The Editor, Sir:

Since the outstanding performance of our athletes in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, there have been insinuations of doping. The latest critic is Carl Lewis. Mr Lewis has claimed that anyone who does not question Bolt's performance is a fool.

Carl Lewis won two gold medals and one silver in the 1998 Seoul Olympics under questionable circumstances. In 2003, Dr Wade Exum, the United States Olympic Committee's director of drug control administration, from 1991 to 2000, gave copies of documents to Sports Illustrated, which revealed that some 100 American athletes, who failed drug tests and should have been prevented from competing in the Olympics, were nevertheless cleared to compete. Among those athletes was Carl Lewis.

three times positive

It was revealed that Lewis tested positive three times before the 1988 Olympics for pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine, banned stimulants and bronchiodilators also found in cold medication, and had been banned from the Seoul Olympics and from competition for six months. The USOC accepted his claim of inadvertent use and overturned the decision. Maybe Carl's conscience is haunting him, he is just 'bad-mind', or he is probably suffering from memory lapse.

Let us go back to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Carl Lewis was adamant that Caribbean athletes including Jamaicans were coming to the United States to train and hence robbing the US athletes of their medals. Well our athletes are now Jamaican-trained, but Lewis is still envious.

Since, according to Lewis and other detractors, it is drugs that produce world records, why couldn't he and other athletes, whose bodies were proven to be saturated with performance enhancing drugs, run faster than Usain Bolt or Asafa Powell? It then stands to reason that it takes more than even drugs to produce speed. According to one comment posted online, Jamaica's national dish is not spaghetti. Jamaica is rich with foods that provide us with a lot of energy and 'nuff stamina'. If it was not for Carl Lewis and other dishonest athletes, Jamaica would have won more gold medals in the past.

Someone needs to tell Carl Lewis that Jamaica has been a name brand from time immemorial. We excel not only in track and field, but in everything else that we endeavour to do. We have the 'Midas touch', turning everything we touch into gold. In spite of the vicissitudes, Jamaica is still a blessed country with lots of talents. Our music is sought after from near and far. Jamaica is a fertile land, producing the best resources, whether human or natural.

brain-damaged critics

What will it take to convince these brain-damaged critics that Bolt's run was legal. The Jamaican athletes were tested more than any other nationality. If our athletes had drugs in their system, it would have been found in their urine and blood samples. Also, according to some findings, because of Bolt's height, he has less strides, and hence faster speed.

The main problem is, the North Americans have long prided themselves to be the best, and hence invincible, so when a small Third World country like Jamaica challenges them and beats them, they cannot stand it. Carl, I know it hurts, but you just have to live with it.

I am, etc.,

CESLYN WOLFE

csywle@gmail.com

Hanover

Via Go-Jamaica