Elgin Taylor, STAR Writer

st catherine

They came from near and far, down hills and valleys spilling on to the streets, dancing, shouting and hugging each other.

With flags waving, Dutch pot covers clanging, thousands of Jamaicans from all walks of life celebrated in style the gold medals our athletes won in Beijing, China.

The occasion brought Jamaicans together in a way that transcended politics, class, race and religious lines. 'Our motto, Out of Many, One People', truly came to the fore.

Six gold medals

The athletes mined six gold medals and gained a total of 11 overall. The medal count included three silvers and two bronzes. They came through Usain Bolt's Olympic record run in the men's 100 and 200m races. He was also a part of the 4x100m men's relay, which also won gold in world-record time. So in all, Bolt ran three races, which resulted in three gold medals and three world records.

Shelly-Ann Fraser won gold in the women's 100m, Melaine Walker in the 400m hurdles (Olympic record), and Veronica Campbell-Brown in the women's 200m. Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart, who tied for silver in the 100m, also gave sterling performances. Shericka Williams who won silver in the 400m flat, Asafa Powell, Michael Frater and Nesta Carter, who ran legs of the 4x100m relay, all did well. Several other athletes who did not medal also performed well. All in all, it was a great team effort.

Many viewed the unity and togetherness of the nation at this time as a motivating factor for greater things to come for the nation and its people.

God's signature

Many persons also attributed our athletes' performance in Beijing to the act of Almighty God. Among them is Dr Patrick Allen, president of the West Indies Union of Seventh-day Adventists, who stated that the athletes' outstanding performance was a direct intervention of God through the prayers of the church. He said God used the occasion of the Olympics to showcase the positive aspects of Jamaica to the world, and that He gave the athletes superhuman powers to perform the feats that they did.

Even the botched women's 4x100m relay was seen by Kerron Stewart as the signature of God, and because of this, she was not overly disappointed.

Her teammate Veronica Campbell-Brown expressed similar sentiments.

As demonstrated, the athletes themselves were not afraid to express in word and action their Christian upbringing and beliefs.

Indeed, the venerable Father Richard Ho Lung pointed out that Usain Bolt not only made the sign of the cross across his chest, but kissed the crucifix as well.

Of medals and prophecy

I am no prophet, but after our first two gold medals I 'predicted' that we would win seven gold medals out of a total of twelve. However, I could not resist taking a closer look at the numbers. Here goes:

It is stated in theological circles that seven is the perfect number of God and that eight signifies new beginnings.

The games took place in the eighth month of the year 2008, and the Hon Bruce Golding is the eighth Prime Minister of Jamaica.

Interestingly, both Beijing and Jamaica consist of sevenletters. The name Golding (also seven letters), ends with the letters 'ing', as does Beijing. When we subtract the last three letters from the Jamaican prime minister's surname, we are left with pure gold. When we add the last three letters of Beijing and Golding, we get six, the number of gold medals won by Jamaica.

Just thought some of my readers might find this interesting.