GREG BAKER / Associated Press
Jamaica's Usain Bolt strikes a winning pose after the 4x100-meter relay yesterday. Bolt has won three gold medals with an unprecedented three world records in Beijing. |
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BEIJING – Maybe it's the yams.
Usain Bolt and Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jamaica's top male and female sprinters, are from Trelawny Parish on the northwest side of the island. And Trelawny is famous for its yams, the starchy vegetable grown in the ground that is similar to a sweet potato and that, many in Jamaica believe, carries medicinal and even spiritual powers.
“Is the Trelawny yam stand up in him, yes, di yam,” the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper quoted Wellesley Bolt, Usain's father, after his son electrified the Olympics by winning the men's 100 meters in a world-record 9.69 seconds.
Bolt has three golds and three world records after running the third leg on a Jamaican 4x100-meter relay yesterday that triggered the automatic timing device in 37.10 seconds, three-tenths of a second lower than the 15-year-old record (held by the United States) despite marginal baton passes. On Wednesday, Bolt broke Michael Johnson's supposedly unbreakable record in the 200, winning in 19.30.
The Jamaican women went gold-silver-bronze in the 100 and gold-bronze in the 200. They were the prohibitive favorites to win the 4x100 relay yesterday and sweep the six sprint golds for the first time in Olympic history when, perhaps mercifully for the rest of the field, they bungled a baton exchange and did not finish.
Jamaica: an island nation of 2.8 million people, the 138th-most populous country on Earth.
“Jamaica did great at these Games,” Bolt said, smiling. “We almost took it over.”
But how?
It is a question that figures to percolate for months, even years, ranging from poignant stories about yams to more serious suspicions about doping. From the merits of listening to reggae music to perhaps one day facing the music.
“If you came to the (Jamaican Olympic) Trials in June, you'd see the kind of depth we have and that we're expected to do this type of thing,” said Dr. Herb Elliott, who holds several positions within the country's various sports federations. “But remember, this is not just 2008. We have been doing this since 1948. We have Donald Quarrie and Merlene Ottey and many others.
“We have always been sprinters. We are too damn lazy to run long.”
Few doubt the island's ability to spawn sprinters in much the same way that Kenya's Rift Valley cranks out distance runners. Ben Johnson, Linford Christie and Donovan Bailey – who crossed the line first in the 100 meters at the 1988, '92 and '96 Olympics – all had Jamaican roots. Sanya Richards, the U.S. 400-meter champion, was born in Kingston.
“We are the sprinter factory of the world,” said Olivia Grange, Jamaica's minister of sport.
The big difference in recent years is that they're not leaving to run for other countries, or even to run for U.S. colleges while retaining Jamaican citizenship. NCAA schools offer a free education, but they also can burn out an athlete, particularly sprinters, because of the constant demand to run multiple events and relays to score points in team meets.
With only a few exceptions, the current crop of Olympic sprinters trains in Jamaica.
And that could be a problem, anti-doping experts say.
For the past year, BALCO founder-turned-anti-doping-crusader Victor Conte has told anyone who would listen that unannounced, out-of-competition drug testing is practically nonexistent in Jamaica and other Caribbean countries, allowing athletes to use anabolic steroids and other banned substances with impunity while engaging in their heaviest workouts in the offseason.
In December, Conte says, he met with former World Anti-Doping Agency chief Dick Pound and provided details – name, address, phone number – of a drug dealer providing banned substances to Jamaican track athletes. Pound passed along the information to his successors at WADA, who have indicated that protocol requires such data be forwarded to that country's anti-doping agency.
Whether Jamaica actually has one depends on whom you ask.
Elliott says the Jamaican Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) was conceived three years ago but only recently received final government approval. Elliott, who says he holds a key position within the agency but won't reveal the job title, insists Bolt and other elite athletes have been tested numerous times, including the crucial winter offseason period.
But Jamaica refused to join the Caribbean Regional Anti-doping Organization (RADO), and both WADA and RADO officials say they cannot verify whether the Jamaican agency is actually operational and, if so, how truly independent and effective it is. And Elliott, who doubles as a team doctor, is a regular presence in restricted areas of the Bird's Nest, never far from Jamaica's athletes and clearly reveling in their golden week of achievement – hardly the picture of independence and objectivity.
“Let me tell you something with regards to drugs,” said Elliott, a member of the anti-doping commission for the IAAF, track's international governing body. “I am the person who tests in Jamaica. I tested (Bolt) between November last year and December 15 times. Since he has come here, he has been tested six times for blood and urine.
“So anybody who wants to cast aspersions about our program about drugs, I can just say one thing: They can go to hell. We are ready at any time, at any hour to be tested.”
Asked about Conte's incessant criticisms, Elliott said: “Mr. Conte is a poster boy for cheating. He should not be allowed to open his mouth about anybody else.”
To which Conte replied: “If Herb Elliott is so smart, then he likely realizes that having a Jamaican female athlete improve her 100-meter time by more than a half-second, or five meters, in only one year is highly suspicious. As everyone now knows, passing drug tests does not mean much.”
Conte was referring to Shelly-Ann Fraser, the surprise winner of the women's 100 on Sunday in 10.78 seconds. That's more than a half-second improvement from the previous year, and nearly a full second from 2006 – massive drops in time rarely seen at this level.
Two days later, Jamaica's Melaine Walker won the women's 400 hurdles in 52.64 seconds, or 1.5 seconds under her best time before this year. Of Jamaica's seven individual sprint medals, six came from people who have significantly lowered their personal bests this season.
“I am highly suspicious of the recent 100-and 200-meter world record performances by Usain Bolt as well as the performances of several other Jamaican track athletes,” Conte wrote in an e-mail. “Such rapid improvements by so many athletes from the same country should definitely be scrutinized.”
Scrutinized, maybe. Envied, definitely.
In the news conference after the 4x100 relay gold, a journalist from Peru explained how Jamaica has become “an example” for developing nations around the world wanting to achieve athletic success on the world stage.
“We also,” the journalist said, “would like to know your secret.”
“That's a hard question,” said Asafa Powell, who ran the anchor leg. “To answer that, you have to come to Jamaica and see the routine we go through in the offseason, the 5 o'clock in the morning workouts. Just some real hard work.”
George, the island nation's sports minister, was asked a similar question.
“You know why?” she said. “We eat healthy and good food, lots of yams, lots of greens, lots of fish, good Jamaican food and clean, fresh air. Maybe you should also start to eat Jamaican food.”
Yes, di yam.
Mark Zeigler: (619) 293-2205; mark.zeigler@uniontrib.com
2008 OLYMPICS: BEIJING