Bolt from a Future Era of Speed

by The Watcher

Usain Bolt has given me the most precious gift. A time machine back to the heady days when I was a huge athletics fan and track and field heroes such as Michael Johnson, Linford Christie, Jan Zelezny, Sergey Bibka et al were plying their trades to glorious effect around the local anbd Gramd Prix tracks of the European circuit.

There are three sporting events that made me either stand open-mouthed in near disbelief or shout in utter shock: Martin Offiah scoring 10 tries against Leeds, Michael Johnson's 19.32 seconds 200m at the Atlanta Olympics and now Usain Bolt's staggering 100m win at these excellent Beijing Olympics. I had the nervous, heart-thumping anticipation as the athletes settled into their blocks. I was keenly anticipating the result after the previous rounds when Bolt and Asafa Powell seemed leagues ahead of the other athletes. World Champ, Tyson Gay missed out on the final -the after effects of injury no doubt as he has still recorded the fastest time ever (wind-assisted 9.68 at the US Olympic trails this year).

To say that Bolt seemed by far the most relaxed athlete is an understatment of galactic proportions. He was mugging for the cameras and being a general ham, albeit with a schollboy's charm. His surname is the polar opposite of how he runs the 100m. He sprung from his blocks second last, stayed with the field till about 40-50m and then turned on the turbo chargers and away he went, race won by 60m. His burst of pace (not a bolt) took him so comprehensivley clear of the field that he checked thoroughly to see where at least Asafa Powell was. There was nobody to be found! I can almost understand what he did next, but not quite. So overjoyed at his domination he then reneged on the idea that he should run hard and run through the tape and began prancing almost like an American Footballer running back when he has scored a touchdown before thumping his chest as he crossed the line. Let us be perfectly scientific about this. Usain Bolt ran 9.69 -the fastest legal time ever- whilst purposefully decelerating at least 10-15m from the finish, not even using his arms and without dipping at the line. Have you ever tried running really quickly without using your arms to propel your legs?

I watched the repeats over and over again on BBC's excellent iPlayer. Simply awesome display of speed. I feel privileged to have seen the race live and now have the bug for the remainder of the athletics schedule. Bring on the 200m. Michael Johnson must be sweating, wondering if he will still be the 200m world record holder by the end of the week. When Johnson ran that 19.32 seconds I thought it wouyld stand for at least 20 years. Usain Bolt has given us a glimpse at the future.