I’m pretty sure he’s straight. Edge, I mean. Not the other kind. I mean I’m pretty sure he’s that too. But if I had to choose one type of straight for him to be, I’d definitely choose the drug-free kind.
But he’s been getting flak on this from all corners of the track world – fellow athletes, the IOC, WADA, and this guy of whom I’ve never heard but who seems to think anyone in track is on drugs. People wondering idly in the comfort of their own homes are probably saying things like, “That Jamaican kid, he’s gotta be on somethin’ right?”
I don’t want to believe that. I like to think we Jamaicans are above petty things like doping in sports, and racism. First of all, where would we even get the funds to afford the kind of high-tech drug that Usain is allegedly using? Think about it: it would have to be more effective that Tyson Gay’s drugs and be difficult to catch on drug tests (for which Bolt has never tested positive). That don’t come cheap. We can’t even afford to send an entire Olympic team to London, much less buy super-drugs for one athlete. And why wouldn’t we have done it for Asafa?
Like I said, I don’t want to believe it. Lord knows we bandooloo better (worse?) that the rest of them, and there is not a loophole Jamaicans haven’t crawled through. Rule #34 of Jamaican life: If the law exists, it can be thwarted. But I also know that we have some truly amazing, awe-inspiring, (my fellow countrymen would say, God-given) talent that surpasses any kind of standards you previously held us to. Bob Marley. Marcus Garvey. Rex Nettleford. (Maybe Bob wasn’t the best example for an anti-doping discussion).
My point is, I’m 90% sure that Usain Bolt’s drug regimen is nothing but Mama Bolt’s home-cooked Trelawny yam and cassava.
How sceptical are you about the athletes who win medals, bearing in mind that nearly 60 athletes have been stripped of their medals for doping since the 1968 Olympics?
well read robin 
I really hope he isn’t doping. It would surprise me, but at the same time it wouldn’t. I truly don’t think he’s on drugs for a few reasons. Drugs can give an athlete a bit of an edge, they can make someone a little faster, muscles just a bit bigger, but Bolt DOMINATES everyone else. You can’t attribute all that to doping. Look at the picture you posted. He’s just naturally taller and longer than everyone else. He wins because he takes fewer strides to make the same distance than everyone else. Doping doesn’t do that.
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Excellent point. Even if he is doping, there’s still a good deal of natural talent keeping him ahead.
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You know, I’m intrigued that you used the British spelling “sceptic”. I think most Jamaicans use “skeptic”. I think.
Are drugs really that expensive, though? I can’t imaging that they’re so expensive that Bolt can’t afford them.
But I don’t think he’s doping. And I hope he isn’t.
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I alternate between Brit/American spellings regularly! But sceptic-with-a-k just looks weird to me.
The type of cocktail he’d have to be using to get away with it is probably not as inexpensive as the ones everyone else is using. I’m not sure that point was well-founded, though. :)
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Hehe, for me “sceptic” looks weird. It reminds me of ‘septic’. It isn’t a word that I see often, and when I do see it, it’s usually from an American source, so I ended up using “skeptic” and didn’t learn the British spelling until recently. I try not to alternate between spellings, though.
Hmm… I dunno… But I guess illegal things can be expensive, so you may be right.
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Well, I had an aunt who insisted on British peculiarities like saying “sheh-dule” instead of “ske-dule”, but *shrugs* to each his own.
My brain works in strange ways: illegal things = black market = paying an arm and a leg. I’m not sure how accurate that is, but I think that’s how things would run.
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