FROM TIME to time, golden opportunities arise which create visions of the future. Such an opportunity now exists and the vision it presents in staring us in the face.

When the little-known Jamaican bobsled team beat the American team in Norway in the 1994 Winter Olympics 1994, it was the "ultimate indignity", according to the American broadcaster. This was because bobsled is a traditional popular sport for Americans, while for Jamaicans who have no snow, it was a real novelty. That incredible achievement was eventually captured in a movie. The film was made in Jamaica by a Canadian movie team without Jamaican talent, except one Jamaican residing in Canada who was employed to give guidance on the Jamaican dialect and accent. The name of the film was Cool Runnings, a popular Jamaican expression at the time.

The moral to be drawn from this example is that, once again, it took a foreign group to see a Jamaican potential and exploit it. There was substantial publicity benefit to Jamaica, but no financial reward. Nor was there any contribution to building the capacity of a Jamaican film industry.

Here we are with a much bigger opportunity created by the astounding victories of Jamaican athletics in the Beijing Olympic last year to which the Jamaican team are now adding equally awesome results in the World Championships of Athletics in Berlin. The unbelievable result is that the performance has positioned our ranking in track athletics in the superpower group of the United States and Russia, two of the larger countries in the world. Indeed, Jamaica may even win more medals than the US in the Berlin meet, an incredible, historic achievement.

The individual performance of the Jamaican speedster, aptly named Usain Bolt, has fixated world attention as he created an awesome record of 9.68 seconds for the 100 metres run in Beijing last year which he has now smashed with a mind-boggling 9.58 seconds in Berlin recently and, likewise, in the 200 metres in Berlin breaking his Beijing record of 19.30 seconds with an almost superhuman performance of 19.19 seconds in Berlin.

Athletic analysts, physiologists and neurologists who thought that the ultimate speed attainable by man was 9.6 seconds have had to return to the drawing board. Now they are talking about 9.5 seconds while Bolt, who knows that he has not yet been fully tested, is talking about 9.4 seconds as the ultimate. Unfortunately, Bolt may not achieve this fantastic result, because having humbled Tyson Gay, the American star from the home of sprint champions, there is no one else on the horizon to push him to run faster.

Shelly-Ann Fraser, the little 'pocket-rocket' who captured hearts in Beijing with her gold- medal run for women, was not expected by many to repeat. But she did with the joint-third fastest time for women in history, 10.73 seconds in winning gold again, in Berlin.

Course of success

So too are the others, like Melanie Walker, who are repeating the same course of success achieved in Beijing. To name them all now would be premature as the Championships still have until the end of the week to run. Suffice it to say that if the results in Berlin turned out to be a repeat of Beijing the Jamaican status would be confirmed as a track and field superpower.

I could go on and on, especially about Usain Bolt, but I am running out of superlatives. The summation of all this is that the story of the exceptional performance of Jamaican track athletes is the stuff of good movies. Does this sound impossible? Is it only a dream?

In July 2008, I did an article in my column in The Sunday Gleaner on the growing potential that was emerging for Jamaican models to make an indelible world mark and in so doing, confirm what has been achieved by the Pulse, and more recently, Saint International model agencies, as a new growth industry for Jamaica. The article was called 'Fashioning a New Jamaica'. This is not only happening, but with more model agencies achieving success, the Jamaican experience is now reaching industry status at a world level. This is no longer a dream.

Helping the growth of Jamaica

I could amplify this point further, by outlining how Jamaican popular music, which I helped in its growth years to reach international status in the 1960s, made dramatic leaps to achieve global recognition. Next year is the 50th anniversary of the emergence of Jamaican popular music. It presents another opportunity to show off our world achievements on the global culture stage.

It should not be in doubt that a Jamaica film industry could be in the making. I give many interviews on Jamaican culture, particularly, Jamaican popular music, to persons or groups from overseas, but I keep asking myself where are the Jamaican teams or individuals who should be doing these projects. Virtually every book on Bob Marley has been written by a foreigner. Some attempts have also been made by foreigners to cover the broader landscape of Jamaican culture which few Jamaicans have considered.

Who is collecting the memorabilia of the track team experiences which should one day be available for public viewing? So far I have not seen one photographer among those filming in Berlin who looks like a Jamaican. Is it because of a lack of understanding of the power of the message that is emerging there? Someday, well after these events, an enterprising group may set out to retrieve collectables of Jamaican sports and cultural achievement only to be stopped by copyright claims by foreigners.

We lost the copyright for Blue Mountain coffee because of this myopia. Jamaican jerk sauces, produced by several foreign sources, are on the shelves in supermarkets abroad as prime products, but not produced in Jamaica.

Who will now take the bull by the horns to start the ball rolling on a project to do a first class film on the Jamaican athletic triumph?

I do not mean an amateur attempt. We will learn nothing from that. I mean the counterpart to 'Cool Runnings', which could be called 'Hot Runnings', but using as much Jamaican talent as possible and gaining much movie technology. To accomplish this I would try to interest the makers of Cool Runnings to determine their interest, subject to an arrangement to use more Jamaican content and transfer of technology. This could be the start of a professional film identity. I set up a film unit in JAMPRO in the 1980s for this reason but it is not now functioning at this level.

Jamaica needs a specialised body of persons with four eyes who can see around corners and who pull together our own threads of sports and cultural achievements and weave them into our own cultural fabrics. An enterprising private sector group with government input will need to be found for guiding and kick-starting projects which deal with the Jamaican brand. Branding cannot be done on a scatter-shot basis. It must be highly focused, and the focus should be to take the Jamaican brand "to the world".

Edward Seaga, a former prime minister, is a Distinguished Fellow at the University of the West Indies.