MONTEGO BAY, St James - Wellesley Bolt, father of Olympic 100m champion and World Record holder Usain Bolt, has come out in defence of his son's celebrations after his historic win at the 29th Olympiad in Beijing, China on Saturday.

The younger Bolt has come under fire in some overseas media after he started celebrating his win well before he crossed the line on his way to lowering his own World Record to an astounding 9.69 seconds at the Bird's Nest stadium.

Wellesley Bolt, who left the island yesterday for China to meet up with his son and wife Jennifer to celebrate Usain's 22nd birthday on Thursday, said "I can't take them (the critics) up right now. Usain was simply being himself, he likes to celebrate when he does well and there was no time he was trying to put down the other runners in the race."

He also alluded to the fact that American sprinters have long earned a reputation for overdoing their celebrations at international meets.

Former Trinidad and Tobago sprinter Ato Boldon, a four-time Olympic medallist with a personal best 9.85 seconds in the 100m, ripped into Bolt for being 'disrespectful to the Olympics' during a broadcast aired on the American network television channel NBC on Monday night.

Boldon, who was responding to questions from host Bob Costas, said at first he had thought Bolt's spreading his arms and thumping his chest was out of spontaneous joy, but in looking back on the tape, he thought the celebrations were overboard.

"It was a display that should not have been there," said Boldon, who attended high school and university in the United States. "You kids at home, this is not how you behave as an Olympic champion."

Ironically, Boldon was known to be one of the brashest runners on the circuit and would at times peel off his singlet and strut around the track beating his chest and waving his arms after good results.

American sprinters have earned a reputation for over-the-top celebrations after winning medals at the Olympics and World Championships.

At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, several members of the US men's 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams stripped off their tops and mimicked body-building poses after winning their events and on the medal podium during the awards ceremony.

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