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PM backs Bolt's OJ
BY KAYON RAYNOR Senior Observer staff reporter raynork@jamaicaobserver.com
Friday, October 16, 2009
PRIME Minister Bruce Golding has defended his decision to bestow the nation's fourth highest national honour - the Order of Jamaica - on triple Olympic and World Championship gold medallist Usain Bolt, in the face of criticism from some quarters of the society.
"People have said that he is too young and he should wait," Golding said during Wednesday evening's Fifth Annual Courtney Walsh Award for Excellence at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel.
Prime Minister Bruce Golding presents world 100m hurdles champion Brigitte Foster-Hylton with the coveted crystal bowl for copping the 2009 Courtney Walsh Award for Excellence at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on Wednesday evening. (Photo: Karl McLarty)
"I don't think Usain is superman. I believe he is superhuman. But he's not going to remain a superhuman forever and I don't think that he's going to be able to break any world record when he's 35; I don't think that it is physically possible."
"I felt that anybody who has brought such a sense of achievement to Jamaica, where you demonstrate it, not once, not twice, that you could move that record, you could establish yourself beyond any doubt as the fastest human being that has ever lived, deserves that award," the prime minister reasoned.
On September 15, Golding announced in Parliament that world 100 and 200 metres record holder Bolt, who received the Order of Distinction Officer Class in 2008 for his triple gold medal performance in Beijing, would also receive the OJ for his triple gold medal exploits at Berlin this summer.
In Beijing, the Glen Mills-coached athlete clocked world records of 9.69 (100m), 19.30 (200m) and shared in the 4x100 mark of 37.40 seconds, respectively. He returned a year later to produce 9.58 and 19.19.
"I thought it interesting that some people felt that it was inappropriate (to accord Bolt the OJ) because there is a young man by the name of Chris Hoy from Scotland, who won three gold medals in cycle racing in Beijing.
"The Queen saw it fit to award him a Knighthood and for the life of me, if the motherland can do it, after the Sunshine Girls have put them in their place, I see no reason why we couldn't honour our own," Golding said.
BY KAYON RAYNOR Senior Observer staff reporter raynork@jamaicaobserver.com
Friday, October 16, 2009
PRIME Minister Bruce Golding has defended his decision to bestow the nation's fourth highest national honour - the Order of Jamaica - on triple Olympic and World Championship gold medallist Usain Bolt, in the face of criticism from some quarters of the society.
"People have said that he is too young and he should wait," Golding said during Wednesday evening's Fifth Annual Courtney Walsh Award for Excellence at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel.
Prime Minister Bruce Golding presents world 100m hurdles champion Brigitte Foster-Hylton with the coveted crystal bowl for copping the 2009 Courtney Walsh Award for Excellence at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on Wednesday evening. (Photo: Karl McLarty)
"I don't think Usain is superman. I believe he is superhuman. But he's not going to remain a superhuman forever and I don't think that he's going to be able to break any world record when he's 35; I don't think that it is physically possible."
"I felt that anybody who has brought such a sense of achievement to Jamaica, where you demonstrate it, not once, not twice, that you could move that record, you could establish yourself beyond any doubt as the fastest human being that has ever lived, deserves that award," the prime minister reasoned.
On September 15, Golding announced in Parliament that world 100 and 200 metres record holder Bolt, who received the Order of Distinction Officer Class in 2008 for his triple gold medal performance in Beijing, would also receive the OJ for his triple gold medal exploits at Berlin this summer.
In Beijing, the Glen Mills-coached athlete clocked world records of 9.69 (100m), 19.30 (200m) and shared in the 4x100 mark of 37.40 seconds, respectively. He returned a year later to produce 9.58 and 19.19.
"I thought it interesting that some people felt that it was inappropriate (to accord Bolt the OJ) because there is a young man by the name of Chris Hoy from Scotland, who won three gold medals in cycle racing in Beijing.
"The Queen saw it fit to award him a Knighthood and for the life of me, if the motherland can do it, after the Sunshine Girls have put them in their place, I see no reason why we couldn't honour our own," Golding said.