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Leading article: Bolt upright

Friday 22 August 2008 00:00 BST
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There have been few false notes in these Olympics, but Jacques Rogge's admonishment of Usain Bolt for the manner in which the Jamaican celebrated his wins in the 100m and 200m certainly qualified.

The president of the International Olympic Committee is right to pay attention to the conduct of Olympic champions but by criticising Bolt's exuberant post-race celebrations, he seems to have gone out of his way to find fault.

None of Bolt's competitors in the two races minded the fact that the sprinter did not come over to shake hands with each of them before haring off on his laps of honour.

And the crowd in the Bird's Nest Stadium, which on each occasion had just witnessed a world record fall, certainly did not. Indeed, Bolt's unbridled enthusiasm, beamed around the world in television pictures, has probably done more to inspire children to take up sprinting than any number of commercial sponsorship deals or community sport programmes signed by the IOC over the years. Let Mr Rogge think twice before shooting his bolt in future.

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