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I remember reading this article, and saying ok just watch, then I saw the semi's and said oh boyee, Bolt semi-final was scarey and posted it. Then I remember Mosiah post and he completely hedged his bet, then I remembered Islandman and Historian saying Gay done (by the way why im walk soo damn gay). Then reading Gamma's post... ok read
Who will win the men's 100m?
I heard a great little rumour the other day.
It might be true and it might not be true, but I trust my source, so let's go with it.
It concerns Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell and their living arrangements in the Olympic village ahead of Saturday's 100m final.
Bolt, first of all, is apparently sharing a room with his Jamaican team-mate Maurice Smith. A room with bunk-beds.
We'll leave for a minute the vision of a muscle-bound decathlete and a man of 6' 5" arguing about who gets the top bunk, and move on to Powell's deal.
Asafa is sharing with fellow sprinter Andre Wellington. He's okay with that.
What he's not so happy about, according to my source, is the fact that Usain's room is only two doors down.
Powell wants to keep his head down, to avoid any contact with his record-breaking compatriot, to avoid all mention of the showdown to come.
Usain, by contrast, is delighted.
He knows that Powell is feeling the pressure, but his own confidence is sky-high. He could talk about the Olympic 100m all day long, particularly to Asafa.
The more he talks to Asafa, the better he feels. The more Asafa hears, the more anxious he feels.
Now, as I say, it could all be nonsense. Apologies to the pair if it is.
But the reason I tell the story is to illustrate just how the 100m final - and who will win it - is dominating conversation in Beijing ahead of Saturday night's denouement.
Everyone you talk to has heard a rumour. Everyone has a theory. Everyone has a prediction.
Before Friday's heats, the majority were calling it between Bolt and Tyson Gay.
Olympic 4x100m gold medallist Darren Campbell told me it would be Bolt. The 1992 Olympic 100m champion Linford Christie told him it would be Bolt too.
Jason Gardener, another member of that 4x100m team, was going for Gay, as long as the American's hamstring injury had really cleared up.
"My rationale is that Gay has been there at a major championships and dealt with the pressure," he said.
"There's a whole world of difference between running one fast time at a Grand Prix, when there is no pressure on you, and going through four rounds at an Olympics."
Maurice Greene and Ato Bolden were also in the Usain camp. Add up the numbers overall, however, and they probably looked like this: Gay 45%, Bolt 40%, Powell 15%.
If that sounds harsh on Asafa, Friday's heats changed things around.
After Powell purred, Tyson tightened up and Bolt blew the rest away, the wind swung dramatically towards a Bolt victory, with Powell finally getting a bigger mention than Gay.
Michael Johnson even went as far as saying, "I've never seen anything like that before," and Michael Johnson has seen most things in sprinting.
"At this stage we're pretty much guaranteed to have a world record in the 100m," he added, "and Usain is pretty much guaranteed a gold medal."
Still - no-one can be 100% sure. They're the three fastest men in history, racing against each other for the first time ever. Wonderful things could happen.
Campbell has an excellent theory on what each man must do to maximise his chances.
"Powell can't run people down," he says. "That means he has to be leading at 60m to have a chance of gold.
"If he's not leading by that stage, it's too late for him. He's got to be leading all the way or he's not going to make it.
"If Gay is fit, he can be behind at 60m and still win, because he's capable of running people down, including Powell.
"The one person Gay can't run down is Bolt.
"No-one can chase Bolt down. The other two rely on power, but Usain has that 200m strength.
"Don't get me wrong - he has power too, but he doesn't have to rely on it.
"Once he's into his running, he has such a long stride length that he can just go away from the rest of the field."
Then we come to the matter of the world record.
Campbell doesn't think it matters, not in an Olympic final. He points out that a world record hasn't been broken in an Olympic final since Donovan Bailey's 9.84 seconds in Atlanta 12 years ago.
Others like Johnson are sure we'll see Bolt's current mark of 9.72 seconds destroyed.
The weather should be perfect - warm without being too humid, the 10.30pm local start time taking the sting out of the daytime heat.
There hasn't been much wind, and the track inside the Bird's Nest is said to be fast.
If you wanted my prediction, I'm going Bolt, Powell, Gay in that order, but then again I said Padraig Harrington would never make it through the first round of the Open.
A Jamaican. I'll stick with that
Tom Fordyce is a BBC Sport journalist covering a wide range of events in Beijing. Our FAQs should answer any questions you have.
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Who will win the men's 100m?- Tom Fordyce
- 15 Aug 08, 06:17 PM
I heard a great little rumour the other day.
It might be true and it might not be true, but I trust my source, so let's go with it.
It concerns Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell and their living arrangements in the Olympic village ahead of Saturday's 100m final.
