Bolt with the Italian flag

Last week when Usain Bolt ran in Rome and won the 100 metres in a world-leading 9.76 seconds, he got hold of an Italian flag and made his way round the track with it. As he did so he was cheered heartily, and I am sure he also won himself a few million more Italian fans.

Back here in Jamaica, there were some of us who got upset because they felt Bolt should never have been running around with the Italian flag. Some were incensed enough to write letters to the editor and call radio call-in shows venting their displeasure.

The most I can say to them is 'to each his own' because I really don't see what all the drama was about. Bolt has been Jamaica's best brand since Bob Marley. In fact, in the eyes of many he has already surpassed Marley as the most popular Jamaican ever. Through his exploits on the track, Bolt has snagged endorsement deals with Hublot, Puma, Gatorade, Soul, Nissan, Digicel and Visa among others, and travels the world as an ambassador of Jamaica. No other Jamaican in history has ever had that many endorsement deals. And you know why? No matter where he goes he is identified as the universal brand Usain Bolt from Jamaica. He transcends sport, country, culture, religion, class and race. He has over six million fans on Facebook.

Everybody loves him or so it seems. Here in Jamaica, we criticise.

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Bolt has lent his image to the Jamaica Tourist Board free of cost and I am sure it is because of him why a few more thousand tourists visit the island each year and it is why dozens of film crews travel to Jamaica each year to get valuable footage of the world's fastest man. He literally puts money into the pocket of the Government each day and he pays his taxes too.

Bearing this in mind I was more than a bit surprised to hear people being critical of him because he ran around a track in Rome bearing an Italian flag. People need to understand some basic things. When Bolt is running at these meets he is not representing Jamaica per se. He is working. It is what he does for a living. However, his mere presence at these meets is a major marketing tool for Jamaica. In the stands young girls who swoon over him while hoping for opportunities more intimate in nature, have the colours of the Jamaican flag painted on their faces and I am sure, others parts of their bodies as well.

Bolt knows this and it is why he is such a genius at marketing himself. Taking the Italian flag and running around the stadium with it is his way of saying I am one of you. While here in Rome I feel like a Roman and I thank you, Jamaica thanks you. To the Italians who love track and field it was a moment they will never forget. When they see Bolt they also see Jamaica. It is why he was named Ambassador.

Next year when he returns to Rome there will be more than 60,000 Italians in that stadium watching because they know Bolt is one of them. It is why meet directors pay him US$300,000 just to show up at these meets. Some of that money by the way comes back to Jamaica by way of taxes. Should he win in London this summer, the US$300,000 meet organisers now pay him could become $350,000 or even more. His presence may even bring more investment opportunities for Jamaica. The man is adding value to his brand but what is even more significant is that he is adding value to brand Jamaica as well.

It is time we stop being so myopic and embrace what Bolt has brought us - opportunity. Those who fail to recognise his value now, will come to rue the day he walks away from the sport.

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