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An electrifying performance
published: Wednesday | June 4, 2008
IN 9.72 SECONDS, Usain Bolt gave the world another electrifying demonstration of his amazing talent.
That he left the field - at the Reebok Classic in New York on Saturday night - for dead, is one thing. The other was that included in the line-p was American Tyson Gay, the double World Championship sprint champion, who is also numbered among the favourites for Olympic 100m gold in Beijing in August.
Out of nowhere
In lightning fashion, Bolt, virtually out of nowhere as far as the shortest sprint is concerned, has now embedded himself in the group expected to win on the basis of not only Saturday's night's world-record run, but his recent performances over 100m.
The 6'5" sprinter out of Trelawny gave the world evidence of his quality over the distance with a spectacular 9.76 at the Jamaica International Invitational at the National Stadium on May 2, then followed that up with a 9.92 victory at the Hampton Inter-national Games in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad.
That was the fastest 100 ever run on Trinidadian soil and, according to his coach, Glen Mills, and a Caribbean Media Corporation report of the meet, Bolt registered that time 'walking' the second half of the race.
Prior to that, he had recorded identically decent, but not eye-popping 10:03 clockings over the distance that was in his first two appearances. Now, even though he clearly has not fully found his range, he continues to record some times that, to many, are shocking and are viewed with some amount of scepticism in North America.
Much of this thought is based on the fact that he had no strong background as a 100m runner. Also, the impact that drugs have had on sport, especially track and field, has them wondering if Bolt is the genuine article.
A running career
Another factor could be ignorance, but those who are familiar with the history of Bolt would scarcely hold any doubt about the legitimacy of his performances, even though he has built a career significantly on 200m running and the 400m.
At 15, Bolt was world junior champion - winning the 200m in 20.61 seconds, and also won silver medals on the 4x100 and 4x400m, running blistering anchor legs on not just the 1600 relay, but the 400 relay as well. In both relays, Jamaica established national junior records.
He also won a 200m gold medal at the World Youth Championships in 2003 in Canada, lowering his mark to 20.40 seconds.
As a 16-year-old, he also ran 45.35 while representing William Knibb at Champs when he beat Jermaine Gonzalez, thus becoming the first Jamaican schoolboy to dip below 46 seconds.
Two years later, Bolt became the first junior to break the 20-second barrier for the 200m when he ran 19.93 seconds at the Carifta Games in Barbados.
The 21-year-old, who has also won two International Association of Athletics Federations Rising Star Awards, also shattered the great Donald Quarrie's 36-year-old 200m record from 19.86 to 19.75 last year. He also won the World Championship silver over 200m last year, finishing second to Gay.
Over the 400, Bolt ran one individual event, winning at the Jamaica International Invitational in 45.28 seconds last year. But he has run some very impressive legs on 4x400m teams that showed his vast potential.
And last year, he indicated his intent to take on the 100m and proved what was always evident, that he had lightning speed, with a pretty decent return of 10.03 seconds in Rethissimo, Italy.
Deliver at senior level
The rest has happened so quickly, too fast for those who have not been tuned into Bolt for some time. In fact, the response is not dissimilar to that of even us Jamaicans when some runner from North America produces an extraordinary performance, especially when the person left in their wake is one of our 'Yardie' superstars.
Right now, the Olympics can't come too soon for Bolt, who is set to deliver at the senior level what he did as a junior.
And don't blink, or else you could miss yet another electrifying demonstration of lightning speed in a Bolt.
Feedback: audley.boyd@gleanerjm.com.
published: Wednesday | June 4, 2008
IN 9.72 SECONDS, Usain Bolt gave the world another electrifying demonstration of his amazing talent.
That he left the field - at the Reebok Classic in New York on Saturday night - for dead, is one thing. The other was that included in the line-p was American Tyson Gay, the double World Championship sprint champion, who is also numbered among the favourites for Olympic 100m gold in Beijing in August.
Out of nowhere
In lightning fashion, Bolt, virtually out of nowhere as far as the shortest sprint is concerned, has now embedded himself in the group expected to win on the basis of not only Saturday's night's world-record run, but his recent performances over 100m.
The 6'5" sprinter out of Trelawny gave the world evidence of his quality over the distance with a spectacular 9.76 at the Jamaica International Invitational at the National Stadium on May 2, then followed that up with a 9.92 victory at the Hampton Inter-national Games in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad.
That was the fastest 100 ever run on Trinidadian soil and, according to his coach, Glen Mills, and a Caribbean Media Corporation report of the meet, Bolt registered that time 'walking' the second half of the race.
Prior to that, he had recorded identically decent, but not eye-popping 10:03 clockings over the distance that was in his first two appearances. Now, even though he clearly has not fully found his range, he continues to record some times that, to many, are shocking and are viewed with some amount of scepticism in North America.
Much of this thought is based on the fact that he had no strong background as a 100m runner. Also, the impact that drugs have had on sport, especially track and field, has them wondering if Bolt is the genuine article.
A running career
Another factor could be ignorance, but those who are familiar with the history of Bolt would scarcely hold any doubt about the legitimacy of his performances, even though he has built a career significantly on 200m running and the 400m.
At 15, Bolt was world junior champion - winning the 200m in 20.61 seconds, and also won silver medals on the 4x100 and 4x400m, running blistering anchor legs on not just the 1600 relay, but the 400 relay as well. In both relays, Jamaica established national junior records.
He also won a 200m gold medal at the World Youth Championships in 2003 in Canada, lowering his mark to 20.40 seconds.
As a 16-year-old, he also ran 45.35 while representing William Knibb at Champs when he beat Jermaine Gonzalez, thus becoming the first Jamaican schoolboy to dip below 46 seconds.
Two years later, Bolt became the first junior to break the 20-second barrier for the 200m when he ran 19.93 seconds at the Carifta Games in Barbados.
The 21-year-old, who has also won two International Association of Athletics Federations Rising Star Awards, also shattered the great Donald Quarrie's 36-year-old 200m record from 19.86 to 19.75 last year. He also won the World Championship silver over 200m last year, finishing second to Gay.
Over the 400, Bolt ran one individual event, winning at the Jamaica International Invitational in 45.28 seconds last year. But he has run some very impressive legs on 4x400m teams that showed his vast potential.
And last year, he indicated his intent to take on the 100m and proved what was always evident, that he had lightning speed, with a pretty decent return of 10.03 seconds in Rethissimo, Italy.
Deliver at senior level
The rest has happened so quickly, too fast for those who have not been tuned into Bolt for some time. In fact, the response is not dissimilar to that of even us Jamaicans when some runner from North America produces an extraordinary performance, especially when the person left in their wake is one of our 'Yardie' superstars.
Right now, the Olympics can't come too soon for Bolt, who is set to deliver at the senior level what he did as a junior.
And don't blink, or else you could miss yet another electrifying demonstration of lightning speed in a Bolt.
Feedback: audley.boyd@gleanerjm.com.
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