Bolt, first of all, is apparently sharing a room with his Jamaican team-mate Maurice Smith. A room with bunk-beds.
We'll leave for a minute the vision of a muscle-bound decathlete and a man of 6' 5" arguing about who gets the top bunk, and move on to Powell's deal.
Asafa is sharing with fellow sprinter Andre Wellington. He's okay with that.
What he's not so happy about, according to my source, is the fact that Usain's room is only two doors down.
Powell wants to keep his head down, to avoid any contact with his record-breaking compatriot, to avoid all mention of the showdown to come.
Usain, by contrast, is delighted.
He knows that Powell is feeling the pressure, but his own confidence is sky-high. He could talk about the Olympic 100m all day long, particularly to Asafa.
The more he talks to Asafa, the better he feels. The more Asafa hears, the more anxious he feels.
Now, as I say, it could all be nonsense. Apologies to the pair if it is.
But the reason I tell the story is to illustrate just how the 100m final - and who will win it - is dominating conversation in Beijing ahead of Saturday night's denouement.
Everyone you talk to has heard a rumour. Everyone has a theory. Everyone has a prediction.
Before Friday's heats, the majority were calling it between Bolt and Tyson Gay.
Olympic 4x100m gold medallist Darren Campbell told me it would be Bolt. The 1992 Olympic 100m champion Linford Christie told him it would be Bolt too.
Jason Gardener, another member of that 4x100m team, was going for Gay, as long as the American's hamstring injury had really cleared up.
"My rationale is that Gay has been there at a major championships and dealt with the pressure," he said.
"There's a whole world of difference between running one fast time at a Grand Prix, when there is no pressure on you, and going through four rounds at an Olympics."
Maurice Greene and Ato Bolden were also in the Usain camp. Add up the numbers overall, however, and they probably looked like this: Gay 45%, Bolt 40%, Powell 15%.
If that sounds harsh on Asafa, Friday's heats changed things around.
After Powell purred, Tyson tightened up and Bolt blew the rest away, the wind swung dramatically towards a Bolt victory, with Powell finally getting a bigger mention than Gay.
Michael Johnson even went as far as saying, "I've never seen anything like that before," and Michael Johnson has seen most things in sprinting.
"At this stage we're pretty much guaranteed to have a world record in the 100m," he added, "and Usain is pretty much guaranteed a gold medal."
Still - no-one can be 100% sure. They're the three fastest men in history, racing against each other for the first time ever. Wonderful things could happen.
Campbell has an excellent theory on what each man must do to maximise his chances.
"Powell can't run people down," he says. "That means he has to be leading at 60m to have a chance of gold.
"If he's not leading by that stage, it's too late for him. He's got to be leading all the way or he's not going to make it.
"If Gay is fit, he can be behind at 60m and still win, because he's capable of running people down, including Powell.
"The one person Gay can't run down is Bolt.
"No-one can chase Bolt down. The other two rely on power, but Usain has that 200m strength.
"Don't get me wrong - he has power too, but he doesn't have to rely on it.
"Once he's into his running, he has such a long stride length that he can just go away from the rest of the field."
Then we come to the matter of the world record.
Campbell doesn't think it matters, not in an Olympic final. He points out that a world record hasn't been broken in an Olympic final since Donovan Bailey's 9.84 seconds in Atlanta 12 years ago.
Others like Johnson are sure we'll see Bolt's current mark of 9.72 seconds destroyed.
The weather should be perfect - warm without being too humid, the 10.30pm local start time taking the sting out of the daytime heat.
There hasn't been much wind, and the track inside the Bird's Nest is said to be fast.
If you wanted my prediction, I'm going Bolt, Powell, Gay in that order, but then again I said Padraig Harrington would never make it through the first round of the Open.
A Jamaican. I'll stick with that
Tom Fordyce is a BBC Sport journalist covering a wide range of events in Beijing. Our FAQs should answer any questions you have.
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- <LI class=" " id=comment1>1. At 01:54am on 16 Aug 2008, UTD3inarow wrote: Good article
For me its got to be Usain Bolt, Gay`s hamstring is clearly a significant problem for him, and we all know that powell folds under pressure, Osaka,Helsinki etc Plus Bolt's form in both the 100 and 200 have been spectacular leading to the olympics and i would fancy him to do the sprint double
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<LI class=" stripe" id=comment2>2. At 02:04am on 16 Aug 2008, smellslikesalmon wrote: Bolt all the way. That 9.92 was the scariest performance ever, looked like he was chillin' on the beach in Jamaica. It honestly seemed as though he had another .5 seconds in the bag, could be a very fast race.
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<LI class=" " id=comment3>3. At 02:14am on 16 Aug 2008, Masterroger wrote: The guys arent bunking. A programme in Jamaica showed us the inside of Bolt's room and there are single beds on both sides, not on top of each other.
