I was never in doubt that Usain Bolt would win: Michael Holding

Exactly 40 years ago, former West Indies pacer Michael Holding had played one of his best Test matches as he bowled his side to a 3-0 series win against England at Oval with a match winning bowling performance as he claimed 14 wickets in the Test match.

He was at the same venue on Sunday, which saw Usain Bolt sprint on to win the gold medal in the 100m final at Rio. “I can safely say I was never in doubt that Usain Bolt would win again and in fact, I gave a fellow commentator in the SKY (commentary) box odds of 5/1 that Gatlin would not beat him,” Holding told mid-day from the UK yesterday.

“The man is great and, as he said about the legacy he wanted to leave behind, he will now easily be mentioned in the same breath as Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, and Pele,” Holding added.

Three of the world’s four fastest women are from Jamaica:

Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson won the gold medal at the women’s 100m whereas her training partner Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce won the bronze medal. “The women have made us very proud as well with Jamaica getting the first, third and fourth spot. Can you imagine that? Three of the world’s four fastest women are from the little island of Jamaica and considering our population, that has got to be the greatest sporting achievement of a nation and Jamaica has to be crowned the sprint champions of the world by a distance,” he said.

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Speaking about his smooth run-up, who is considered as one of the fastest bowlers cricket world had ever witnessed, he said, “It is widely perceived that my languid run-up when bowling, which has been described as ‘elegant’ and ‘malevolent stealth personified’ (very flattering), was a product of my promise as a 400-metre runner. It makes a nice story but it is not true in the least.”

“To this day I still tell people that it was a mistake but the response is usually that they think I’m just being modest. One gentleman went as far as to tell me, ‘I saw you run for Jamaica.’ I had to tell him politely that he was mistaken,” he concluded.