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Hmm, The kid is just out of high school. In what year will he beat Bolt? Who is this kid?
Usain Bolt runs fourth-fastest 200m and claims he was 'conservative'
Usain Bolt's emphatic victory in the 200m final at the World Athletics Championships showed that he is all but unbeatable
Usain Bolt celebrates victory in the 200m at the World Athletics Championships in Daegu. Photograph: Chris Mcgrath/Getty Images
There was only one man at these World Championships who could have beaten Usain Bolt. He is 6ft 5in tall, weighs around 13 stone and he comes from Kingston, Jamaica. The same guy, in fact, who knocked him out of the 100m: himself. Bolt's performance in the 200m final was, by his own reckoning, imperfect. The fact he was in lane three meant that he was cramped for room. "It put a lot of strain on my body," and meant he could not accelerate smoothly out of the bend into the straight. "It was so tight," he said, "that I had to be conservative and run a more technical race."
Surprisingly, the two medallists sitting alongside him in his post-race press conference did not flinch when Bolt said that. There were two possible reasons why: one was that between them they had fielded all of three questions in 25 minutes, and were as bored as a pair of patients in a doctor's waiting room; the other was that they knew what Bolt said was true.
"Conservative"? His 19.40sec was the fourth-fastest time in the history of the 200m. Only two men have ever run quicker, Bolt himself, and Michael Johnson. Eventually someone did have the grace to put a question to Walter Dix, who has, after all, won two silver medals in the sprints in the last week: "Walter, do you think you can ever beat this guy?"
"I start every race thinking I can beat him," Dix replied. What he did not add was how he feels at the finish. Dix has run the 200m in 19.69sec in his time, and was the only man in this final with even a ghost of a chance of catching hold of Bolt's coat-tails. But he was out of the race in the first 60m. By that time Bolt, one lane over towards the inside of the bend, had already passed him.
Bolt says he always respects the seven competitors who stand on the start line with him. He just does not believe any of them can beat him. "I've said it for years and years. If I get a good start nobody can get past me. Because I'm the best." Even then he was being generous. Wary as he was of what happened in the 100m, he was the slowest man out of the blocks in the 200m final, by a big margin.
Three people have fazed Bolt in the last fortnight. None of them had to race against him. One, as he has now explained, was himself. He was so excited about the 100m, so anxious about following through on the hard work he has been doing all season on his start, that he jumped the gun. "I just wanted to get on the track and run. When we were in the holding area all I could think was: 'Let's go, let's go, let's go.'" The second was a Chinese journalist, who asked him in front of a room full of 500 people when he was "finally going to marry the nice girl he was with in Beijing in 2008?" He giggled, almost blushed, and refused to answer. And the third was the surly American shot-putter Adam Nelson, 19 stone and almost two metres tall, who gave Bolt a small shove out of the way as he was holding court in the press area after the 200m semis. Nelson, of course, does not have to compete with Bolt. If he did, he would probably be just as cowed as Dix and the other 56 men who were faced with the thankless task of trying to beat him in the 200m.
This may contradict one of the oldest cliches in the book, but the truth is that Bolt has such a hold on athletics that he is now bigger than his sport. That feeling will only be exacerbated if the IAAF changes the rules regarding false starts to avoid a repeat of what happened last Sunday.
At one point during his lap of honour – which he ran alone, without Dix or the bronze medallist Christophe Lemaitre – Bolt hopped over the track hoardings. He was instantly engulfed by a swarm of cameramen, and he decided to lead them on a merry dance, making them chase him as he doubled back and forth. It would have been an apt image for the snappers to capture, had they not all been too busy running after him.
He was still jigging, enjoying the appreciative screams of thousands of South Korean fans, while the medal ceremony for the men's javelin was taking place. As soon as Deutschland Uber Alleshad finished, they put some heavy dub on the PA for Bolt to dance to. The man even has his own anthem. By this point the local girls were screaming like they were in the front row of the Shea Stadium in 1965. Track and field has never known anything like it
This has been Bolt's worst season since 2007. He was injured in the winter, and has repeatedly told us all that he is not in "tip-top form", and that has shown in his times. But, that one disqualification aside, he has not lost a race. Now he says he is going to "get serious" for 2012. Can anyone beat him? "I'm endlessly patient," said Dix. He will need to be.
Grace Jackson, the former sprinter who is now team leader for Jamaica, could think of only one possible contender. Not Tyson Gay. Not Asafa Powell. But a new recruit to Bolt's Racers Track Club back in Kingston. "He's the one who Usain's coach, Glen Mills, says will beat him," says Jackson. "He's a young kid. Just coming out of high school." In that case, the world will be waiting a while yet.
