"For almost a whole week there were celebrations in the streets," the sprinter's coach Eric Francis told Reuters.

"The whole country stopped to celebrate. It was a major, major event. He came from two of the smallest Caribbean islands, not from Jamaica, Barbados or Cuba, and won the world title."

Collins has promised his country a beach party to end all beach parties if he wins Sunday's Olympic 100 metres final.

"On September 26 there will be a beach bash to thank all the people," he told a news conference. "Even if I lose, the beach bash is still on."

The euphoria in a small country heavily dependent on tourism to prop up the economy was understandable. Collins's return inspired further dancing in the street.

"I hadn't realised there were so many people," Collins said. "There were young, there were old, there were schoolchildren.

"People who were too old to come out looked out their window."

More tangible benefits followed. Collins got a new car and free airline tickets. With his earnings he bought a new house.

"I bought a bigger house, I live in a more comfortable neighbourhood," said Collins. "But I'm the same person."

The scale of his achievement cannot be over-estimated.

St Kitts and Nevis are fielding only six competitors at the Olympics. The only other track runner is women's 400 metres sprinter Tiandra Ponteen.

There are no synthetic tracks on either island, forcing Collins to move abroad to train when the northern season begins.

"We have a half a dozen grass tracks," Francis said, one at Basseterre High School and another at Sandy Point. "But we don't have a proper track."

Collins's time of 10.07 seconds in Paris was the slowest since the inaugural world championships in 1983. Olympic champion Maurice Greene was absent after injuring himself in the semi-finals and Jamaican Asafa Powell, favourite for Sunday's final, was disqualified in the quarter-finals.

At a news conference last week Greene gave the clear impression that he regarded Collins as something of an imposter and did not rate him as serious threat.

"I ran to win," Collins responded. "You set out to be a winner. If you take half an hour to win, hey you're still the winner."

His initial motivation was equally uncomplicated.

"I started running in high school," he said. "I found out if you run fast then you can get girls."