“Whether he wins or loses People like Bolt come only once in a lifetime. We either acknowlege this and treasure him, or endure a lifetime of regrete waiting for another like him to emerge,” Issa said, stating, “What Bolt has done is what legendary people do…He is what legends are made of.”
Issa, who is said to have won enough local and international awards to cover an entire wall in his office, has often praised Jamaicans for their global achievements.
In the case of Bolt, Issa has praised him several times the most recent was his liking for the sprinter’s impassioned plea, “Hard Work Pays Off” and his humility and desire for others to follow in his shoes.
“There’s no virtue in bragging about your successes and holding it tightly and discouraging others from coming up to emulate your achievements,” Issa said in a May 2016 blog, adding, “I like Bolt’s plea for athletes to step up and fill the void he will soon leave behind.”
He has urged other atheletes to emulate Bolt’s achievements, especially as they didn’t come easy and took a lot of hard work.
Just earlier Issa – who is believed to be no stranger to achieving firsts in his academic and professional career – congratulated Bolt on winning his 6th straight IAAF sportsman of the year award, claiming “what he has achieved is astonishing, and if he runs next year at the World Championships he could extend his six-time run as male world athlete of the year.”