe-inspiring even.
His feats make him a hot favourite in the eyes of many to medal at the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, later this year, expectation which may well not go disappointed. We will just have to wait and see.
After all, nowadays not even the sky is the limit.
