World and Olympic sprint champions, Shelly-Ann Fraser (left) and Usain Bolt (right), display their bonus cheques after they were handed over by Mark Linehan, chief executive officer of their local sponsor, Dgicel Jamaica. The presentations were made at a press briefing yesterday at the Courtleigh Hotel in New Kingston. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

World sprint champions, Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser, received whopping bonuses totalling $10.68 million from their local sponsors, Digicel Jamaica, yesterday.

At a press conference held at Courtleigh Hotel, Digicel Jamaica's Chief Executive Officer Mark Linehan, handed over the cheques - $8.9 million to Bolt and $1.78 million to Fraser.

Fraser, after receiving her cheque, encouraged Digicel to "continue to support Jamaica and to be that beacon of light".

Bolt, according to Linehan, got the bigger perks as he not only broke two world records, but he has been with the company since 2004.

Early support

In 2004, Bolt failed to make it out of the preliminary round of the 200 metres at the Athens Olympic Games, while a year later in Helsinki at the World Championships he was eighth in the 200m final.

Bolt hailed Digicel for their early support at a time when things were not going very well.

"Thank you very much for supporting me through the rough times ... now I am just rewarding you," he said.

Linehan, who spoke highly of Jamaica's performance in Berlin, said: "We at Digicel are very proud of the association with our athletes.

"At Digicel, we are firm believers in success and achieving success takes effort day in day out, and that's why these two athletes are the perfect fit for us ... determination and effort have got them to where they are today and we are so proud to be associated with them, and we will continue to support them."

Bolt, who celebrated his 23rd birthday last month, is to be accorded the nation's fourth highest honour, the Order of Jamaica. The announcement was made on Tuesday by Prime Minister Bruce Golding. Golding also disclosed that Highway 2000 would be renamed after the World and Olympic 100 and 200m champion.