Usain Bolt is the leader in two sprinting events.

DUFF WILSON

KINGSTON, Jamaica - For children in Jamaica’s rural villages, running is as much a part of growing up as baseball is in the United States or soccer in Europe, Africa or Latin America. Boys and girls enter races when they are as young as 5, and by the time they are teenagers, top sprinters are competing before a crowd of 30,000 at the National Stadium.
Sprinters are a source of pride in this island nation, which struggles with crime and poverty despite its reputation as a carefree paradise for tourists. Home to 2.8 million people, Jamaica has produced this year’s four fastest women at 200 meters, four of the top six at 100 meters and the fastest man in both events, Usain Bolt. Jamaicans are expected to medal in the sprinting events and relays next month at the Olympic Games in Beijing.
Although drug cheating and suspensions have cast a pall over track and field, no sprinter who trains primarily in Jamaica has tested positive for steroids, according to the records of track and antidoping groups. Although some sprinters who have trained in the United States have tested positive for stimulants.
Glen Mills, Bolt’s coach, said Jamaicans were proud of their record.
“It is something that we guard dearly, and it is something that the country would turn on you, he said. “They would turn on you so strong. It’s something they would never forgive. And athletes are aware of that and try to walk the tightrope.
Racing begins at an early age. School competitions are a prelude to the annual Champs races with more than 2,000 athletes at the National Stadium. “If that doesn’t motivate you, what would-’’ said Marvin Anderson, a silver medalist in the world championship 4x100 relay.
Jamaican success is certainly not due to the quality of its training facilities. The members of the dominant professional track club, MVP, train at the University of Technology on a grass oval track with lanes defined by a mixture of tar and diesel. “We don’t get things easily, and hard work pays off, said Kerron Stewart, who has run the fastest time for women this year at 100 meters.