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Jamaican sets another world record in 100 meters; American Walter Dix takes the bronze
By Mark Zeigler
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 17, 2008
BEIJING – Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt prepared for the men's 100-meter final by waking up about 11 a.m. He watched TV for a while in his room at the Athletes' Village, then went downstairs and ate some chicken nuggets at McDonald's.
He returned to his room, took a three-hour nap, woke up and ate some more chicken nuggets.
“Then,” Bolt said, “I came to the track.”
Where he took the 100 meters into a new galaxy, into a completely new dimension.
What was so stunning about Bolt's gold-medal performance amid the popping flash bulbs at the Bird's Nest stadium was not that he lowered his own world record to 9.69 seconds. Or that he did it with zero tailwind or that he had the second slowest reaction time from the starting blocks or that at 6-foot-5 he's supposed to be too tall for an elite sprinter or that at age 21 he was the youngest Olympic champion since American Bob Hayes in 1964.
“It was how easy it was for him,” said fellow Jamaican Michael Frater, who finished sixth.
Bolt had, for him, a decent start and began accelerating through the field at 40 meters. At 70 meters, he turned to his right to look for former world-record holder Asafa Powell in Lane 7, knowing that reigning world champion Tyson Gay – still suffering the effects of a hamstring injury – had washed out in the semifinals.
Bolt didn't see Powell. Didn't see anybody.
At 80 meters, he spread his arms to his sides and began to slow. At 95 meters he reached his right palm across his body and thumped his heart. As he crossed the line, he was practically turned sideways. His left shoe was untied.
It was hard enough for people to wrap their minds around 9.69. Now they were being asked to calculate how fast “Lightning Bolt,” as he's known, would have gone had he run through the line.
BY THE NUMBERS
Facts and figures about the men's 100-meter final:
.165 Seconds, Usain Bolt's reaction time, the seventh slowest in the eight-man field.
1 Senior-level 100 run by Usain Bolt before this season.
6 People under 10 seconds in the eight-man field, the most ever for an Olympic final.
6 Caribbean runners in the final (three from Jamaica, two from Trinidad and Tobago, one from Netherlands Antilles), compared to two from the United States.
10.05 Seconds, Tyson Gay's time that got him fifth place in his semifinal and eliminated him.
12 Years since the last world record in an Olympic final, the 9.84 by Donovan Bailey in 1996.
– MARK ZEIGLER
FASTER AND FASTER
Progression of 100-meter record dating to 1960:
9.69 seconds: Usain Bolt, Jamaica, Aug. 17, 2008
9.72: Usain Bolt, Jamaica, May 31, 2008
9.74: Asafa Powell, Jamaica, Sept. 9, 2007.
9.77: Asafa Powell, Jamaica, Aug. 18, 2006.
9.77: Asafa Powell, Jamaica, June 11, 2006.
9.77: Justin Gatlin, United States, May 12, 2006.
9.77: Asafa Powell, Jamaica, June 14, 2005.
9.79: Maurice Greene, United States, June 16, 1999.
9.84: Donovan Bailey, Canada, July 27, 1996.
9.85: Leroy Burrell, United States, July 6, 1994.
9.86: Carl Lewis, United States, August 25, 1991.
9.90: Leroy Burrell, United States, June 14, 1991.
9.92: Carl Lewis, United States, Sept. 24, 1988.
9.93: Calvin Smith, United States, July 3, 1983.
9.95: Jim Hines, United States, Oct. 14, 1968.
9.99: Jim Hines, United States, June 20, 1968. 10.0: Armin Hary, West Germany, June 21, 1960.
9.65?
9.62?
Faster?
“When I first saw the time, it was like, 'Wow,'” said Trinidad and Tobago's Marc Burns, who was seventh. “Then when I saw him on the replay slowing down way out, it was indescribable. Just indescribable. I mean, he could have run 9.55.”
Richard Thompson, also of Trinidad, ran a 9.89 and still finished in second place by two-tenths of a second, equaling the largest margin of victory in Olympic history. American Walter Dix was third in 9.91. Powell was fifth in 9.95.
“I could see him slowing down,” Thompson said, “and I'm still pumping toward the line.”
The last guy in the race, let alone in the 91,000-seat stadium, to know the world record had been lowered into the previously incomprehensible terrain of the 9.6s was Bolt himself. He kept going across the line, around the turn and onto the backstretch without bothering to look at the clock.
It wasn't until he had completed a spirited victory lap of dancing and mugging for the camera that he noticed the clock at the finish line.
