TIME TO HONOUR BOLT IN TRELAWNY
As I feared, despite all the hoopla while he was conquering the world with his gold medals and world records, the career of the great Usain Bolt has ended without any tangible landmark in his home parish, Trelawny, to immortalise his achievements as the ultimate track and field superstar of all time.
Ever since he started his official march to greatness at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China, by winning the sprint double (100m and 200m) in record times, I have been advocating that the local authorities in Trelawny do something tangible to immortalise his success as a source of inspiration to the people of the parish.
Now, after repeating his phenomenal sprinting mastery with further sprint doubles at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil, alongside the same level of dominance in the various editions of the IAAF World Championships, except for a few insignificant landmarks in his home district of Sherwood Content, Bolt remains an unrecognised hero in Trelawny. This is despite Sports Minister Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange declaring that a replica of the statue unveiled at the National Stadium in Kingston earlier this month would be coming to Trelawny soon.
CONFLICTING VIEWS
As a native of Trelawny, I feel embarrassed by the slighting of this great man, as except for talks about the erection of a statuewhich has become controversial, with conflicting views as to whether it should be erected outside of the reach of ordinary residents inside the Falmouth Cruise Ship Pier or exposed to all and sundry inside Falmouth’s Water Square-nothing has been done to make him special among his own people.
While I do appreciate the fact that a statue has been erected of him at the National Stadium, and that a running track has been created in his honour at the University of the West Indies, also in Kingston, I am afraid that, with no monuments in his honour in western Jamaica, Bolt’s greatness is not being treated with the significance it deserves, and could diminish in the upcoming years.
For those who might think I am overreacting, we just need to look at the situation with another of the region’s icons, the legendary cricket umpire Steve Bucknor. Despite a number of enviable firsts on the global stage, to include being the first man in the world to be a FIFA referee and an elite cricket umpire at the same time, he is almost a forgotten man in western Jamaica, less than 10 years after he officiated in his last Test match in 2009.
Today, how many of the youngsters who walk by Bucknor on the streets of Montego Bay know that he has officiated in a world record 128 Test matches, 181 One Day Internationals, including a record five consecutive Cricket World Cup finals? I rather suspect that the answer would be unflattering, because there are no monuments in western Jamaica to highlight this man’s greatness.
ECONOMIC VALUE
As I have been doing in this column since 2008, I am once again calling on the civic, business, and political leaders in Trelawny to wake up from their protracted slumber in regards to giving Bolt his due. In fact, I believe if the right approach is taken, he could be honoured in a way that always brings tremendous economic value to the parish.
One of the long-standing complaints by tourism stakeholders in Trelawny over the years has been the absence of a marquee attraction in the parish to drive its fledgling tourism product. At present, cruise ship passengers have to be ‘bussed’ to the neighbouring parishes of St Ann and St James to be exposed to highquality attractions.
In my opinion, the Bolt brand is tailor-made for the creation of an attraction with global appeal in his home parish. In fact, with just minimal creativity, a world-class attraction could be created in the parish with Bolt as the main attraction. I am again suggesting that the following be done:
Name the highway in Trelawny, from Duncans to the Martha Brae intersection, the Usain Bolt Highway. Attractive markers highlighting his achievements could be erected along the way.
Rename the Trelawny Stadium the Usain Bolt Stadium of Excellent and add a standard running track to stage international events.
Rename the William Knibb High School the Usain Bolt High School and put in a world-class track and field programme designed to develop local talent and attract overseas students.
Erect a replica of the Usain Bolt statue at the National Stadium in Water Square, Falmouth, a major attraction for locals and cruise ship passengers.
Create a Usain Bolt Museum in Sherwood Content with unique artefacts to inspire global interest.
I believe that if the above suggestions are accepted, it would result in the proverbial killing of two birds with one stone, as we would not only be immortalising Bolt in a profound way, but we would also be creating the marquee tourism attraction that the parish so badly needs.