Olympics boss rebukes showy Bolt....

[Twan]

Olympics boss Jacques Rogge has told Usain Bolt to show more respect for opponents after the Jamaican claimed the first sprint double for 24 years.

Bolt showboated at the start and finish of his world-record breaking 200m race and slowed up yards from the line in the 100m final so he could celebrate.

"That's not the way we perceive being a champion," Rogge told Associated Press.

"I've no problem with him doing a show. But I think he should show more respect and shake hands after the finish."

Rogge said Bolt should "not make gestures like the one he made in the 100m", adding: "He might have interpreted that in another way, but the way it was perceived was 'catch me if you can.' You don't do that. But he'll learn. He's still a young man."

The other runners in Wednesday's 200m did not seem upset with Bolt's antics – American silver medallist Shawn Crawford telling reporters afterwards: "I love watching him when he does his thing.


BBC Sport's Tom Fordyce has no problem with Bolt's antics

"When he was introduced, he was dancing, and the crowd loves it. It adds a bit of sparkle and cheer."

Bolt told reporters he had "no regrets" about his showy 100m finish, or his antics after setting a new world best of 19.30 secs in winning the 200m.

"That's just how I am," he said. "I love to dance and show people my personality. It's fun and the crowd loves it."

Rogge's comments did seem out of kilter with the mood in the Bird's Nest stadium, where the crowd appeared to lap up his childlike joy at becoming the first man since American Carl Lewis in 1984 to win an Olympic double in the 100m and 200m.

Bolt won by the biggest margin since the 200m came on the Olympic scene 108 years ago, beating the field by two-thirds of a second to break Michael Johnson’s 12-year-old record by two hundredths of a second.

And others will also argue Bolt is simply continuing an Olympic sprinting tradition of colourful, showy champions such as Carl Lewis, Maurice Greene and Johnson, who called Bolt "Superman 2".



BBC Sport's Steve Cram said: "There was nothing wrong with it (the celebration).

"If Bolt was being disrepectful, then fine, but he's just done something that no other sprinter has done before.

"He is very good for the sport, he's a young man, it's his birthday and he's just become a legend in the sport.

"He is an exuberant character and if he wants to have fun, let him do it."

"Lightning" Bolt, as he says he prefers to be known, had brought the 91,000-seater stadium to its feet, running a record first 100m and then chasing down Johnson's mark over the final 50m, his eyes flicking left all the time as he checked the trackside clock.

When he dipped his lanky 6ft 5in frame for the line, the crowd erupted and Bolt embarked on a triumphant victory lap to the sound of reggae music, dancing a barefoot jig around his golden spikes while draped in Jamaican flags.

"It's just a dance from back home," he said in explanation of one knock-kneed display.

There was even a special rendition of 'Happy Birthday Dear Usain' played over the public address system – he is 22 on Thursday.

"I'm number one," the joyous athlete mouthed at cameras, thumping his chest and blowing kisses.

In his post-race interview, Bolt admitted he could barely believe his achievement.

[Willi]

At best cultural imperialism, at worst racism.

Who Phelps go shake hands with.

Wariner dont even talk to the press after he got beaten and Rogge go single out BOLT??? When since its the duty of Rogge to tell people how to celebrate as long as they dont diss anyone? What makes HIS ifalse interpretation valid?

If he had a problem, he could have spoken privately with him.

What is the media profiling about here?

I am yet to see what sin Bolt committed! He starred the games for them and they turn around and bash him for nothing!

They test the man 13 times this year, nuh harrassment that?. Its BOLT who should be complaining!

[Mosiah]

The world should rebuke the IOC boss. We need to tell him to go...to hell!

[Peter R]

We need to tell Rogge to kiss his assets.

When Phelps talk about using his competitors comments to motivate him (and words not given their full context) anybody say anything?

or did Rogge say anything about any swimmer saying how and what they were going to do vis a vis another competitor?

Dem fi tek weh demself..

