Tony Becca, Contributing Editor
THE GREATNESS of Jamaica in sport is unquestionable and those who doubt that have only to look at the country's record in almost any sport but more so and particularly so in athletics, cricket, football and boxing.
In athletics, Jamaicans, many of them, have won gold medals at both the Olympic Games and the World Championships and a number of them have held world records.
In cricket, many of them are numbered among the best batsmen, the best bowlers and the best wicketkeepers the game has produced, and some have held world records.
In football, Jamaica, finalists in the 1998 World Cup, have produced players with dazzling skills - some of whom are now plying their trade in Europe and in boxing Jamaicans have been champions of the world in many weight divisions.
Jamaica, in fact, have produced so many great sportsmen and sportswomen that wherever they turn up, Jamaicans, regardless of the sport, are expected not only to do well but also to excel - to win.
As great as Jamaicans are, however, they cannot perform well every time, they certainly cannot win every time and even if the country's reputation of producing great sportsmen and sportswomen is such that many people around the world believe that all Jamaicans have to do in order to win is turn up, Jamaicans should not believe so - not if they are reasonable enough to understand that with all their greatness, with all their outstanding performances, Jamaica's sportsmen and sportswomen are only human.
Unfortunately, based on the ease with which they bestow superstar status on their young sportsmen and sportswomen even when they have never been truly tested, even when they have never performed well on big occasions, based on the criticisms which greet them when they have been tested and have failed to perform, Jamaicans do believe that Jamaicans should win all the time - even when the odds are against.
TREMENDOUS TALENT
A perfect example is the performance of Usain Bolt in Helsinki.
Bolt is a tremendous talent - no doubt about that - and all things being equal, there is no question that in time he will be or should be a world beater.
At 18, however, and as developed as he looks, Bolt is not yet fully developed - neither physically nor mentally.
He is nowhere near as strong as he will be in a few years time and it was unreasonable, despite his outstanding performances among his peers, to expect that he would turn up at the World Championships and upstage the likes of the equally talented, fully developed and experienced Justin Gatlin and John Capel.
It is easier, much easier for a teenaged girl to beat a woman in a race than for a teenaged boy to beat a man.
What is really disturbing, however, is not only that people are surprised that Bolt did not do a Goliath in Helsinki. What is surprising, what is embarrassing, is that after pulling up in the final of the 200 metres, many Jamaicans, including some of those who had dubbed him a superstar and who had picked him to win - and probably easily at that, chastised him as being no good and nothing more than a flash in the pan.
What is worse, and especially so as they had no idea what caused him to pull up, is that some went beyond that. Some went as far as to question his mettle - to the extent that some even called him a chicken.
NOT A CHICKEN
Bolt is not a chicken. It certainly is too early in his career to label him as one, and although, like Asafa Powell in the 100 metres final at the Olympic Games last year, he did not live up to the expectations of Jamaicans, Jamaicans should not be so harsh on him.
Lest it be forgotten, Bolt, a colt in the world of athletics, not only got to the final of an event at the World Championships but also to the final of one of the blue ribbon events and that is something that many athletes around the world dream about, a performance that has been the high point in the career of many an outstanding athlete.
What happened to Bolt on Thursday in Helsinki was not his fault.
What happened to Bolt was simply this: because of his exceptional talent, people expected too much too early, like many around the world, too many Jamaicans obviously believed that because he is a Jamaican he would have won.
On top of that and like so many who have been selected to the West Indies cricket team in recent times, he was a boy competing against men.
At the next World Champion-ships, Bolt will be two years older, at the next Olympic Games he will be three years older, that will be the time to judge him, and even then, at 20 and 21, it still may be a bit early.
One thing is certain: Bolt is a gifted youngster who seems destined to win a gold medal, or two, or three for Jamaica, to become a superstar and to maintain Jamaica's wonderful reputation in the world of sport.
