Bolt lights up Jamaica with fun-filled record

BEIJING – The prime minister of Jamaica was on the cell phone, wanting to speak to the fastest man alive.

But when a guy is 21, he might not be accustomed to chatting up heads of state. So Usain Bolt, handed the phone by the minister of sport, didn’t get much past, “Thank you, sir.”

When a guy is 21, he has no fear, especially in the food line. So on the day of the biggest race of his life, he goes through two servings of chicken nuggets back at the athletes’ village. McDonald’s – lunch, and dinner, of champions.

When a guy is 21, he doesn’t care that on a warm night in China he’s running the fastest legal 100 meters the world has seen, and has a chance to blow the record into stir-fried rice. All he knows is that the rest of the field is behind him, which is the way he wanted it to be.

So he starts celebrating 10 meters before the finish line and taps his chest as he crosses, and still runs a 9.69 – which is like hitting 75 home runs in a season and taking September off to go to the beach.

Somewhere must be this rule: You are not supposed to be able to cruise to history in the 100 meters.

“I didn’t come here to run the world record. I came here to win,” he would say later. “I was having fun. That’s just me.”

When a guy is 21, maybe he understands they’re dancing in the streets back home, because Jamaica turns out sprinters like it turns out reggae fans. Of the 42 Olympic medals the nation owned before 2008, 41 were in track and field.

“This means a lot to the country,” he said. “And it means a lot to me.”

That number, 9.69. Not even 10 seconds for a man to decide his legacy and make his fate. To be fulfilled, or not. An Olympic champion, or not.

But maybe Bolt doesn’t quite understand what this really means on the dot in the Caribbean on the other side of the world. Jamaica’s native sons have won races around the planet. But the big prize. Never the gold medal in the Olympic 100 meters.

Until now.

The older people understand what those 9.69 seconds did.

Herb Elliott is the Jamaica team doctor. Been around forever.

“We are sprinters in Jamaica. It is in our mind, it is in our bodies, it is in our souls,” he said.

“But the Usain Bolts of this world come along but once every century.”

Olivia Grange is the minister of sport. She was the one charged with getting Bolt to the phone for the prime minister

“Our entire country is celebrating. Every corner of our little island,” she said.

“He will be as popular in Jamaica as Bob Marley.”

She mentioned the government had put up giant screens in several locations, so even those without televisions could watch.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding had about 200 guests in for an Olympics-watching breakfast. About 20 minutes after the 9.69 seconds, he picked up the phone to call China.

We know what happens next. The world waits for the doping test results. The roster of past giants in the Olympics 100 is not without scandal, on the 20th anniversary of Ben Johnson.

“I couldn’t care less about rumors,” Elliott said. “We have been tested and we have been tested and we have been tested.”

The feat will correctly rattle the track world. A man glided and partied to the finish line and ran 9.69.