I don’t envy any super star as far as their privacy is concerned. Their bank accounts maybe, but that is a different story.

In my nearly 30 years of covering sports I have come to realise that a lot of these famous people are trapped by their fame and notoriety and cannot move about as freely as they would like but I am sure the vast majority of them understand the trade off and accept it.

The world’s newest sports super star Usain Bolt is slowly learning the cost of fame and while he was never a shy, retiring person even before he was anything close to a star, I am sure there are times he wished he could run down to the cinemas to take in a movie or to just go take a walk some where quiet with that special person.

He now belongs to the world and every single track fan the globe over thinks they own a piece of him.

Despite pulling out of last Saturday’s Adidas Grand Prix meet in New York, because of what we heard is an injury to one of his Achilles tendons, Bolt turned up at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island to support training partner Yohan Blake and others but mostly kept a low profile presence, much unlike the person we had come to know these past two years.

That did not sit well with the nearly-packed house most of whom had bought tickets in the expectations of seeing him run, not in jeans and t-shirt and a baseball cap.

Many blamed the meet organisers for not introducing him on the track to the fans while others chided the track star for not making himself more available while he was there.

Hundreds stayed behind after the meet, hoping to catch a glimpse of Bolt and members of his family including his mother and an aunt were treated like celebrities, posing for photos with several fans.

A night later he was at courtside in Boston watching the Celtics take a 3-2 lead over the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals.

The fact is Bolt, as long as he is the poster boy for world track and field, will never be able to fulfill every request and many will feel slighted when their request is turned down.

Saying that however it would not have taken anything from the meet if he was brought out to greet the fans. Lord knows that the meet needed some star quality.

On another note, last week–10 years after the 2000 Olympics in Australia–Pauline Davis-Thompson of the Bahamas finally got her gold medal from the 200m after the IOC and IAAF stripped disgraced American Marion Jones.

While Davis-Thompson was her usual classy self, it was a shame that a drug tainted runner was allowed to bask in the limelight and benefit financially and otherwise from ill-gotten gains.

Davis-Thompson and others who have been robbed of their hard earned medals by drug cheats are victims and we can only hope that the powers that be will be able soon to wipe out drug cheats from sports once and for all.

If I don’t agree with Neville ‘Teddy’ McCook on anything I agree with him that the first time any athletes is caught using performance enhancing drugs, they should be banned for life.