Onochie Anibeze
19 August 2008
Beijing — Shelly-Ann Fraser excused herself from an exciting interview after her astounding performance in the final of the Beijing Olympics 100m final for women.
Journalists had surrounded her and she was extremely excited talking to them as the new Olympic champion."Oh my God, this is great, Oh my God, this is exciting."
These were the words she kept repeating, jumping up in celebration at the mixed zone of the stadium when a lady handed her a phone and said "the Prime Minister is on line for you."
She grabbed the phone, moved out a little bit from us and spoke to Honourable Bruce Golding, the Prime Minister of Jamaica, who watched the race on television at home.
Jamaica has turned the glamour country of the Games here and Mr. Golding was said to be celebrating a great moment in Jamaica following what the country's athletes had achieved.
24 hours after Usain Bolt broke his former world record to win the men's race with a 9.69 seconds finish, three girls from Jamaica appeared in the women's 100m final and finished first second and third. That happened in a race that had three Americans, one from Great Britain and another from Bahamas.
"What did the Prime Minister tell you," this reporter asked Fraser, and she retorted "he was just congratulating me and telling me the country was proud of what we did."
Shelly ran 10.78 seconds to win the gold. Simpson Sherone took the silver and Stewart Kerron the bronze. They both returned 10.98 seconds but the photo-finish machine gave Simpson the silver.
Before the Prime Minister interrupted the interview, she had paid great tribute to her mother, thanking her for her support.
"My mum means a lot to me. I have been talking to her. We thank God for our achievement. It's a great feeling to win the Olympics. Oh my God, Oh my God." The 21- year-old girl said. Interestingly, Bolt is also 21 years old.
"It didn't matter to us who was second or third the moment we knew it was Jamaica 1, 2, 3," said Kerron.
"This achievement is special to me because I had watched to see Jamaicans come so close to winning the gold in women's 100m race but they never did. This happening now is a great thing and we are all excited about it," Simpson said, adding "this is tremendous, this is history, this is great for our country. For all the support from the government and people of Jamaica, we couldn't have done less."
On Saturday, Bolt was so comfortable in the 100m final that about 15 meters to the end, he looked both sides, slowed down a little bit to start celebrating when he had not gotten to the line. He still ran 9.69 seconds. It meant that he could have returned a much faster time and, perhaps, a record that could take decades to break. Jamaicans are stealing the show in the track and field here. They also have the relays coming. They are playing Reggae on the tracks here and dancing it well for the world to watch.
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