I agree that Bolt is the favourite but who brings the gold home isn't important to me as long as it is a Jamaican left holding it.
In my dreams I see a sweep of the men 100m for us with Bolt first, Powell second and Frater third. Well I can dream, can't I?
I do hope Asafa runs a good race though, and gets at least a silver medal for his sake really.
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<LI class=" stripe" id=comment4>4. At 02:43am on 16 Aug 2008, smellslikesalmon wrote: The 4 * 100m relay should be interesting with US vs Jamaica - you have a decent 4th runner? Although you could probably put anyone in with Bolt and Powell on the other legs.
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<LI class=" " id=comment5>5. At 02:44am on 16 Aug 2008, andyj247 wrote: I gotta go with Bolt - feel its his time now. Powell i feel still has demons about the big event and looks like he lets things get to him. Gay looks rusty and maybe games has come too soon for him. But he is the big game player and if fully fit he would have been my fav.
Personally i want a JA 1-2, and would love to see Powell win it - but im tipping Bolt in new WR poss perhaps 9.69,68etc.
Whatever i cant wait to see it!!
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<LI class=" stripe" id=comment6>6. At 02:47am on 16 Aug 2008, RedNosedBurglars wrote: Bolt in WR time.. 9.65 is definitely possible after what we saw in R2.
Bolt 9.65
Powell 9.87
Thompson 9.89
Gay 9.98
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<LI class=" " id=comment7>7. At 03:29am on 16 Aug 2008, craicheadgb wrote: Seems like Mr fordyce is doing a no lose article. Load all the bases
When Bolt wins the gold, he will forgewt his nonsense about people rooming near to the fastest man in the world. BUT,
Should by the strangest twist of fate, Usain wins. What a story he has.
fordyce your a sad individual, but your a journalist. maybe some day you will become a normal human being. we can hope.
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<LI class=" stripe" id=comment8>8. At 04:17am on 16 Aug 2008, jeffreyvader wrote: Lightning Bolt would win this final even if he was running in Ice Skates, backwards, doing the moonwalk, drinking a cup of coffee and wearing scuba diving equipment. I predict sub 9 seconds in the final.
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<LI class="notables " id=comment9>9. At 05:13am on 16 Aug 2008, Tom Fordyce - BBC Sport wrote: Masterroger - I'm glad they've changed the bunk-beds. Still, how does Usain sleep properly in a single bed?
craicheadgb - I like your use of logic. Good work.
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<LI class=" stripe" id=comment10>10. At 05:35am on 16 Aug 2008, culopeloso wrote: Not sure what craicheadgb's point is either but you have to go for Bolt. That 9.92 got an audible, "oooooooooooohh!" off the four of us watching the telly when we saw the time. The man jogged the last 50 metres like he was warming up for the next race! Can't see anyone beating him, not even an in-form Powell. If I were Michael Johnson, I'd be getting nervous about my 200m record with Bolt in this kind of fettle.
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<LI class=" " id=comment11>11. At 08:11am on 16 Aug 2008, cockneywire wrote: Gay not to make the podium for me. I can see Thompson nicking a bronze here.
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<LI class=" stripe" id=comment12>12. At 09:17am on 16 Aug 2008, JamesAnthonyFS wrote: As a Jamaican I will say a "bolt" will win.
If Asafa gets his expected explosive start "bolt" out of the blocks and maintains his composure the gold is his.
If Asafa's start is not as expected then Usain "Bolt" will take the gold.
So either way a "bolt/Bolt" will win.
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<LI class=" " id=comment13>13. At 09:42am on 16 Aug 2008, redandblackT1899?-PatoPirloPippoPaoloPaloschi wrote: Bolt,Powell,Gay in that order!
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<LI class=" stripe" id=comment14>14. At 10:18am on 16 Aug 2008, akugizibwe wrote: Usain 9.59 seconds (Correct me if i am wrong but i think that is the firstest widnd assisted time ever run - by Obadele Thompson) and Usain is doing that within the legal wind limits this time around.
. I won't comment about Asafa or Tyson because they may both not make it to the podium.
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<LI class=" " id=comment15>15. At 11:20am on 16 Aug 2008, IzzyMiyagh1 wrote: Sorry - you have that slightly wrong...
Thompson ran 9.69...Gay ran a wind-assisted 9.68 earlier this year at the American Trials...( his legal PB 9.77 )...
Gay now has the fastest ever time recorded for the 100m - ( taking into account all times produced for the distance regardless of circumstances )...
Although would have loved for it be 9.59secs!!!
Complain about this comment - 16. At 12:00pm on 16 Aug 2008, Hodgy08 wrote: I think we all know very well that at the end of the race, athletics will be the winner...
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