At the first staging of the JN Racers Grand Prix in 2016, there was a whisper coming from the organisers that in 2017, one of the greatest middle distance runners wanted to attend the meet.

It was supposed to be top-secret, classified stuff.But almost everyone knew that David Lekuta Rudisha, the greatest 800-metre runner of all time, had promised to come to Jamaica. He is set to deliver on his promise to be one of the main stars to say farewell to the greatest sprinter of all time — Usain Bolt — on his Jamaican swansong.Rudisha, 28, is the current world record holder of the 800m with a fantastic time of 1:40.91 minutes at the 2012 London Olympics, and is the only man in the history of the sport to run below 1:41 minutes.The Kenyan is a double Olympic champion, having won in 2012 and 2016. He has also won World Championships titles in 2011 and 2015.His father Daniel Rudisha is a quarter-miler and was a part of the Kenyan 1968 Olympic 4x400m silver medal team, while his mother Naomi was a 400m hurdler. That combination could explain the speed and strength endurance that makes him such a great 800m runner.Some persons do not know that Rudisha actually started running 400m and has a wonderful personal best of 45.13 seconds. He is no slouch and holds the three fastest, six of the eight fastest and 10 of the 20 fastest times ever run in the 800m event.Just like Bolt, Rudisha was a 400m runner.And just as Bolt made the switch from 400m to the shorter sprints, Rudisha made the switch to 800m under the prompting of his Irish coach Colm O’Connell, and the rest is history. In 2006, at the age of 18 years old, he was the World Junior Champion.Jamaicans will, for the first time, have the chance to witness Rudisha grace the National Stadium. And that is only likely to happen on Saturday, June 10, at the JN Racers Grand Prix.— Howard Walker