To my knowledge Bolt has never singled out any competitor as a man to beat for anything he said...

[Gamma]

bolt runnung against himself and the clock with one intention...TO WIN!!!!

[Peter R]

yuh done know!

[Islandman]

Response - Rogge rips the wrong guy

BEIJING — Jacques Rogge is so bought, so compromised, the president of the IOC doesn’t have the courage to criticize China for telling a decade of lies to land itself these Olympic Games.

All the promises made to get these Games — on Tibet, Darfur, pollution, worker safety, freedom of expression, dissident rights — turned out to be phony, perhaps as phony as the Chinese gymnasts’ birthdates Rogge was way too scared to investigate.

One of the most powerful men in sports turned the world away from his complicity. Instead, he has flexed his muscles by unloading on a powerless sprinter from a small island nation.

Rogge’s ripping of Usain Bolt’s supposed showboating in two of the most electrifying gold-medal performances of these Games has to be one of the most ill-timed and gutless acts in the modern history of the Olympics.

“That’s not the way we perceive being a champion,” Rogge said of the Jamaican sprinter. “I have no problem with him doing a show. I think he should show more respect for his competitors and shake hands, give a tap on the shoulder to the other ones immediately after the finish and not make gestures like the one he made in the 100 meters.”

Oh, this is richer than those bribes and kickbacks the IOC got caught taking.

All the powerful nations — including the United States — have carte blanche at the Games. They can pout and preen, cheat, throw bean balls, file wild complaints, break promises that got them a host bid, whatever they want. They can take turns slapping Rogge and his cronies around like rag dolls as long as the dinner with a good wine list gets paid.

A single individual sprinter? Even if you don’t like his manner, that’s whom Rogge deems it necessary to attack, to issue a worldwide condemnation?

“I understand the joy,” Rogge said. “He might have interpreted that in another way, but the way it was perceived was ‘catch me if you can.’ You don’t do that. But he’ll learn. He’s still a young man.”

Perceived by whom? Old fat cats making billions of Olympic dollars on the backs of athletes like Bolt for a century now? They get to define this? They get to lecture about learning?

Bolt is everything the Olympics are supposed to be about. He isn’t the product of some rich country, some elaborate training program that churns out gold medals by any means necessary.

He’s a breath of fresh air, a guy who came out of nowhere to enrapture the world with his athletic performance and colorful personality. This is no dead-eye product of some massive machine.

He was himself, and the world loved him for it.

On his own force of will, Bolt has become the break-out star of these Games. He saved the post-Michael Phelps Olympics. It wasn’t so much his world-record times, but the flair, the fun.

No one at the track had a problem with this guy; they understood he is everything the sport needs to recover from an era of extreme doping. The Lightning Bolt made people care about track again, something that seemed impossible two weeks ago.

“I don’t feel like he’s being disrespectful,” American Shawn Crawford told the Associated Press. “He deserves to dance.”

Apparently, Rogge would prefer 12-year-old gymnasts too frightened to crack a smile.

It got better when, in the same press conference, he pretended to forget all the lies China told him to get this bid, all the troubles, all the challenges, and praised the host nation. Yes, these have been an exceptionally well-run Games from a tactical standpoint, and the Chinese people have displayed otherworldly kindness.

None of which denies the promises broken, the innocent jailed, the freedoms denied — the kind of issues someone with Jacques Rogge’s standing should be talking about.

He has no spine for that. Not for China. Not for any big country. He had to criticize someone, he had to make headlines, he had to show he was a tough guy. So who better than someone from somewhere that can’t ever touch him back?

Yes, Usain Bolt is the problem of the Olympics. He’s the embarrassment. He’s the one who needs to learn.

Sure, Jacques, sure.

Dan Wetzel is a Yahoo! Sports national columnist.

[Lazie]

I am hoping the Minister of Sport mek this idiot know exactly what the people of Jamaica thing of his comical remark.