Jamaica's 'golden' athletes, who last summer dominated the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, were yesterday honoured with souvenir gold coins by the Bank of Jamaica (BoJ) in continued recognition of their stellar performances.

In the ceremony held at the BoJ auditorium, the central bank governor Derick Latibeaudiere made presentations to Usain Bolt, Shelley-Ann Fraser, Melaine Walker and Asafa Powell.

Veronica Campbell-Brown, Michael Frater and Nesta Carter were absent.

Coins were also presented to honourable Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture; Mike Fennell, head of the Jamaica Olympic Association; Bruce James, head of the MVP Track Club; Norman Peart, Usain Bolt's manager; and Glen Mills, Usain's coach.

Speaking at the ceremony, Minister Grange lauded BoJ "for your decision to create a lasting memorabilia to give recognition to the phenomenal achievements of our athletes in Beijing."

She continued: "There are some persons who feel that we are overdoing it when we continue to honour our athletes for their performance in these various ways.

"I believe that some achievements are worth so much that we must immortalise the moment because those moments usually become watershed and sometimes once-in-a-lifetime moments."