It’s a disaster in the making. One wonders, though, who would come off the worst in a

collision, the overzealous cameraman or the 6ft 5in Jamaican who looks cap-able of running through brick walls.

“Excuse me, not when he is starting,” one hears the 35-year-old from Donegal saying. “You will have to step back off the track.”

Since winning three Olympic gold medals in Beijing a year ago everyone wants to get close to the greatest athletics superstar and demands on his time have multiplied. Thankfully he has Simms and the rest of the staff of Pace Sports Management, a company based in Teddington, Middlesex, to negotiate

appearance fees rumoured to be $200,000 as well as to ensure all his arrangements – travel, accommod-ation, press conferences and the like – are handled properly.

Simms admits that the majority of his time is now spent working with Bolt at the expense of the other 75 or so athletes on Pace Sports Management’s books. Bolt has become a 24/7 commitment. Simm’s colleagues ably fill in any gaps. He travels with Bolt to all his comp-etitions and to the numerous awards events that fill up the calendar. And he often finds himself in tense situations because of Bolt’s popularity.

At the Festival of Excellence meeting in Toronto in June, Simms was bolstered by four burly minders dressed in

matching blazers and dark glasses who looked capable of handling themselves. They had been hired by the meet organisers. The trouble was, their task was getting Bolt out of the stadium by the safest means possible. This meant bypassing the media mixed zone where scores of print journalists waited

impatiently. Recognising the impending uproar if the media weren’t served, Simms stepped in and re-directed his client.

“There’s security at all the meets he goes to. It’s for crowd control,” Simms says. “It’s not like anybody is trying to take him out. But whenever he goes into public places hundreds of people crowd around and want to take pictures. I think it’s dangerous not only for him but also for the people in the crowd. It’s important especially when there is a big Jamaican community.”

Simms is the front man amongst the small team who look after Bolt’s interests. The athlete showed his gratitude when after winning the Olympic 100m final in a world record 9.69 seconds he spotted his agent in the front row of the finishing straight and gently plucked him from the stands and hugged him on the track. Next to coach Glen Mills, who has trained him for four years, Simms is the pivotal man in Bolt’s trusted team.

“The coach and I discuss a racing plan at the start of the season and I will check out a plan for that,” Simms says. “We know which meets have the best conditions for Usain to run in and I check out the options and present them to the coach. That’s how it works. The decision is coach Mills’s. I will present the options to him and of course we discuss. I know which meets Usain likes to run in. It’s not that hard.”

The strategy is simple, just limit the number of competitions he does so his market value is driven up. That sharply reduces the “haves” from the “have nots” although there can be consequences. A Nigerian meeting reportedly offered half the going rate and were rejected. They went public with their disappointment.

“Of course he is the highest paid athlete on the circuit,” Simms says laughing. “He is the biggest star in the world. He gets invited to loads more competitions than he takes part in. He’s the first name everyone wants. The coach has times when he wants him to race. Early in the season he will want a race and then try to have a weekend off. Then towards the end of the season he may run a few races in a row. There’s no shortage of meets that want him.”

While the day-to-day management falls under the umbrella of Pace, endorsement opportunities are handled by a 35-year-old Jamaican accountant, Norm Peart, who has known Bolt and his family for seven years. It is Peart who negotiated existing contracts with Digicel, a Jamaican communications company, and a lucrative international sponsorship deal with Gatorade. Bolt has also had a long association with the Puma shoe company.

“We still have many offers but they are not at the level we wanted,” Peart says. “We have two we are close to finalising and will announce in a few weeks. These things take time to put together. Of course I can’t tell you who they are.

“Usain has done very well for himself financially. He has been professional since 2003 He didn’t just come up overnight. I am being very patient. There are a few that are very near but it’s a different economy as you know.”

Peart has been a trusted family friend since Bolt’s former high school principal

invited him to Montego Bay to meet the then 15-year-old sprinter. At first Peart’s role was to help improve his academic standing so he had the option of accepting a US university scholarship or attending Technical College in Kingston. But after Bolt won the 2002 world junior championship in Kingston the role changed.

“The times he ran, 20.25 seconds for 200m, was the fastest in the world at any level at that time,” Peart recalls. “It was as fast as the times that Ato Boldon and [2000 Olympic 100m champion] Maurice Greene were running.

“I said then the time is right to look at making it as a professional. I told him ‘Finish high school this year and move to Kingston’. I was working with the government so I got a transfer from Montego Bay to Kingston. At that point I became his manager.”

For three years Bolt lived with Peart in the Jamaican capital and received academic help from a tutor. When Peart got married Bolt found himself a home but the pair have remained close.

Now Peart works full time for Bolt, having resigned his post with the Jam-aican government. And he can afford to wait for those offers to come in for his client. Bolt, after all, is still only 22.