"It is an interesting one," Coe maintained. 

"For the first time this year Usain Bolt has not led the list of the most written-about athletes of the year."

The 2022 top five "in terms of media coverage" were India's Olympic men's javelin champion Neeraj Chopra, who was the subject of 812 articles, and then four Jamaican sprinters - Elaine Thompson-Herah, who merited 751 articles, Shelley-Ann Fraser-Pryce on 698, Shericka Jackson on 679 and Bolt on 574.

There are two ways of looking at this research.

Bolt may not have been top of the pile in 2022 - but, five years after retirement, he remains in the top five.

That is a distinction which, puzzlingly, has eluded some of the outstanding rising talents in the sport.

In terms of men, we are talking about Sweden's world and Olympic pole vault champion and multiple world record holder Mondo Duplantis, Norway's Karsten Warholm, who shattered the world 400m hurdles record in winning the Olympic title in 2021, and his compatriot Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Olympic 1500m and world 5,000m champion among many other distinctions.

In terms of women, we are talking about Venezuela's electric world and Olympic triple jump champion and world record holder, Yulimar Rojas, world and Olympic 800m champion Athing Mu of the United States and her compatriot Sydney McLaughlin, who set a shattering fourth world record in winning the global 400m hurdles title in Eugene last summer.

And still the dude abides.

But then few, if any, have established themselves so utterly atop the sport.

While Bolt arrived at the Beijing 2008 Olympics as the recently established 100m world record holder, having run 9.72sec shortly before the Games to better the mark of 9.74 held by his Jamaican buddy Asafa Powell, it was the brilliance of his performances in the Bird’s Nest Stadium that precipitated him into an athlete who topped and transcended his sport.

Bolt became the first man to run the 100m in less than 9.70 in legal wind conditions, lowering his world record to 9.69 despite running with an untied lace and slowing 10m from the line to thump his chest. 

"I wasn’t celebrating," he said. 

"I was excited."

By the end of the Games, he had lowered Michael Johnson’s 1996 world 200m record of 19.32, a mark many thought would not be reached for generations, to 19.30. 

He concluded by running the third leg for Jamaica's 4x100m victory team which set a world record of 37.10.

As an indicator of how thoroughly the exuberant sprinter had gained the world’s attention it was reported in the aftermath of the Beijing Olympics that for every Google search made over the previous weekend for Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Ronaldinho, David Beckham and Tiger Woods, there were 7.5 for Bolt.

And this was before he lowered his world 100m and 200m records to their current marks of 9.58 and 19.19 at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.

But outstanding achievements are only part of the reason for Bolt’s enduring appeal. Mostly of it is because of who he is, and how he acts.

One random example.

In 2010, I was writing an unofficial biography of Bolt and industriously hoovering up every detail I could as I covered a number of his appearances on the newly-established Diamond League circuit.

After winning the first-ever Diamond League men’s 200m in 2010 at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix, Bolt was ushered into a chaotic press conference at the Regal Shanghai East Asia Hotel which did not start until well after 10.00pm.

TV, radio, print and digital media were all packed into a small room for what proved to be an extensive series of moderately annoying questions. 

The presence of home idol Liu Xiang, the 110m hurdler who had won China's first Olympic athletics gold at the Athens 2004 Games, further extended the proceedings.

The media session was preceded by a series of welcoming statements from suited officials which were then translated into English. 

Before sitting down, each official honoured the applause by applauding the applauders themselves for a period of three or four seconds.

Bolt, who had been doodling on a black pad in front of him, started up like a guilty schoolboy as his first question arrived: Why had he not done the Lightning Bolt pose after his race?

An extended quizzing for Bolt was followed by a battery of enquiries over the injured Liu’s health, and future prospects. 

Then the attention returned to the doodler. Bolt’s compatriot and fellow Olympic champion Fraser-Pryce had visited the Jamaican pavilion at Expo 2010, which was being hosted by Shanghai. Would he be following suit?

"I think it’s too late," Bolt said diplomatically, before adding that he had to catch the 05.40 bus from his hotel the following morning.

Eventually the press conference came to a close.

Next up - the Presentation Ceremony.

Both Bolt and Liu greeted this late bonus graciously.

As the official photo is being set up Bolt loses grip in his award - a framed impression of his handprint - and the precious trophy slips slowly to earth.

None of the officials seem to have noticed. But everyone facing Bolt has.

He turns the moment into comedy: features frozen, shoulders hunched, he shares his awful secret with an audience already beginning to rumble with mirth.

And as he goes through the slow-motion pantomime of retrieving the fallen trophy there is open laughter in the stuffed and stuffy room.

This is why Bolt is still on that list.

But the other element of this, of course, is the healthy confirmation that significant new growth has emerged in the athletics landscape where the giant redwood tree once stood tallest.

It is an enduring measure of the impact Jamaican sprinters have had on the sport over the past 15 years that they should occupy four of the five top places in the media popularity list.

Thompson successfully defended her Olympic 100 and 200m titles in Tokyo, with her 100m time of 10.54 shortly afterwards establishing her as the second fastest woman in history behind the late Florence Griffith-Joyner of the United States.

Last year her compatriot and rival Fraser-Pryce, who had done the 100-200m double at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games, earned her fifth world 100m title.

And, after years of missing out on a place at the top of the podium, their fellow Jamaican Shericka Jackson stepped up in style as she won the 2022 world 200m title in 21.45, putting her second behind Griffith-Joyner in the all-time list.

Meanwhile for India to be energised by the emergence in Tokyo of its first Olympic champion in athletics, Chopra, is of huge significance for the spread and vitality of the sport.

Chopra also became the second Indian to win an individual Olympic gold medal after Abhinav Bindra, victor in the men's 10m air rifle competition at the Beijing 2008 Games.

The 25-year-old junior officer in the Indian Army has promised great deeds ever since winning the world junior title in 2016, an achievement he followed up with gold in the 2017 Asian Championships and to more in the 2018 Asian and Commonwealth Games.

After earning the ultimate prize in Tokyo in the summer of 2021, engendering "crazy scenes" among the vast crowds who welcomed him home, he added world silver to his collection in Eugene last year.

At 25, and with his 2022 personal best tantalisingly close to 90m at 89.94m, Chopra - if he can avoid the injuries he has had to negotiate so far - looks very capable of causing further crazy celebration in his home country.