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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Hideously diverse Britain: Usain Bolt and the inner Jamaican | Hideously diverse Britain: Usain Bolt and the inner Jamaican |
| (about 10 hours later) | |
| Sun 12 Aug 2012 20.59 BST | |
| First published on Sun 12 Aug 2012 20.59 BST | |
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| A clarification. Last week, in an article about the jollity at Jamaica House on the occasion of Usain Bolt's retention of the 100 metre sprint title, I described how revellers lost the plot in the midst of crazed celebrations. | A clarification. Last week, in an article about the jollity at Jamaica House on the occasion of Usain Bolt's retention of the 100 metre sprint title, I described how revellers lost the plot in the midst of crazed celebrations. |
| They wore their "hearts on their sleeves", I said, painting a picture of all the whooping , the stomping and the whistling. Scrupulously objective, but it wasn't quite the truth, dear reader. I missed out the bit about the bloke who couldn't quite breathe as the gun was fired, who stopped breathing completely when Bolt moved sluggishly from his block. The guy who screamed and clicked his fingers in that way he does when overexcited, as Bolt flicked on the turbo charger. That was me. | They wore their "hearts on their sleeves", I said, painting a picture of all the whooping , the stomping and the whistling. Scrupulously objective, but it wasn't quite the truth, dear reader. I missed out the bit about the bloke who couldn't quite breathe as the gun was fired, who stopped breathing completely when Bolt moved sluggishly from his block. The guy who screamed and clicked his fingers in that way he does when overexcited, as Bolt flicked on the turbo charger. That was me. |
| It happened when Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce won the 100 metres. And it happened again last Thursday when the sublime became ridiculous and three Jamaicans, led by Bolt, grabbed the top slots in the 200 metres. Pointing, shouting, delirious chants of: "One, two, three!" | It happened when Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce won the 100 metres. And it happened again last Thursday when the sublime became ridiculous and three Jamaicans, led by Bolt, grabbed the top slots in the 200 metres. Pointing, shouting, delirious chants of: "One, two, three!" |
| I'm not Jamaican. I was born in east London. I am British. I like it here, for all the complications, flaws and disappointments. I go to Jamaica once a year to see my dad and I've come to like the place a lot. But why the whooping? | I'm not Jamaican. I was born in east London. I am British. I like it here, for all the complications, flaws and disappointments. I go to Jamaica once a year to see my dad and I've come to like the place a lot. But why the whooping? |
| I think it is because all of us in the diaspora understand that for Jamaica, this sort of thing matters. It has been marvellous to watch Britain win all these medals, and wonderful to feel the bonhomie in the capital since the opening ceremony. But a year from now, had we failed to win a single medal, it wouldn't have mattered. We would still have had that sense of ourselves as a rich nation, as a world player, as an economic powerhouse. In the absence of these certainties, excellence in sport and in the arts is what allows Jamaica to punch above its weight in the world. I also think I care because the people I care about over there care. I know it chips away at the psyche when we lazily portray life in Jamaica as all poverty and gun crime. When so many stories that feature black faces are negative. | I think it is because all of us in the diaspora understand that for Jamaica, this sort of thing matters. It has been marvellous to watch Britain win all these medals, and wonderful to feel the bonhomie in the capital since the opening ceremony. But a year from now, had we failed to win a single medal, it wouldn't have mattered. We would still have had that sense of ourselves as a rich nation, as a world player, as an economic powerhouse. In the absence of these certainties, excellence in sport and in the arts is what allows Jamaica to punch above its weight in the world. I also think I care because the people I care about over there care. I know it chips away at the psyche when we lazily portray life in Jamaica as all poverty and gun crime. When so many stories that feature black faces are negative. |
| It creeps on you; the inner Jamaican. And when Warren Weir, the youngest of the 200 metre winners, said: "I was honoured to be able to do what my country wanted," I was ready for a little cry. | It creeps on you; the inner Jamaican. And when Warren Weir, the youngest of the 200 metre winners, said: "I was honoured to be able to do what my country wanted," I was ready for a little cry. |
| Race issues | |
| Hideously diverse Britain | |
| Immigration and asylum | |
| Jamaica | |
| Olympic Games 2012 | |
| Americas | |
| Olympic Games | |
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