LIGHTNING BOLT (COULDN'T RESIST!)
"HE'S GOING TO RUN 9.6, THERE'S NO QUESTION. HE'S 21; HE'S GOING TO GET STRONGER; HE'LL GET BETTER WITH COMPETITION; HE'LL LEARN THE EVENT. HE'S A PHENOMENAL TALENT." ATO BOLDON
In my mind, the Men’s 100 Metre Sprint is without doubt the purest form of sport. What else could be more decisive, more dramatic, more precise than a straight line race to decide who is the fastest person on the planet? I grew up watching the dark scandal of Ben Johnson in Seoul, the brutal fluidity of Carl Lewis in Tokyo, the outright ecstasy of Linford Christie in Barcelona. On saturday night in New York, a record-shattering, groundbreaking new king of speed was crowned.
Usain Bolt, a chilled-out, 21 year-old Jamaican, has shaved 2 tenths of
a second off the previous world record belonging his compatriot, Asafa Powell.
It was a dumbfounding, shocking, jaw-dropping exhibition of power. No
man has ever been quicker than him. His 9.72 seconds should be the stuff of legend,
but through no fault of his own, it isn’t quite.
Unfortunately for Bolt, recent years have not been kind to us sprint fans. Tim Montgomery had a record 9.78 invalidated in 2002. He was implicated in the Balco scandal. Justin Gatlin ran a 9.77 in 2006 but failed a doping test a year later and the record was scrapped. And of course, our very own Dwain Chambers is attempting to restart a career that has involved “the full enchilada” of drugs and he may still end up in the high court. Three of the past five Olympic 100 Metre champions have tested positive and two of the past four world record-holders have been tainted.
The result of all this? They’ve nearly ruined it for the purist fans. The glorious villains, the posturing cheats, the triumphant losers. We don’t care about them cheating themselves, we care about them cheating us. When he was caught, Dwain Chambers claimed that in the modern day, any new world record would be impossible without drugs because even the most gifted athletes were using. And yet here is Usain Bolt. A 6’ 5” Rolls Royce of a man who on a rain-soaked track in front of a small crowd ensured that goodness prevailed. Every “bolt from the blue” headline will be vindicated if, as expected, he tests negative for drugs. He could herald a new golden era for sprinting and the flagship event of the Olympics might just be the greatest show on earth this summer. 10 seconds of beauty, hopefully as clean as it is explosive.
Unfortunately for Bolt, recent years have not been kind to us sprint fans. Tim Montgomery had a record 9.78 invalidated in 2002. He was implicated in the Balco scandal. Justin Gatlin ran a 9.77 in 2006 but failed a doping test a year later and the record was scrapped. And of course, our very own Dwain Chambers is attempting to restart a career that has involved “the full enchilada” of drugs and he may still end up in the high court. Three of the past five Olympic 100 Metre champions have tested positive and two of the past four world record-holders have been tainted.
The result of all this? They’ve nearly ruined it for the purist fans. The glorious villains, the posturing cheats, the triumphant losers. We don’t care about them cheating themselves, we care about them cheating us. When he was caught, Dwain Chambers claimed that in the modern day, any new world record would be impossible without drugs because even the most gifted athletes were using. And yet here is Usain Bolt. A 6’ 5” Rolls Royce of a man who on a rain-soaked track in front of a small crowd ensured that goodness prevailed. Every “bolt from the blue” headline will be vindicated if, as expected, he tests negative for drugs. He could herald a new golden era for sprinting and the flagship event of the Olympics might just be the greatest show on earth this summer. 10 seconds of beauty, hopefully as clean as it is explosive.
That Jamaican relay team is going to be something else...
How fast can humans actually go? The 10 second barrier went in the 60's, 9.9 went on 1991, 9.8 in 1999 and now a 9.69 is in sight. Ridiculous.
As fast as the 'roids allow...
just because someone tests negatively for drugs does not mean they aren't using them