Ato admits he misread the Bolt celebration
Wed Aug 20, 2008 11:14
194.230.53.52
Curry goat, Bora and Boldon
Bryan Cummings
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Yes, you are reading correctly. I am in China and I am talking about curry goat.
You see, the Jamaican-born executive chef, Obrian Tingling, had curry goat on the menu for lunch in the main press centre. I was very surprised when I saw it and Lance Whittiker (formally of RJR Sports but who now works for CMC) said that it was the best curry goat that he has had in years.
I ran into former Reggae Boyz football coach Bora Milutinovic in the same dining room the day after Frazer and company had won medals in the 100 metres. He said that he was extremely happy for Jamaica's success but admitted that he had wanted Asafa to win the Men's 100. He said that Asafa was "such a nice guy".
Since we are still in the dining room, our eating patterns have dramatically changed. When we first arrived in China, Kayon Raynor and I would be up bright and early to have breakfast. They offered a wide choice of foods for us to eat and we even looked forward to eating the morning meal.
That, however, has changed in the last five days. We have no idea what breakfast looks like. None of us has had any.
You see, for the last five days since track & field has started, we go to bed normally between 4:00-5:00 am China time and have to be at the stadium bright and early at 9:00 am the same morning.
We have no time to grab any because we are trying to get in as much sleep as possible. We eat lunch, and now eat dinner at about midnight China time after we leave that stadium late at night.
I ran into Ato Boldon in the stadium yesterday. We greeted each other and he brought up the subject that he had heard that he had stirred up a lot of emotions in Jamaica.
He mentioned to me that he had made some "on air" comments to the effect that Usain Bolt in celebrating his 100m victory before crossing that finish line was disrespecting his opponents.
I explained to him that Usain would never and did not disrespect anyone, but rather, was just being himself. I told him that all sprinters have to have some amount of attitude and Boldon at that point agreed with what I was saying by mentioning that he himself used to also have an attitude when he used to compete. I further explained to him that he had to remember that Bolt was still very young and still had a lot of "kid" left in him.
At that point Boldon backed down to admit that he did not know Usain that well and that he had misread his celebration.
This is the link:
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sports/html/20080819T230000-0500_139243_OBS_CURRY_GOAT__BORA_AND_BOLDON_.asp