Jamaica’s sprint secrets: Goats, grannies and guns

PICTURE: AFP

Jamaica produced Bob Marley and the fastest sprinter the world has ever seen.

On any conceivable level, that makes no sense at all.

Marley was into one love and getting everyone together and feeling all right. He could make great music, but no one ever thought he had the pace to make the bus.

Usain Bolt made the history books yesterday morning (Singapore time), confirming his status as a sprint god and a Jamaican icon.

A Caribbean island of sun-kissed beaches is always likely to produce a guitar-strumming Marley. Reggae runs through jamming Jamaica like a river. But how the hell does a nation of only 2.8 million people continue to churn out unstoppable speedsters?

More in The New Paper on Tuesday (August 7).