Superstar Bolt makes quiet return to native Jamaica
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, September 13, 2012
Eschewing delirious crowds at the airport, Olympic sprinting champion Usain Bolt returned to Jamaica in uncharacteristically low-key style.
There were no adoring throngs, none of his signature skyward pose or other antics. There was just a quietly organized news conference on Tuesday at Bolt's restaurant and night club in Kingston with a few dozen journalists, business people, and politicians in attendance.
Bolt's publicist, Carole Beckford, said the track star quietly returned home on Saturday, and nobody but his inner circle knew he was back in his Caribbean homeland, which adores him yet wants a piece of him at almost every turn.
Bolt said last week he was a bit nervous about returning to Jamaica, where his countrymen celebrated each of his three victories at the London Olympics with intense enthusiasm. Crowds of impassioned Jamaicans danced, shouted and embraced in the streets as he dominated the competition.
"I've seen what Jamaican fans are like when I go back home. That is more scary than anything else," he said in Brussels.
At the news conference in Jamaica's capital, the world's fastest man thanked his coach, his family and his fervent fans for their support, saying "there were a lot of doubters" after a sometimes challenging season.
Speaking to the cameras, a subdued Bolt added, "I have one thing to say: Never doubt a champion."
For weeks before the Olympics, Jamaicans had been debating whether Bolt or his rival and teammate Yohan Blake would win in London. But Bolt delivered electrifying performances in London, just as he did at the Beijing Games in 2008.
"I am the best and will always be the best," he said at Tracks & Records, his restaurant and night club, which features a DJ booth where he sometimes spins records, a 200-seat main floor with TVs, a bar, a few "VIP" areas and even a shop to buy Usain Bolt merchandise.
Natalie Neita-Headley, Jamaica minister for sports, compared him to the island's most revered son, reggae icon Bob Marley.
"Like Bob before him, he has achieved that legendary status," Neita-Headley said.
Asked if there is any downside to being a "living legend," Bolt responded: "I've just become a legend so I'll let you know in a few days."
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