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.

Caster Semenya

This is Caster Semenya, the woman at the heart of a gender verification scandal at the World Championships in Berlin.

I don't think this is a Stella Walsh situation. Semenya, is not a cheat, at least according to a statement from the IAAF. This is more likely to do with genetics, and for it to be played out on such a public scale has to be tough for her.

What you all think?

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.