Athens - Felix Sanchez might go down in the history books as the Dominican Republic's greatest ever export after his win in the Olympic Games 400m hurdles here on Thursday.
After being born in New York, Sanchez grew up in California and his globe trotting led him to Athens, where he clinched his country's first Olympic gold medal.
However, his bid to promote the Caribbean country to the rest of the world does not extend to consuming one of the Domincan Republic's other famous products, its cigars.
"When I was young my mother smoked cigarettes and one day I picked up one that had been lying in the ash tray. I got a big smack in the mouth and I lost my taste for tobacco after that. I am more of a champagne man," joked Sanchez.
And he admitted that he will raise a couple of glasses after his victory in 47.63sec, the fastest time in the world this year.
His margin of victory was the biggest since the American hurdler Kevin Young romped home at the Barcelona Olympics 12 years ago, setting a world record of 46.78sec which still stands today.
"At the moment the world record is still a long away," conceded Sanchez who turns 27 on Saturday.
"But one day, if everything is right, then maybe I can have a chance."
Another question that Sancez now has to field with regularity is whether or not he can make progress towards the record of the legendary Ed Moses.
The 1976 and 1984 Olympic 400m hurdles champion went 122 races without losing, the longest winning streak in modern top-level athletics.
"I'm currently on 42 but I'll only start counting seriously when I reach 50," said Sanchez before Thursday's outstanding outing.
"In Ed's day there were only two or three hurdlers running under 48 seconds. Now there are around 10 who can do it on any given day. Ed was in a class of his own, literally, and so it's tougher to win races these days."
In Athens though, it wasn't so tough despite a few technical mistakes.
"There were a few things that were not perfect but they were not too serious," said Sanchez.
Nevertheless, Sanchez was the only man to go under 48 seconds in Athens and so he can quite rightly consider himself, like his idol Moses, to be in a class of his own.
