American Athletes Refuse to Consume Drink Bearing Usain Bolt’s Image
It has been reported that members of the United States team refused to drink the sport energy drink Gatorade at the World Championships in Beijing, China last month solely because it is a product Usain Bolt advertises and contains an image of him.
According to the Observer, the Jamaica Administrative Athletics Association (JAAA) confirmed rumours that the USA squad members flatly decided against even taking a sip.
“That’s a fact. It happened that way,” the JAAA’s Media Officer Dennis Gordon told journalists during a Jamaica Observer Press Club discussion at the newspaper’s offices in St Andrew on Friday.
Jamaican and the American teams stayed at the same Kuntai Hotel in Beijing, and the rivalry spilled over from the track to the hotel, leading to the Jamaicans being called hooligans, Jamaican officials said.
“The hype going into the 100m final suggested that (Justin) Gatlin would have triumphed. On the bus, they were chanting USA! USA! Coming back, after Bolt’s victory, our athletes took them on and were singing ‘We are the champions of the world’, and it never went over well with them,” Gordon pointed out.
Source: The Observer