The Editor, Sir:

Jamaicans at home and abroad are feeling proud of our athletes in Beijing and feeling proud to be Jamaicans at this time.

I, too, am basking in the glory and proud to be Jamaican, but this is not a new feeling for me. I have always felt proud that I belonged to the country that produced a Marcus Garvey. My great pride, however, stems from the fact that we are not one-dimensional achievers.

The achievements of our athletes and entertainers have always attracted great media attention, but I am also proud of the achievements of our scientists, although not much fanfare attends these achievements - for example, the achievements of T.P. Lecky in agricultural science, and Dr Manley West in the medical sciences for canasol to treat glaucoma. Additionally, we boast many Rhodes scholars and now have a Nobel Prize winner; and let us not forget those brilliant young computer scientists from Northern Caribbean University. There are numerous other intellectual examples.

Public holiday

A number of people have called for a public holiday in celebration. I cannot support this as it would be totally against the spirit of our world-class performers. Surely, it was not laziness that gave our wonderful athletes these superb results. It was hard work and sacrifice. I hope our politicians will not continue to treat us like the fools we continue to make them believe we are.

What we need is for the basic infrastructure in this wonderful country to be brought in line with the performances of our people.

Who in the outside world would believe the state of the roads in the communities where Usain and some of the other athletes live?

A sports academy would also be an appropriate way to honour our athletes, but Norma Burton's wonderful letter in the Gleaner on August 22 cannot be bettered, so I will go no further on this.

We need to get working, not lazing around in celebration of other people's hard work and achievements.

I am, etc.,

SONIA KING

avao2005@yahoo.com