Usain Bolt runs fourth-fastest 200m and claims he was 'conservative'
Usain Bolt's emphatic victory in the 200m final at the World Athletics Championships showed that he is all but unbeatable
- Andy Bull in Daegu
- guardian.co.uk, Saturday 3 September 2011 19.46 BST
- Article history
Usain Bolt celebrates victory in the 200m at the World Athletics Championships in Daegu. Photograph: Chris Mcgrath/Getty Images
There was only one man at these World Championships who could have beaten Usain Bolt. He is 6ft 5in tall, weighs around 13 stone and he comes from Kingston, Jamaica. The same guy, in fact, who knocked him out of the 100m: himself. Bolt's performance in the 200m final was, by his own reckoning, imperfect. The fact he was in lane three meant that he was cramped for room. "It put a lot of strain on my body," and meant he could not accelerate smoothly out of the bend into the straight. "It was so tight," he said, "that I had to be conservative and run a more technical race."
Surprisingly, the two medallists sitting alongside him in his post-race press conference did not flinch when Bolt said that. There were two possible reasons why: one was that between them they had fielded all of three questions in 25 minutes, and were as bored as a pair of patients in a doctor's waiting room; the other was that they knew what Bolt said was true.
"Conservative"? His 19.40sec was the fourth-fastest time in the history of the 200m. Only two men have ever run quicker, Bolt himself, and Michael Johnson. Eventually someone did have the grace to put a question to Walter Dix, who has, after all, won two silver medals in the sprints in the last week: "Walter, do you think you can ever beat this guy?"
"I start every race thinking I can beat him," Dix replied. What he did not add was how he feels at the finish. Dix has run the 200m in 19.69sec in his time, and was the only man in this final with even a ghost of a chance of catching hold of Bolt's coat-tails. But he was out of the race in the first 60m. By that time Bolt, one lane over towards the inside of the bend, had already passed him.
Bolt says he always respects the seven competitors who stand on the start line with him. He just does not believe any of them can beat him. "I've said it for years and years. If I get a good start nobody can get past me. Because I'm the best." Even then he was being generous. Wary as he was of what happened in the 100m, he was the slowest man out of the blocks in the 200m final, by a big margin.
Three people have fazed Bolt in the last fortnight. None of them had to race against him. One, as he has now explained, was himself. He was so excited about the 100m, so anxious about following through on the hard work he has been doing all season on his start, that he jumped the gun. "I just wanted to get on the track and run. When we were in the holding area all I could think was: 'Let's go, let's go, let's go.'" The second was a Chinese journalist, who asked him in front of a room full of 500 people when he was "finally going to marry the nice girl he was with in Beijing in 2008?" He giggled, almost blushed, and refused to answer. And the third was the surly American shot-putter Adam Nelson, 19 stone and almost two metres tall, who gave Bolt a small shove out of the way as he was holding court in the press area after the 200m semis. Nelson, of course, does not have to compete with Bolt. If he did, he would probably be just as cowed as Dix and the other 56 men who were faced with the thankless task of trying to beat him in the 200m.
This may contradict one of the oldest cliches in the book, but the truth is that Bolt has such a hold on athletics that he is now bigger than his sport. That feeling will only be exacerbated if the IAAF changes the rules regarding false starts to avoid a repeat of what happened last Sunday.
At one point during his lap of honour – which he ran alone, without Dix or the bronze medallist Christophe Lemaitre – Bolt hopped over the track hoardings. He was instantly engulfed by a swarm of cameramen, and he decided to lead them on a merry dance, making them chase him as he doubled back and forth. It would have been an apt image for the snappers to capture, had they not all been too busy running after him.
He was still jigging, enjoying the appreciative screams of thousands of South Korean fans, while the medal ceremony for the men's javelin was taking place. As soon as Deutschland Uber Alleshad finished, they put some heavy dub on the PA for Bolt to dance to. The man even has his own anthem. By this point the local girls were screaming like they were in the front row of the Shea Stadium in 1965. Track and field has never known anything like it
This has been Bolt's worst season since 2007. He was injured in the winter, and has repeatedly told us all that he is not in "tip-top form", and that has shown in his times. But, that one disqualification aside, he has not lost a race. Now he says he is going to "get serious" for 2012. Can anyone beat him? "I'm endlessly patient," said Dix. He will need to be.
Grace Jackson, the former sprinter who is now team leader for Jamaica, could think of only one possible contender. Not Tyson Gay. Not Asafa Powell. But a new recruit to Bolt's Racers Track Club back in Kingston. "He's the one who Usain's coach, Glen Mills, says will beat him," says Jackson. "He's a young kid. Just coming out of high school." In that case, the world will be waiting a while yet.
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