NEW WR 9.69.
“I wasn't worried about the world record,” Bolt said. “I didn't come here to run a world record. I came here to win. . . . This means a lot for my country, the first Olympic 100 gold medalist.”
Actually, he's the fourth. Canada's Ben Johnson in 1988, Great Britain's Linford Christie in 1992 and Canada's Donovan Bailey in 1996 all had Jamaican roots.
But Bolt is from the Trelawny region of Jamaica, on the northwest side of the island, and he never left. His father, Wellesley, credits his success to the famed Trelawny yam.
He began as a 200-meter runner, and his coach, Glen Mills, had him pegged to double in the 400 because conventional wisdom says it takes too long to unfold a tall, lanky frame in a 100 start. But Bolt wasn't particularly enamored with the idea of running quarter-mile repeats all day in practice and begged Mills to let him double in the 100 instead.
Mills finally relented last year, convinced that Bolt's start was sufficient and that he had developed the necessary strength to increase the turnover of his gazelle-like stride. Bolt needed just 41 strides to cover the 100 meters yesterday; most world-class sprinters need 45, even 46.
That, and the sheer otherworldliness of his time, likely will fuel the obligatory speculation about performance enhancement. So will the fact that five of the last six Olympic men's 100 champions either failed a drug test during their career or were strongly linked to doping.
So might what Bolt could do in the rest of the meet.
Next up is the 200, his natural event, and Michael Johnson's supposedly unbreakable record of 19.32 seconds could be in jeopardy. The 4x100 relay next weekend could make him the first track athlete to win three golds since Carl Lewis in 1984.
When Bolt broke Powell's world record by going 9.72 in May on a rainy night in New York, in just his fifth 100 at the senior level, American sprinter Darvis Patton said “we look like junior high kids compared to the man.”
Patton was in Lane 3 yesterday, to Bolt's immediate left.
“The guy is just a freak of nature, a phenomenal athlete,” said Patton, who finished last in 10.03. “You've never seen anything like it before, and you may never see it again. That's all I can say right now. A freak of nature, just a freak of nature. “I know you're tired of hearing it. He's a freak of nature.”
By Mark Zeigler
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 17, 2008
BEIJING – Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt prepared for the men's 100-meter final by waking up about 11 a.m. He watched TV for a while in his room at the Athletes' Village, then went downstairs and ate some chicken nuggets at McDonald's.
SEAN M. HAFFEY / Union-Tribune
Usain Bolt of Jamaica celebrates his world record of 9.69 in the 100 meters.He returned to his room, took a three-hour nap, woke up and ate some more chicken nuggets.
“Then,” Bolt said, “I came to the track.”
Where he took the 100 meters into a new galaxy, into a completely new dimension.
What was so stunning about Bolt's gold-medal performance amid the popping flash bulbs at the Bird's Nest stadium was not that he lowered his own world record to 9.69 seconds. Or that he did it with zero tailwind or that he had the second slowest reaction time from the starting blocks or that at 6-foot-5 he's supposed to be too tall for an elite sprinter or that at age 21 he was the youngest Olympic champion since American Bob Hayes in 1964.
SEAN M. HAFFEY / Union-Tribune
American sprinter Walter Dix takes a victory lap wrapped in the flag after claiming the bronze in the 100 meter.“It was how easy it was for him,” said fellow Jamaican Michael Frater, who finished sixth.
Bolt had, for him, a decent start and began accelerating through the field at 40 meters. At 70 meters, he turned to his right to look for former world-record holder Asafa Powell in Lane 7, knowing that reigning world champion Tyson Gay – still suffering the effects of a hamstring injury – had washed out in the semifinals.
Bolt didn't see Powell. Didn't see anybody.
At 80 meters, he spread his arms to his sides and began to slow. At 95 meters he reached his right palm across his body and thumped his heart. As he crossed the line, he was practically turned sideways. His left shoe was untied.
It was hard enough for people to wrap their minds around 9.69. Now they were being asked to calculate how fast “Lightning Bolt,” as he's known, would have gone had he run through the line.
BY THE NUMBERS
Facts and figures about the men's 100-meter final:
.165 Seconds, Usain Bolt's reaction time, the seventh slowest in the eight-man field.
1 Senior-level 100 run by Usain Bolt before this season.
6 People under 10 seconds in the eight-man field, the most ever for an Olympic final.
6 Caribbean runners in the final (three from Jamaica, two from Trinidad and Tobago, one from Netherlands Antilles), compared to two from the United States.
