Addressing the mail
This week during a period of continuous downtime I finally had the opportunity to address the hundreds of emails that awaited me from my website regarding the Olympic Games. It was very disturbing to find numerous emails from people who are very unhappy with me as that they feel I have insulted the Jamaican culture and am a sore loser. I just want those who misunderstood or were unsure by what I meant to accept this clarification directly from me. I am not sure where it was published or how it was actually written but what I said was not directed toward Jamaican people or toward any culture or religion for that matter. I am not aware of the voodoo doll I spoke of being a part of any Jamaican tradition or from where the word originates and I should not have used a word I am not perfectly sure about myself. I only meant the word to mean the same thing as jinx, or karma, and should have chosen my words more carefully.
The question I was asked was, how do I explain the misfortune of so many American favorites thus far? Knowing that I couldn’t answer on the behalf of these other “American favorites” I wanted to make a general statement explaining that the events were unexplainable from my point of view. It was not specific to my races so nor did it make any mention of anything regarding my Jamaican competitors so I was surprised to find so many feeling as if it were an act of poor sportsmanship to discredit my competitors. I am not envious or bitter toward any of my competitors and accept my place knowing that I put my best foot forward. When 8 people line up for a race each plans on winning however it is inevitable that 7 will not be winners and to be able to make it to this level you have to understand that. I Hope this has given those upset or uncertain a clearer representation of my thoughts and intentions.