Ever since Usain Bolt's historic performance at the recently concluded Beijing Olympics, rumours of endorsements and a potential move to other sports by the 22-year-old superstar athlete have flooded the Internet.

The latest rumour to be added to the lengthening list is that British telecommunication giant Virgin Media will be naming one of their many Internet packages after the Jamaican sprinter. It is said that the package 'Boltband', will provide subscribers with an unprecedented 50mb Internet service.

One of the many online articles about the expected 'endorsement' was found on British website www. Digitalspy.co.uk.

The article entitled VM sign up 'Lightning Bolt' read: "The world's fastest man, triple gold medal-winning Jamaican Olympic sensation Usain Bolt, is starting to reap the commercial benefits of his Beijing triumph, with an approach from UK cable company Virgin Media to be the face of its superfast broadband service. Virgin Media, which is set to launch a 50mb broadband product it claims will be more than twice as fast as rivals, is considering calling the product 'Boltband".


'Approach' made
The article even continued that Ashley Stockwell, Virgin Media's head of marketing operation, said the company had 'approached' Bolt to endorse the new service. Stockwell was quoted as saying: "Our new 50mb service will deliver even faster lightning broadband speeds, which is why we feel that Usain will be the perfect ambassador for our campaign."

Attempts by The Star to contact Stockwell at Virgin Media were unsuccessful. However, Norman Peart, Bolt's manager, said they have never been contacted by the company. "I have been hearing about it but so far no one has contacted me or his (Bolt) agent," Peart said. "It's not that we would not be interested in it, but to date, no one has approached us."

One sceptical reader commented on the online article referring to it as 'gorilla marketing'. The reader, under the username 'Broonale', said the company may have only said they approached the athlete to reap the benefit of "publicity now while he is hot"

Just last week, this newspaper reported similar rumours that were circulating online that National Football League (NFL) team the Miami Dolphins were trying to lure Bolt to their line-up. The team however denied the claims.