BEIJING, China - Fireworks explode over the National Stadium during the closing ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Olympics in Beijing yesterday. (Photo: AP)

Prime Minister Bruce Golding last night told persons involved in criminal behaviour that they are embarrassing Jamaica and its athletes in their moment of glory, and urged the country to use the athletes' performance at the Beijing Olympics to unite and set new standards for ourselves and our community in how we treat each other.

"You gunman, you rapist, you badman, you are spoiling the show; you are colting the game," Golding said in a national broadcast. "Get with the programme. We are the best in the world! Stop trying to make us look like we are the baddest in the world!"

The prime minister used his broadcast to praise the athletes on their performance, winning a record 11 medals - six gold, three silver and two bronze - which, he said, resulted in Jamaica emerging as "the stars of the Olympics".

However, he noted the island's reputation for crime and referred to 400m hurdles gold medal winner Melaine Walker's appeal for an end to violence.

"Our athletes do not deserve to be embarrassed in their moment of glory by the fact that we have one of the highest murder rates in the world, that some of us continue to inflict violence on the rest of us," said Golding. "Shelly-Ann Frazer's mother, Maxine Simpson, said it so well. Melaine Walker made such a passionate appeal after she won the gold medal in the 400m hurdles."

He urged the country to use this moment, "this unprecedented display of world-class excellence, this moment of triumph and glory to unite as a people" and pointed out that there were many benefits the country could derive from the athletes' successes.

Said Golding: "Our success in these Olympics not only provides an opportunity but imposes on us a duty to expand and strengthen the institutional arrangements to support the continued development of athletics, to identify young talent and help them to develop to Olympic greatness."

He said that there are many more youngsters out there who can be as good as Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, Shelly-Ann Fraser, Melaine Walker, Veronica Campbell-Brown and the other members of the Jamaica team. "They only need to be discovered and assisted to become the Olympic champions of tomorrow. We are not going to let this moment, this opportunity pass," said Golding.

The island's tourism, he said, also stood to benefit as "our Brand Jamaica campaign has been given a priceless springboard because our athletes have name-branded Jamaica".

He said he had established a planning committee comprising representatives of the Jamaica Olympic Association, Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association, the private sector, the Government and the Opposition, to work out the arrangements to welcome home the athletes and to give the country the opportunity to celebrate with them in true Jamaican style. "so that we can honour them and shower them with our love".

The public, he said, will be informed as soon as the arrangements are finalised.

He used the broadcast to thank the athletes for the joy they have brought the country and congratulated them. He also expressed gratitude to the people who assisted the team - their coaches, medical team, physiotherapists, masseurs, sports psychologists and sports administrators - and thanked the athletes' families "for the love and support they gave them".

Added Golding: "We demonstrated that when we make up our minds, when we set our eyes firmly on a dream and work hard, there is no challenge too great, no ocean too deep, no mountain too high. No, they can't hold us down, for this is Jamaica."

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