"there has only ever been one perfect man, the Lord Jesus, and we killed him. I only missed a putt."
The Bolt Supremacy
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Richard Moore, London, Yellow Jersey, 2015. ISBN 9780224092302
Richard Moore set out to investigate how Jamaica has managed to dominate sprinting over the past 10 years. He admits that “before going to Jamaica, I was as sceptical as anyone”. He has spoken to athletes – several long interviews – coaches, families of athletes, visited schools, training centres, spoken to academics to produce a thoroughly researched book.
The conclusion is that the phenomenon arises from a number of factors:
For many years Jamaica has had in place excellent coach development programmes;
The extent to which athletics is ingrained in the sporting culture, and the age at which kids start running – and running seriously and with correct techniques. One coach adds on this point: “This is why Jamaicans are able to pass a baton without even having a training camp. It’s drilled into them from primary school”
The way track and field is seen as a team sport not an individual sport.
Inevitably, the question of whether the Jamaican supremacy is based on rampant drug abuse has to be addressed. Jamaican elite athletes have failed drugs tests in recent years. However these have been for stimulants and not steroids or other hard drugs. And as the author points out when: “Two Welsh athletes tested positive after taking a poorly labelled supplement in 2014; nobody accused Wales of running a systematic doping programme.” While people he spoke to made accusations, they provided “no firm evidence of wrongdoing”. The book’s conclusion is: “So, drugs might be part of the Jamaican success. But they might not be”. The author did not find evidence to convince him that the success was due to drugs.
Drug testing in Jamaica is revealed to have been very lax and unsatisfactory. When the CAS published the reasons for clearing Veronica Campbell-Brown of failing a test, “the fifty-eight-page report read like a charge sheet against the Jamaican athletics and anti-doping authorities. It detailed a catalogue of abject failings”.
This website takes a keen interest in the relationship between sport and Christianity. There were plenty of references in the book:
The man who “discovered” Usain Bolt is a Baptist pastor; Bolt’s mother is a Seventh Day Adventist. Bolt himself is quoted saying: “God has a plan for everyone”.
Asafa Powell’s parents are pastors in the Redemption National Church of God
Glen Mills attends Swallowfield Chapel in Kingston every Sunday. The Yohan Blake interview includes references to God. Between the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, we are told, Shelly-Ann Fraser-‘Pryce made a renewed commitment to God’.
The book is an excellent read and gives a read insight into sprinting in Jamaica,