Well, I gine tell you something: if I didn’t know dat my God is real, alive and still in control, wid what is happening and the way how things happening nowadays, I would have tuh say dat God like he shut off or shut down.
Look, I cahn understand. I nevah see nutten so yet. Evah single day as God send ya does wake up and hear ’bout another man, and you hear wha’ I say, a man not a woman, not a girl, not a boy . . . a man, who up and dead off just so. The men just dying off so, nuh big nutten, nuh announcement, nuh lotta long talk – it just happening.
Whew! As I keep saying evah week in this column: evahtime ya get these depressing moments, these moments dat ya cahn seem tuh fathom, these moments dat make ya want tuh lose hope, the heavens does just burst open and out comes some wonderful rays of sunshine like the games in Korea ovah the last week.
We were expecting tuh see the Jamaicans excel pon the track in Korea but leh muh tell ya, duh went way beyond expectations. You see dem Jamaicans? All o’ dem like duh come wid duh minds done made up tuh take home medals from evah race dem run in, dat is how determine the Jamaicans was.
We saw some new faces and some not suh new faces like dat young Jamaican fella Yohan Blake, who after Bolt mess up eventually came through flying tuh win the gold medal in the 100 metres dat Bolt would have obviously carry ’way.
Then there was my girl Veronica Campbell-Brown (VCB), the powerhouse of a sprinter. It looks like the older Veronica gets, the more she excels as a sprinter. She held off the American speedster Jeter in the last few seconds of the 200 metres to bring home the gold and then in the relays the Americans barely edged out the Jamaicans again.
As one of the announcers said, if duh had another few metres tuh go, VCB would have gone clear again.
Of course, we expected tuh see Bolt with lightning speed burning up the track in Korea, and he did just dat and beyond.
After the unfortunate setback at the start o’ the 100 metres, Bolt like he decided dat come hell or high water dat ain’t gine happen again and the next time the people in dat stadium see him, he gine run away and break records in both the 200 metres sprint and the 4×100 metres wid a record time.
Well, so said so done!
Ya could see from the expression pon he face dat he put everything in both o’ dem races. He like he had a point tuh prove and he did.
While every eye was on Bolt speeding down the track in the last leg o’ the relay, not a boy was watching who was coming in second or third. It was only when the smoke settled and the teams was posing fuh the photos by the timer dat ya really noticed who took third and second positions.
Well, ya would have expected dat France and the US would have come in second since both countries were doing so well in the prelims and the semis but as I said it was only when the dust settled, the smoke cleared, we realized dat the Americans had fouled and fell, missing out on placing and giving France and the dark horse St Kitts and Nevis the opportunity tuh win silver and bronze medals.
Ya could only imagine how the Caribbean people did getting on, fuh li’l St Kitts and Nevis of all places tuh beat out the mighty United States and left dem there like lupey dogs checking out the replays, picking down the race wid a fine tooth comb trying tuh find something, anything tuh overturn the outcome.
Tuh top it off, although we in Barbados had our hopes dashed when Ryan Brathwaite failed tuh quality in the hurdles, a young man name Christian Taylor wid strong Bajan blood won the triple jump in grand style, beating out the defending champion from Great Britain, who started way ahead o’ the newer, young athletes only tuh end up second wid the silver and the young American taking the bronze.
It brought joy tuh my heart when he realize dat he had the bronze medal in hand. The boy ran straight tuh he bag and snatch out a big-able Bible and started tuh jump up and wave it in the air. Duh say dat he and the winner does train together. It is good tuh see young people, men especially, not ashamed or afraid tuh declare who duh truly believe in.
It goes tuh show ya dat God still here, there and everywhere and definitely in control.
Mavis Beckles was born and raised in The Orleans. She has an opinion on everything.
