Fraser-Pryce and Bolt Twice as Nice at London Olympics

London -- Confetti dropped from the ceiling, people erupted in roars and music blasted.  That was the reaction of the crowd at Puma Yard when Usain Bolt defended his Olympic 100m title last night at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, London. 

If you weren’t in the stadium or Jamaica then the next best place to be was at the Puma Yard in Brick Lane, London.  Hundreds of people poured in the lounge bar and hang out spot for all things Jamaican.  The building was decorated in every combination of gold, green and black, and the colors draped everyone standing in front of the jumbo size monitors watching the races.  It didn’t matter where a person was born.  Once they were in Puma Yard their allegiance shifted.  Jamaican flags were worn as capes; women wore green pants and tight fighting yellow tops and everyone wore some form of Puma clothing, the official clothing sponsor for Team Jamaica.  Puma also featured a line of clothes for the Olympics that were designed by Cedella Marley.  People stood in place eating their jerk chicken or curry goat while others temporarily forgot about athletics or food and carried on bad on the dance floor. 

Whenever races with Jamaicans were about to start the selector would turn off the music to let the crowd hear the commentary from the BBC.  When the 100m final was about to begin the place became completely quiet.  Then the starter’s gun fired and the crowd started cheering.  When Bolt shifted gears and took control of the race and won, the crowd also shifted gears and screamed their heads off, glittery confetti fell from the ceiling and people started jumping up and down.  The selector waited a few seconds then started Barrington Levy’s Murderer.  The crowd instantly recognized the introductory seconds of the songs and everyone started dancing. 

It was a while before everyone calmed down. 

Bolt has been the most featured athlete for this Olympics.  The other athletes to come close were Jessica Ennis and Michael Phelps but the face of the Games has been Bolt.

When I landed in Heathrow Airport and walked towards the immigration area the first image I saw was a Visa advertisement with Bolt.  It was the only photo of anyone in that section.  That Visa promotion is splashed across countless billboards and buses throughout the city.  That image along with t-shirts showing Bolt’s face, his To Di World pose, or some assortment of him is everywhere. 

On Saturday, my cousin and I attended the morning session of track and field at the Olympic Stadium.  We saw round 1 of the men’s 100m.  We knew Bolt’s heat was about to run because people who could see into the tunnel where the athletes would walk out of were bending over to take pictures of him walking out.  Prior to the race the stadium announcer called the names of a few athletes about to run but before Bolt’s race he told the 80,000 people that the 100m would feature ‘you know who.’ As the runners stood at the starter line the announcer introduced Bolt by saying ‘the fastest man in the world’ and the stadium vibrated with the screams from the people.

As my cousin and I walked around Olympic Park we saw a lot of Jamaican flags and colors being worn by nationals and foreigners.  People were hustling into the stadium to watch the women’s 100m final that night.  They were either in line to go through security for the Stadium or in line to watch the night meet on land similar to Henman Hill in the Park, but very few were leaving the stadium.

 As Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce stood at the line of the 100m I thought of the remarkable moment in history it would be for her to defend her title; that she would be only the third woman to do so; that her victories in Beijing and Berlin and wins since have not been flukes but that she really is a world champion and just like Bolt should be ranked in the legend category of sprinters; and that she and Bolt have completely transformed track and field in Jamaica. 

I held my breath when the women were about to run. They are all such incredible sprinters that I wouldn’t have been surprised with the outcome, but when Fraser-Pryce won I knew the party had started in Jamaica and for Jamaicans everywhere.  Her win started the celebrations the country wanted for their Olympians and would now have towards the 50^th anniversary of the island’s independence.