Keril Wright photo
Father Wellesley Bolt and friends William and Hortense Henry share a happy moment discussing Usain's victory.Keril Wright, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
When the voices exploded across Jamaica in celebration Friday night as 15-year-old Usain Bolt-ed to glory, winning the men's 200 metre finals, the shouts of joy were loudest in Coxeath, Trelawny.
In Coxeath, sugar cane, yam and coffee are the main crops and the only sound which breaks the silence of the lush greenery is the rush of the wind through the trees.
The residents who on any other day would have been reserved rural folk - farming, keeping shop and going about their business - were animated yesterday. They were bursting with excitement. They wanted to talk, talk loudly and have their pictures taken.
Usain is their boy and he had done them proud, they wanted the world to know.
Little known for anything else before 7:35 p.m. Friday, July 19, the small farming community is now known as the home of Usain Bolt, world IAAF 200 metre junior champion, who also created history as the youngest ever winner of that event.
Yesterday, his family - aunts, uncles, cousins - and friends and the entire community were on a high from Friday's celebration.
The most animated of the lot, Mr. and Mrs. William Henry, with whom Usain and his parents lived for eight years of his life, were hysterical. "Mi seh if yuh hear mi," shouted Mrs. Hortense Henry, as she flayed her arms to show how she jumped and shouted as Usain ran his winning 20.74 time. "I feel suh good. Mi seh look deh, di bwoy weh grow up inna mi hand."
Her husband said he had offered Usain some advice weeks before and knew the boy could do it.
"The whole district, man... wi feel big," Mr. Henry told the Gleaner. "Mi seh when a see the bwoy pon TV a run left the others mi seh run Vijay run."
Mr. and Mrs. Bolt said they knew their son had potential and was glad that he had reached this far, but knew he would not let the success change him from a normal humble boy.
"He is a very humble child, sometimes it's almost unbelievable," said his mother, Jennifer.
She said, however, that normal was not the hallmark of his childhood and that the physical characteristics that contributed to his success had worried them once.
"At first, we thought something was wrong with him," she said. "He was so big and he wouldn't stay still, so we took him to the doctor."
But there was nothing wrong with 'Vijay', as she calls him. "The doctor said, 'Leave the child alone, he is all right'."
"He was also hard to carry around because he was so big," she said.
This should have been expected however, as the Bolts are very large people.
His aunt, Lillian Bolt-Smith, is a large woman and his father is 6'4'', an inch shorter than Usain is at present.
"Everywhere yuh teck it, wi a thunder bolt," said his aunt, who admits to a little athletic prowess herself.
His father Wellesley agrees, "Wi a bolt man, lightening bolt, thunder bolt, nothing fi stop wi."
There was no shortage of words to praise 'Vijay' as he is known affectionately in the community.
"Vijay has always been a good runner and I feel so proud to have been a little part of his life," said his third grade teacher, Louise Lewis. She explained that Usain's exploits dated back to primary school where he was the legendary 'Big J' to his schoolmates, many of whom were on the losing end of the long stride.
"That boy could really run," she said. "I never expected, however, that he would go this far."
The older folks were a bit more emotional in discussing the joy and pride they experienced at seeing the son of a small community bring such pride to his country.
"Mi nearly drop down," said his grandmother, Monica Davis, who said she watched the race on television with her other daughter, Usain's mother's younger sister. "Mi just a ask fi water, a couldn't teck it."
Yesterday she smiled as she made it clear that Usain had just started, as he was a winner who was backed by the prayers of his family.
"A pray fi Vijay day and night," she said. "Nothing can stop him."
Mrs. Henry had a similar faith.
"By the grace of God, there shall be nothing to beat him," she said. "Not a thing. Wi shall bind everything that come up against him and anywhere him go - whether Canada, America or wherever - him shall win, anywhere."
The Bolts were pleased with the response of the community yesterday and the outpouring of love that the residents had shown for Usain long before he had reached world champion level.
