Bolt Is Boring?

Just watched Usain Bolt run in Zurich.  He did the 100m a time of 9.81 seconds, a time which has only ever been beaten (legally) by three other men, and he did it in an odd way.  Bolt was pressured by Asafa Powell and then seemed to change up in gear to overtake him, in a manner which defies the normal flat-out nature of the shortest outdoor sprint.  Without a doubt, it was impressive.

Yet...  I'm feeling ambivalent about the run.  Meh, even.  Bolt has set such a high standards with his heroics in Berlin recently that a 'mere' 9.81s is disappointing.  It's like Michael Schumacher winning repeated Grand Prix, it gets boring.  It shouldn't, because it is so impressive, but if Usain Bolt fails to build on his Berlin brilliance, then I get the feeling that this ambivalence will return.

Usain Bolt - Again

I don't know what to say that hasn't been said already about Usain Bolt. heck, I don't know what to say that I haven't already said about Usain Bolt. 19.19s was his winning time in Berlin tonight, and all this when "tired" and "it wasn't a good race." His words.

My buddy Alan contends that these comments make him the most self-critical athlete ever. Possibly that's true. After two Olympic titles and two more World titles, all in World Record times, I'm going to ask a different question however. Make that two questions.

Has Usain Bolt had the greatest career of any athlete in any sport under the age of 22? (For the record I say yes, undoubtedly)

Now for another question...

At the tender age of 22, are we watching the greatest athlete of all time, in any sport? If not, who's better? I think that's a short list.

Wow

Usain Bolt.

9.58 seconds.

Watch. Marvel.

It may be the greatest sporting performance I have ever seen.

Hellie didn't get why this was such a big deal and I'm not sure if words can explain. Usain Bolt just knocked 1.5 metres off the 100m World Record. Usain Bolt has taken the 10 seconds 100m, a famed mark in sport, and made it redundant. Usain Bolt has changed what's possible, what it takes to win. He may be the most phenomenal athlete the world has ever seen, and all this in the space of just a year.

And what a year. It's exactly 365 days since his 100m final win in Beijing, since he ran 70 and celebrated 30 metres. I worked on that day, and I read the sports bulletin minutes after the race. My headline was simple... 'Wow'. I was speechless. I had that same feeling tonight, times ten. In the build-up to last year's Olympics, Bolt went from a star of athletics to the star of world sport. Tonight he lived up to that billing in a way no one dreamed possible. I felt he could have run 9.65. He did 9.58. Those seven-hundredths are a lifetime, and it may be a run the likes of which I never see again in my lifetime.

He better be clean.

***

I'd also like to take a quick moment to congratulate Olive Loughnane on her silver medal in the 20k walk this morning. She did our mutual home-town of Loughrea in County Galway proud with a mature performance which saw her outlast all of her competitors bar Olga Kaniskina, who is almost as dominant as Bolt. The Jamaican will rightly get the headlines tomorrow, but from one Loughrea native to another, well done Olive. You earned it.

All's Quiet On The Western Front

It’s a really quiet day in work today (the August Bank Holiday weekend is traditionally the slowest time of the year for news) and it’s also a relatively quiet time of the year for sport. Sure, Kerry are taking on Dublin in an All-Ireland Quarter Final today but since it’s a contest that’s as one-sided as a hippy missing his left-leg, it’s not coming close to stirring my sporting passions. Baseball is ongoing, but that has fleeting moments of greatness (Note to self: must post one I saw recently) and, sure, NASCAR is on today, but it’s Pocono. Don’t start me on the Ashes.

So not the most exciting couple of weeks but at the same time, there’s stuff on the horizon to whet our appetites. The Premier League will return in no time. The World Athletics Championships are only just around the corner. It won’t be long until Michael Schumacher returns.

All that’s exciting, but it’s not going to arrive for a little while yet. In the meantime, relax, enjoy something else like the football if that’s your shtick, and maybe spend time with your family and loved ones. Your favourite sports stars will be waiting for you to return in no time at all.

Bolt From The Blue

So how have they been for you? The Almost Daily Sports Blog has been thoroughly enjoying the Games at the expense of many other aspects of my life...such as The Almost Daily Sports Blog.

Ireland are doing magnificently. Well, certainly our boxers are. Don't rule out Denis Lynch tomorrow though...nor Olive Loughnane later on tonight. Ok Olive is unlikely, but since she's from my hometown that's a real homer pick.

The Games have belonged to two people - Phelps and Bolt. So, who's the star?

Let's assess the facts. Michael Phelps has won 8 gold medals in Beijing. More than Spitz. He's won 14 overall. More than Ireland. He set seven World Records along the way, in every event bar the 100m Butterfly, which he did win despite the claims of some people.

Usain Bolt on the other hand, so far, only has two gold medals and two World Records. However, to me, he is the star of these Olympics. He is the first man in 24 years to complete the 100m/200m double. He is the first ever to win both in World Records. He also has the chance to win a third medal this weekend in the 4x100m relay with the all dominant Jamaican sprinting team.

So which tally is most impressive?? For me... it is Bolt. Just.

Phelps' records have as much to do with a technological fluke than anything else. The pool is deeper and wider than most and the new LZR suits from Speedo add an estimated 2% to an athlete's performance. Sure, everyone else has the use of the same technology, but that gives him a distinct advantage over those who went before him. As for these games, but for Jason Lezek, and the previously mentioned squeaky bum touch over Milorad Cavic, there would have been no gold rush.

Bolt, on the other hand, is in a different class. He set the 100m World Record by running only 85 of them and today, broke one of the most impressive records in the book, Michael Johnson's 19.32 in Atlanta in 1996. Both performances were phenomenal. Simply stunning. His winning margins are impressive. In events where margins are measured in the hundredths, he won by a chasm. He is brilliant.

I confess that I had my doubts about Bolt. Too often athletes have shown us flashes of brilliance, only to rob us of the joy of what we have seen. Like someone in the audience of a magic show, I wondered where the rabbit came from. However, I have been assured that he is clean. I sincerely hope he is. Track and fired needs a star. It needs an instantly recognizable face. It needs an L.T., an A-Rod, a Wayne Rooney. It needs a Michael Phelps. Usain Bolt is that man. Usain Bolt is a super-star. Usain Bolt is the greatest athlete in the Games of the 29th Olympiad.