Dear Lord,

'Mi glad bag bus!' Me happy so till. Me coulda dead now and it no matter.

Thank you Dear Lord for Usain and Shelly-Ann; for Sherone, Kerron and Shericka.

Father God, I want to thank you for Danny, Michael, Markino, Ricardo, Marvin, Kenia, Madrea and Korene, and the others who have already bowed out of competition, because even though they did not win a medal, Lord, they gave us their all. And that is all you can ask.

Special prayer

Lord, I say a special prayer for Danny because, surely, he has been made in your image but with a little 'Vista' to boot. Never has Jamaica had such a brave warrior, well, let's not forget Bertland.

And, how could I forget little Michael, who is more than the little engine that could, but, you know, my head not so good.

Lord, I pray that you give our athletes who are yet to perform, the vim, vigour, pride and the power to represent Jamaica at their best, because you know how much it means to us here in Jamaica, where we are still under the criminals' guns, and things are hard, what with the greedy oil people holding the world at ransom.

Silence the detractors

Father, I know I don't pray often enough but I am begging you to silence the detractors from the United States, who are doing their best to tarnish the brilliance of Usain's success.

You know, Lord, that some of them don't believe anybody else should win anything, and that they have exclusive rights to victory. Help them see that that is not so, and that, we, the poor, little aff-licted Third World nation the first world tastes, do enjoy the thrill of victory. Help them see that the time has come for them to experience the agony of defeat.

Bolt showboating

And, while you are at it, remind Ato Boldon where he comes from. I know him 'getting a food' from NBC, but what he said about Bolt showboating, after his world record run last Saturday, amounts to treason to the Caribbean people.

Oh, the things we do for 30 pieces of silver.

But, as we move on, Almighty, I want also to thank you on behalf of the people of Waterhouse, and Sherwood Content, who would never have dreamed of getting their roads paved, had it not been for Shelly-Ann and Usain.

Lord, in asking this, if there is anybody on the team who is from a community that has bad roads or needs a hospital or some great need, please empower that athlete to win a gold because if they don't, 'dog nyam dem community supper'.

Give our leaders the insight

But, for all I have asked of you, Lord, the most last, but most important thing, I will ask of you today is that you give our leaders the insight to build upon this success our athletes have ach-ieved in Beijing.

Let them see that we don't only have to depend on banana and bauxite, sugar and weed because we can also depend on sports and culture to generate the money we need to make this country great.

You saw how Usain lit up the eyes of the Chinese and the world with the 'Nuh Linga' and the 'Gully Creeper'.

People love what we have to offer, other than hotels and duty-free shopping.

They love what we are as a people too.

And, one more little, teensy-weensy thing, dear Lord, but it would be such a big thing for Asafa. See if you can help us win the 4x100 relay so that he can leave Beijing with a little something.

He deserves, it but since he can't do it by himself just now, maybe a little help from his friends is all he needs.

These things I ask in Jesus name.

Amen.