Leighton Levy, STAR Writer

Usain Bolt - file

Ethiopia's Haile Gebrse-lassie is the latest track and field superstar to praise and defend triple Olympic gold-medallist Usain Bolt since his amazing performances during the recently concluded Games in China.

"People in Ethiopia are generally not interested in sprint events, but everyone including myself wanted to see Usain Bolt - especially after he had won the 100 metres (at the Beijing Olympics). He was flying. Three gold medals and three world records, that is unbelievable," said Gebrselassie while being interviewed by German paper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung in Berlin.

Asked if he felt that Usain Bolt's celebrations after his victories looked arrogant and what he says about doping suspicions Gebrse-lassie answered: "It is important that athletics is a clean sport. If someone is criticised just because he runs very fast then this is unfair.

Blessed with talent

For me Usain Bolt is an athlete blessed with talent. Sprint mainly has to do with talent. Of course he did a show (after his victories), but I did not see anything bad."

Weeks after Bolt had created history winning three gold medals while setting three world records at the 29th Olympiad in Beijing, China, several people including many-time Olympic medallist Carl Lewis, had called the sprinters performances into question.

However, since then the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) stated that they are satisfied that Bolt was tested often enough prior to his performances in Beijing.

The World Anti-Doping Agency has also come out in support of the lanky world record holder and gold medallist.

But Bolt is not the only one that has come in for praise. His coach Glen Mills has also received much deserved recognition since Bolt's exploits in Beijing.

Mills was recently named the North American, Central American and Caribbean Coach of the Year during the 18th Congress of the (NACAC) Track and Field Coaches Association (NACACTFCA), held in Aruba, from October 9-12.