Bolt is the greatest in modern times: Michael Holding

West Indiesrsquo fast bowling great Michael Holding and track legend Usain Bolt have a strong connection Both are Jamaicans known for their speed with Holding being a track and field athlete at school level In his first autobiography Whispering Death published in 1993 Holding revealed that he still held the high jump record four feet 11 frac14 inches for the under12 class of Kingston College High School And while he also competed in hurdles and 400 metres his was a case of mistaken identity when he first made it to the West Indies team A senior member of the Caribbean press fraternity spread the story that Holding was a potential 400m Olympic champion Thatrsquos easy Maan Jamaicarsquos Usain Bolt celebrates winning gold and setting a new world record of 3684 during the menrsquos 4x100m relay final at the London Olympics on August 11 PicGetty u00a0Imagesu00a0 The fact was that Holding opened the bowling for the Jamaica youth team with Seymour Newman who went on to become a Commonwealth Games 1978 silver medallist and an 800m participant in the 1976 Olympics at Montreal Holding is one of the several proud Jamaicans in England where he is on commentary duty for the England vs South Africa Test series The 58yearold Jamaican is an outandout Bolt fan but stressed the point that the other Jamaican athletes too did their country proud at the Games MiD DAY spoke to Holding over the phone recently Excerpts What is your reaction to Usain Bolt being open to playing the Big Bash T20 League in Melbourne I think it is just a promotional thing He is not that good a cricketer to be playing at that level But I suppose without being disrespectful to Usain anyone can play 2020 cricket If his name wasnrsquot Usain Bolt the double Olympic champion this wouldnrsquot have happened For any other cricketer of his ability there would not be talk of him playing the Big Bash Like all these 2020 tournaments have shown it is great to have a name like Usain Bolt at a show Do you think itrsquos good for the game of cricket Well when people who know nothing about cricket hear that hersquos playing they will want to know what it is so I suppose it will at least lead to people enquiring about the game But as I said itrsquos all about promoting the Big Bash and having a name like Usain Bolt associated with it canrsquot hurt It confirms to me that 2020 is not about the game cricket itrsquos just a form of entertainment and his name adds to the show Big names add to a circus I donrsquot think it will actually happen but there is some notion to have Usain Bolt associated with something like that because his name is worldwide known Can you gauge how fellow Jamaicans feel at this point of time Jamaica I am told is on Cloud Nine right now The whole country is celebrating because of him and because what our athletes have done Itrsquos just not Usain Bolt Of course he was the premier athlete but to get a 123 Bolt Blake amp Weir in an event at the Olympics mdash all the three medals in that event 200m and to get 12 Bolt and Blake in the premier event 100m of the Olympics is a fantastic achievement and not many have been able to do that The entire country is on top of the world right now Your thoughts on Yohan Blakehellip He is a fantastic sprinter In Yohan you have a man breaking into the big time now and he is showing the world that he has it He has great things ahead of him After the 100m final Blake said he would win in Rio and that his time would comehellip That is a good thing for him to say That is a good thing for him to look towards If Usain Bolt and he race in Rio I have no doubt that Usain will win again but he might not go to Rio considering the training he would have to do After all it is four years of hard work Would you agree to the view that Usain Bolt is the greatest sprinter of all time I donrsquot like to use the term lsquoalltimersquo The training methods they have now are different to what methods that they had a long time ago Bolt is certainly the greatest I have seen In modern times he is the greatest but I wonrsquot go back to the days of Jesse Owens and the athletes of those times First of all they did not have the nutritional knowledge and the training techniques they have now I wouldnrsquot go into this lsquoalltimersquo debate That would be stretching it a bit And finally were you sure that Bolt would win the 100m I was absolutely sure I told everybody in the Sky commentary box that he would winu00a0