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Watch him do it in 9.4: Sprint king Usain Bolt still learning how to run, says Maurice Greene
By Neil Wilson in Berlin
Last updated at 1:10 AM on 18th August 2009
Hard to believe but there was at least one expert witness trackside when Usain Bolt mangled the world 100 metres record who believes he could have gone faster.
Maurice Greene, one-time world record-holder and three-time world champion, predicted before Sunday’s final that it would be a one-man race.
‘Usain is from Planet Mars, the rest from Earth,’ he said. Now Greene believes that a time of 9.58sec is not 22-year-old Bolt at his quickest.
Golden moment: Usain Bolt with silver medalist Tyson Gay and his fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell at the Olympic Stadium on Monday
‘Usain will get faster. If Usain says he can do 9.4sec I have no problem believing it. Technically he is still learning some stuff. He reached his top end speed but he didn’t hold on to it. He still slowed down,’ said Greene, the 2000 Olympic 100m champion.
Greene’s contention is supported by the analysis of the race conducted by the technical experts of the German athletics federation.
Their measurements found that while triple Olympic champion Bolt was one tenth of a second faster over the final 40m than in the Beijing sprint, he was still slowing in the final 20m from a peak speed of 47kph at 60m.
A man who covered the final 100m of a 150m street race in Manchester three months ago in just 8.4sec should not need to slow in the final 20m of a 100m if his sights are set on sheer speed.
So how much faster can he run? Conditions in the Olympic Stadium here were almost ideal - an electric atmosphere created by 51,000 expectant spectators and an opponent in Tyson Gay capable of running in the 9.7sec area to push him.
Rules for records allow for a following wind up to 2m per second - but on Sunday it was only 0.9m per second. And that extra 1.1m per second is reckoned to be worth 0.05sec.
Picture perfect: Photographers capture the moment after Usain Bolt's stunning new world record
Then there is the track. It was made by Italian company Mondo, as was the Olympic running surface in Beijing, but here it is deliberately more spongy to help distance runners.
‘Usain has run 9.58sec and everyone accepts this track is slower. What would he have done on the Beijing track had he not only run 60m of the race?’ asked Greene.
‘If you believe it you can do it. I’ve always said that as time goes on man will progress. As man progresses, technology progresses with him. So man will get faster and technology will build things to make man faster - tracks, shoes, everything comes into play.
‘So there are no limits to what a man can do. You can achieve whatever you believe. We only use 10 per cent of our brain capacity. If we can tap into 30 per cent who knows what we can do?’
Then there are improvements Bolt can find in his start. His reaction to Sunday’s gun was faster than in Beijing but not as fast as Dwain Chambers’.
Bolt covered the 20m from 60-80m in 1.61sec but the first 20m in only 2.89sec, slower than in Beijing, and the second 20m in 1.78sec.
And, incredibly, Bolt himself does not believe he is in the same perfect shape he was when he ran in the Olympics.
New record: But Usain Bolt warned not to expect any more heroics in the 200m
‘I’ve been through a lot this season. I’ve been up and down, so I’m in pretty good shape but I’m not in Beijing shape,’ he said.
The Jamaican will not hazard a guess at his personal limits. It would be too limiting of his mental horizons. He has said only that he does not believe that man can go beyond 9.4sec.
After Sunday’s race he was less rigid about it. ‘I always say, "Anything is possible”. I don’t know if I will be the one to break the world record next time but anything is possible,’ he said.
His next chance to explore those possibilities will come in Brussels at the Golden League meeting on September 4, when he will again take on Gay over 100m.
On Tuesday he runs again in the preliminary round of the 200m but do not expect more shocks in Thursday evening’s final.
Bolt dismissed all likelihood of another record. He believes he missed too much speed endurance training in the aftermath of his car crash in April when he emerged with only scratches after overturning his high-powered car in Jamaica.
If he is right we can only wonder what he might achieve when he is fully fit.
By Neil Wilson in Berlin
Last updated at 1:10 AM on 18th August 2009
Hard to believe but there was at least one expert witness trackside when Usain Bolt mangled the world 100 metres record who believes he could have gone faster.
Maurice Greene, one-time world record-holder and three-time world champion, predicted before Sunday’s final that it would be a one-man race.
‘Usain is from Planet Mars, the rest from Earth,’ he said. Now Greene believes that a time of 9.58sec is not 22-year-old Bolt at his quickest.
Golden moment: Usain Bolt with silver medalist Tyson Gay and his fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell at the Olympic Stadium on Monday
‘Usain will get faster. If Usain says he can do 9.4sec I have no problem believing it. Technically he is still learning some stuff. He reached his top end speed but he didn’t hold on to it. He still slowed down,’ said Greene, the 2000 Olympic 100m champion.
Greene’s contention is supported by the analysis of the race conducted by the technical experts of the German athletics federation.
Their measurements found that while triple Olympic champion Bolt was one tenth of a second faster over the final 40m than in the Beijing sprint, he was still slowing in the final 20m from a peak speed of 47kph at 60m.
A man who covered the final 100m of a 150m street race in Manchester three months ago in just 8.4sec should not need to slow in the final 20m of a 100m if his sights are set on sheer speed.
So how much faster can he run? Conditions in the Olympic Stadium here were almost ideal - an electric atmosphere created by 51,000 expectant spectators and an opponent in Tyson Gay capable of running in the 9.7sec area to push him.
Rules for records allow for a following wind up to 2m per second - but on Sunday it was only 0.9m per second. And that extra 1.1m per second is reckoned to be worth 0.05sec.
Picture perfect: Photographers capture the moment after Usain Bolt's stunning new world record
Then there is the track. It was made by Italian company Mondo, as was the Olympic running surface in Beijing, but here it is deliberately more spongy to help distance runners.
‘Usain has run 9.58sec and everyone accepts this track is slower. What would he have done on the Beijing track had he not only run 60m of the race?’ asked Greene.
‘If you believe it you can do it. I’ve always said that as time goes on man will progress. As man progresses, technology progresses with him. So man will get faster and technology will build things to make man faster - tracks, shoes, everything comes into play.
‘So there are no limits to what a man can do. You can achieve whatever you believe. We only use 10 per cent of our brain capacity. If we can tap into 30 per cent who knows what we can do?’
Then there are improvements Bolt can find in his start. His reaction to Sunday’s gun was faster than in Beijing but not as fast as Dwain Chambers’.
Bolt covered the 20m from 60-80m in 1.61sec but the first 20m in only 2.89sec, slower than in Beijing, and the second 20m in 1.78sec.
And, incredibly, Bolt himself does not believe he is in the same perfect shape he was when he ran in the Olympics.
New record: But Usain Bolt warned not to expect any more heroics in the 200m
‘I’ve been through a lot this season. I’ve been up and down, so I’m in pretty good shape but I’m not in Beijing shape,’ he said.
The Jamaican will not hazard a guess at his personal limits. It would be too limiting of his mental horizons. He has said only that he does not believe that man can go beyond 9.4sec.
After Sunday’s race he was less rigid about it. ‘I always say, "Anything is possible”. I don’t know if I will be the one to break the world record next time but anything is possible,’ he said.
His next chance to explore those possibilities will come in Brussels at the Golden League meeting on September 4, when he will again take on Gay over 100m.
On Tuesday he runs again in the preliminary round of the 200m but do not expect more shocks in Thursday evening’s final.
Bolt dismissed all likelihood of another record. He believes he missed too much speed endurance training in the aftermath of his car crash in April when he emerged with only scratches after overturning his high-powered car in Jamaica.
If he is right we can only wonder what he might achieve when he is fully fit.
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