“Independence, sporting heroes and magnificent queens too!”

Aug 30, 2015 Sports

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Colin E. H. Croft

‘Usain Bolt is a real boss!’ Trinidad & Tobago celebrates its fifty-third Independence anniversary on August 31, so we could use that common T&T phrase to describe the unbelievable efforts and successes of ‘the big man’ who has bossed everyone at ‘Worlds’. In two tremendous races, USA’s Justin Gatlin was absolutely crushed by ‘de boss.’
The 1960’s were tumultuous and ambitious times for Caribbean countries; Guyana, Barbados, Jamaica and T&T getting independence from Great Britain that decade; while personally, August has been a happy and quite sad month too. I was also married; No. 2; on August 31. My young queen – Shannon – was born August 29. Very sadly for us both, her mom – Gail – died this August 27.
Life goes on, and World Athletics Championships 2015 have provided opportunities to focus on divergent, alternative situations, none more so than exploits of “Lightening” Bolt, whose country Jamaica also celebrated its 53rd Independence anniversary on August 06 last.
There will always be comparisons; political, religious or otherwise; of Bolt and boxer Muhammed Ali, athlete Jesse Owens, swimmer Mark Spitz, footballer Pele, to name just a few.
James Cleveland “Jesse” Owens had to overcome racial prejudice for his black skin in native USA long before taking on deadly and selective politics of Germany’s Adolph Hitler, in order to win at Berlin Olympics 1936.
Amazingly, Jesse still managed four gold medals which America and Germany too, had to very grudgingly accept. Still the greatest sporting, religious, even political hero of all time must be Muhammad Ali.
Bolt is magnificent sports-wise, but he never had to overcome racial, political or religious obstacles as did Ali, who overcame those, and refused induction into USA’s army, thus losing his world title. Having won gold at Rome Olympics 1960, Ali did the impossible in boxing, when, still a pup at twenty-two, he twice beat indestructible champion Sonny Liston in 1964 and 1965. Still undergoing severe religious persecution for his conversion to Islam and changing his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali, he won world’s heavyweight championships on two come-backs.
Ali shook up the world by beating George Foreman in “The rumble in the jungle,” in Zaire 1974, still the biggest boxing upset ever, before beating Leon Spinks in 1978 to regain his title for the third time, having lost that very title to a Spinks upset months earlier.
Being first to win seven Gold medals in the pool in one Olympics – Munich 1972 – put Spitz slightly ahead of similarly performing Michael Phelps, while Edson Arantes do Nacimento – “ Pele” – by efforts for Brazil’s winning FIFA World Cup 1958, 1962 and 1970, is ahead of my favorite footballer of all time, Germany’s Franz “Kaiser” Beckenbauer.
But T&T’s multi-Olympics medalist Ato Boldon’s opinion on NBC television, that “Bolt has transcended the sport,” was spot on. Bolt may not have only aided in the revival of athletics, but, after so many drugs scandals over the last decade, Bolt may have actually saved the sport overall!
When Bolt won that 100 meters dash last week, his hardest race ever, USA’s Michael Johnson, who also compares well to Bolt, after Johnson’s four Olympics gold medals at Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000, and eight gold medals at ‘Worlds’ from Tokyo 1991 to Seville 1999, made an astonishing observation on BBC television:
“Half of the runners in that 100 meters final had bans and problems using performance enhancing drugs. This sport needs help!” Majestic queens all – Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, especially England’s Jessica Ennis-Hill and Kenya’s Vivian Cheruiyot, with honorable mentions to Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell-Brown, Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba, Holland’s Dafne Schippers and USA’s Allyson Felix.
Schippers is a sprinter converted from heptathlon. Being second to Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price in 100 meters, then dominating 200 meters, makes Dafne the athlete to anticipate in Rio Olympics 2016. What a conversion!
Similarly, Felix converted from 200 meters, confident that she could go 400 meters with the same results; gold; her stellar win magnifying the embarrassing lack of production by USA team-mates.
“VCB” has been such a royal presence in world sprints for so long that we forget that she is only thirty-three. That she can still get bronze in that memorable 200 meters after starting her international career in 1999 is out-of-this-world. Keep going, girl!
Genzebe Dibaba is trying hard not only to emulate her older sister, three times Olympic champion Tirunesh, but to actually outdo her sibling. One wonders what Genzebe can’t achieve, as she runs so smoothly for a middle-distance runner.
“Pocket Rocket” Fraser-Pryce, since she is only five feet tall, was imperious in that 100 meters. If she can exclude injuries in the next year, she will dominate the 100 meters at Rio to augment her already bulging gold cache and crown a great career.
But absolute heroines are heptathlon champion Innis-Hill and Cheruiyot, 10,000 meters winner.
Both had babies last year, so to compete and win dominantly, especially Ennis-Hill with seven disciplines, and having probably the best abdominal muscles at the ‘Worlds,’ are truly miraculous.
I lost a beautiful queen last week, but several magnificent athletic queens still persevere. Enjoy!

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