Lightning bolt strikes twice

The Jamaican doesn't need to be modest after shattering the 100m and 200m world records in Berlin.

To understand what Usain Bolt has done to 100 metres at the world championships in Berlin, one should look at what Tyson Gay did in the same race and where it left him. Gay, who is from Jamaica, just like Bolt, ran the third fastest time in history and still finished second — more than a metre behind Bolt. Of course, Bolt went on to win the 200 metres, again in world record time. In both races he shaved an identical 11 hundredths of a second off the previous record.

It took the human race close to 17 years to bring down the best 100 metres time from 9.86 to 9.72, which was Bolt’s first world record. In another 15 months, he has brought it down to 9.58. Sports statisticians say this is 20 years ahead of schedule.

In the 200 metres at Berlin, Panama’s Alonso Edward finished closest to Bolt, though one is not sure if the word “near” can be used to talk about someone who was 0.62 of a second behind. The 200 metres world record perhaps carries a little more significance as it had been broken only four times since electronic timing began in 1977 — Bolt broke it the fifth time. The 100 metres record, on the other hand, has fallen 14 times in the same period.

Now, Bolt is the Olympic and world champion in both 100 and 200 metres and holds both world records — it’s something no one has done before. And to think of it, Bolt, six foot five, was once considered too tall to be a sprinter as tall men are slower off the blocks.

He was not expected to break any records in Berlin, having lost four weeks of training after overturning his BMW M3 into a ditch in April. Thorns were embedded in his feet and he was finding it difficult to run a bend.

Naturally, there were doubts about what he would do in Berlin. In a sport as competitive as sprint races, missing basic training does tell on the performance. One has to put in the hours to improve speed endurance.

But Bolt blew away conventional wisdom with minimum fuss. He appears to have worked consciously to improve his start. In the 200 metres, he took just about half a dozen strides — long, galloping ones — to surge ahead of Edward. He romped down the home straight, and crossed the line pointing at the clock.

What could he have done if he had a little more time for proper training? “I’m on my way to becoming a legend,” he said. Not an empty boast, that!