“We thank you God, for you have truly been good to Jamaica. You have blessed us with doctor, the honourable Usain St Leo Bolt, the embodiment of sportsmanship, who reminds us of the gumption and indomitable spirt of the Jamaican people. May the vibe in the stadium bring a world of justice and love, and make your kingdom on Earth as it is in heaven. Amen.”

Major sporting events are not supposed to start with prayers from an ordained minister, impeccably observed and with righteous amens in all the right places. Yet, inevitably, it proved the perfect prelude to Usain Bolt’s 84th and last race in Jamaica.

This was an occasion akin to a religious experience, a five-hour outpouring of love and joyous exaltation from 35,000 people to the greatest athlete in their history. Salute To A Legend, they called it. And salute they did. Whether they were in the buttock‑deadening $8 wooden bleacher seats or dignitaries in the grandstand, whenever Bolt appeared the reaction was overwhelming, with roars and claps and blasts from so many vuvuzelas it sounded as if an army of mosquitoes were invading Kingston.



Afterwards the 30-year-old admitted he had rarely been as nervous before a race. It was here at the National Stadium in 2002 that he first made his name – winning the world junior 200m title as a 15-year-old by beating athletes three years his senior. And now, suddenly, it was hitting home that the circle of his athletics life was rapidly bolting shut.

Even so he had the presence of mind to treat the crowd to his greatest hits. As the athletes lined up for the 100m, he shadow-boxed like a prizefighter as the master of ceremonies stirred the crowd into greater frenzies by rattling through his achievements with a preacher’s force and certainty. Then, when the gun went off, he even made his customary terrible start, leaving his blocks with all the grace of someone with backache climbing out of his favourite easy chair. Yet at 50 metres he was ahead and away – and, as always, simply uncatchable.

His time of 10.03sec was nothing special, at least not for him. Then again, having missed more than two weeks’ training after the death of his close friend Germaine Mason in a motorbike accident – Bolt was one of the first on the scene – it was never going to be.

Afterwards he was brutally honest about his performance. “I think that was possibly one of my worst races,” he said. “My execution was poor, my start was poor as always. I think in the last bit I lost it a little. But I didn’t expect anything spectacular because I have had a lot of time off. The two weeks I missed was rough. But the people of Jamaica really came out for me, thank you for showing me your support.”

They did – and then some. As Bolt crossed the line he was mobbed by cheerleaders and photographers as a bouquet of fireworks lit up the Kingston skyline. His lap of honour was long and delirious and he climbed into the stands to celebrate with friends and family before going back on the track to party with the Jamaican dancehall legend Beanie Man.

Of course he was never going to lose – not here in Kingston and especially not when the dice had been loaded in his favour. Any athlete who could conceivably have beaten him was put into a tougher 100m earlier in the evening, which was won by his compatriot Yohan Blake, the London 2012 silver medallist, in 9.97sec.

Yet when Blake was asked whether he might fill his friend’s boots one day, he shook his head. “He leaves a size 13 shoe to fit and it’s hard to fit,” he admitted. “I try to squeeze my foot in it.”

Not everyone was as sentimental. The young South African Akani Simbine, who finished second to Blake, was asked whether he wanted to ruin Bolt’s retirement at the world championships in London in August. “That’s the plan,” he said, smiling.

Beforehand Bolt indulged the crowd with two pre-race laps of honour, one in an open-topped car around the velodrome surrounding the track, the other on foot. Then came a big bear hug from Sebastian Coe, the International Association of Athletics Federations president, who shovelled praise on the 100m and 200m world record holder and eight-times Olympic gold medallist.

“Our words, at best, can only be a small, modest contribution to the eulogies and tributes that this great man standing behind me has received,” Coe told him. “But if our words are modest, our thanks are mountainous.”

Peter Phillips, the leader of Jamaica’s opposition, the People’s National Party, was even more effusive. “You are now the greatest Jamaican of all time,” he said. “You have set new limits for human capacity and speed and your records of performance will endure through all history.”

Not to be outdone, Jamaica’s prime minister, Andrew Holness, came dressed in a Puma tracksuit and, putting his hand on Bolt’s shoulder, called him “a great man, a great athlete and a great Jamaican”.

Bolt, wisely, intends to stay as far away from politics as possible in retirement. He has already been offered a place in government and the culture and sports minister has urged him to start making “Baby Bolts” for the good of the nation. Such is his ability to unite all Jamaicans, any party he declared for would surely win a landslide.

It spoke volumes that seven Olympic champions had come to Kingston to pay tribute to Bolt and there were victories for most of them, including Britain’s Mo Farah in the 3,000m. But it was the South African Wayde Van Niekerk who produced the performance of the night in winning the 200m in 19.84sec. That was not only a personal best and the fastest time of the year but a reminder, perhaps, of why Bolt has decided to run only the 100m and 4x100m relay at the world championships.

That, though, is a discussion for another day. This night, like so many others on the track during the past decade, belonged to Bolt.