10.05 Seconds, Tyson Gay's time that got him fifth place in his semifinal and eliminated him.
12 Years since the last world record in an Olympic final, the 9.84 by Donovan Bailey in 1996.
– MARK ZEIGLER
FASTER AND FASTER
Progression of 100-meter record dating to 1960:
9.69 seconds: Usain Bolt, Jamaica, Aug. 17, 2008
9.72: Usain Bolt, Jamaica, May 31, 2008
9.74: Asafa Powell, Jamaica, Sept. 9, 2007.
9.77: Asafa Powell, Jamaica, Aug. 18, 2006.
9.77: Asafa Powell, Jamaica, June 11, 2006.
9.77: Justin Gatlin, United States, May 12, 2006.
9.77: Asafa Powell, Jamaica, June 14, 2005.
9.79: Maurice Greene, United States, June 16, 1999.
9.84: Donovan Bailey, Canada, July 27, 1996.
9.85: Leroy Burrell, United States, July 6, 1994.
9.86: Carl Lewis, United States, August 25, 1991.
9.90: Leroy Burrell, United States, June 14, 1991.
9.92: Carl Lewis, United States, Sept. 24, 1988.
9.93: Calvin Smith, United States, July 3, 1983.
9.95: Jim Hines, United States, Oct. 14, 1968.
9.99: Jim Hines, United States, June 20, 1968. 10.0: Armin Hary, West Germany, June 21, 1960.
9.65?
9.62?
Faster?
“When I first saw the time, it was like, 'Wow,'” said Trinidad and Tobago's Marc Burns, who was seventh. “Then when I saw him on the replay slowing down way out, it was indescribable. Just indescribable. I mean, he could have run 9.55.”
Richard Thompson, also of Trinidad, ran a 9.89 and still finished in second place by two-tenths of a second, equaling the largest margin of victory in Olympic history. American Walter Dix was third in 9.91. Powell was fifth in 9.95.
“I could see him slowing down,” Thompson said, “and I'm still pumping toward the line.”
The last guy in the race, let alone in the 91,000-seat stadium, to know the world record had been lowered into the previously incomprehensible terrain of the 9.6s was Bolt himself. He kept going across the line, around the turn and onto the backstretch without bothering to look at the clock.
It wasn't until he had completed a spirited victory lap of dancing and mugging for the camera that he noticed the clock at the finish line.
NEW WR 9.69.
“I wasn't worried about the world record,” Bolt said. “I didn't come here to run a world record. I came here to win. . . . This means a lot for my country, the first Olympic 100 gold medalist.”
Actually, he's the fourth. Canada's Ben Johnson in 1988, Great Britain's Linford Christie in 1992 and Canada's Donovan Bailey in 1996 all had Jamaican roots.
But Bolt is from the Trelawny region of Jamaica, on the northwest side of the island, and he never left. His father, Wellesley, credits his success to the famed Trelawny yam.
He began as a 200-meter runner, and his coach, Glen Mills, had him pegged to double in the 400 because conventional wisdom says it takes too long to unfold a tall, lanky frame in a 100 start. But Bolt wasn't particularly enamored with the idea of running quarter-mile repeats all day in practice and begged Mills to let him double in the 100 instead.
Mills finally relented last year, convinced that Bolt's start was sufficient and that he had developed the necessary strength to increase the turnover of his gazelle-like stride. Bolt needed just 41 strides to cover the 100 meters yesterday; most world-class sprinters need 45, even 46.
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That, and the sheer otherworldliness of his time, likely will fuel the obligatory speculation about performance enhancement. So will the fact that five of the last six Olympic men's 100 champions either failed a drug test during their career or were strongly linked to doping.
So might what Bolt could do in the rest of the meet.
Next up is the 200, his natural event, and Michael Johnson's supposedly unbreakable record of 19.32 seconds could be in jeopardy. The 4x100 relay next weekend could make him the first track athlete to win three golds since Carl Lewis in 1984.
When Bolt broke Powell's world record by going 9.72 in May on a rainy night in New York, in just his fifth 100 at the senior level, American sprinter Darvis Patton said “we look like junior high kids compared to the man.”
Patton was in Lane 3 yesterday, to Bolt's immediate left.
“The guy is just a freak of nature, a phenomenal athlete,” said Patton, who finished last in 10.03. “You've never seen anything like it before, and you may never see it again. That's all I can say right now. A freak of nature, just a freak of nature. “I know you're tired of hearing it. He's a freak of nature.”