Usain Bolt

19.20 in the 200m, then rounded to 19.19.

As Ato Bolden just said "how does he do it!"

After watching him ease up in the final 100 in the quarters and still clock a 20.08, I was pretty sure he'd break the record. But 19.19? Is sub-19 next?

Originally Posted by edinatlanta

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As Ato Bolden just said "how does he do it!"

I sure hope not through a pill or a syringe.

Originally Posted by why

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It depends on the event. In the 100m it matters a lot.

which is why a number of the fastest men ever didn't have good starts? Bolt, Bailey, and I believe Maurice Green just to name a few...

Originally Posted by SField

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which is why a number of the fastest men ever didn't have good starts? Bolt, Bailey, and I believe Maurice Green just to name a few...
No, the simple mechanics of the 100m place more emphasis on acceleration out of the box. When races are decided by 0.05 seconds, it tends to matter more than when the 0.05 seconds can be spread over 200m or 400m. I don't know what you're referring to with Donovan Bailey and Maurice Greene. Every sprinter has bad starts from time to time, but Greene in particular was pretty fast out of the box.

http://myespn.go.com/s/conversations/show/story/4412231 Amazing really.

Originally Posted by SField

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Am I the only white male that doesn't find the onion funny at all?

no

Originally Posted by why

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No, the simple mechanics of the 100m place more emphasis on acceleration out of the box. When races are decided by 0.05 seconds, it tends to matter more than when the 0.05 seconds can be spread over 200m or 400m.

I don't know what you're referring to with Donovan Bailey and Maurice Greene. Every sprinter has bad starts from time to time, but Greene in particular was pretty fast out of the box.

Well Bailey was known for his slow starts and having watched the 100m event for quite some time I know he and Bolt aren't the only championship and world record holding sprinters to do most of their dominating more to the middle of the race.

Originally Posted by The Deacon

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It's really freaky to consider that Bolt would have utterly smoked

1. Ben Johnson
2. Carl Lewis
not to mention some of the heroes of my youth by 10,15 or so yards:

Steve Williams
Houston McTear
Bob Hayes
Don Woods
Ivory Crockett
Harvey Glance
V. Borzov

I thought about this today. We've seen the 100 world record broken maybe 10 times since 1990, but never like this. The top guys would chip away at the record. There was that 4-5-year stretch when Carl Lewis, Leroy Burrell and Donovan Bailey each broke the world record in the 100 by one or two hundredths of a second at a time. It went from 9.90 to 9.86 to 9.85 to 9.84. Then Maurice Greene and Asafa Powell got in the act and shaved off a couple more at a time.

What Bolt is doing to the record is ridiculous. He isn't just chipping away, he's smashing them. It sort of makes me feel old. Kids today are probably looking at the 100 times from the 80s and 90s and viewing Lewis and Burrell -- the superathletes of our time -- as lesser beings. Kind of like how we laugh at basketball players from the 50s and 60s.

Originally Posted by Thomas

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as much as I'll believe that Phidippedes (sic) had no trouble covering the 25+ from Sparta to Rome.
I think you are confused. As far as I know Phidippidès (or Pheidippidès) was an Athenian who, according to Herodotus, was sent as a messenger from Athens to Sparta during the first Persian war. He supposedly ran the 250km between the two cities, over rough roads, in less than two days. It's quite a feat, but not impossible. My father, a few years back, ran more than 130 km over rough roads in the mountain in less than two days and he was more than 50 and not an athlete. I have no difficulty believing that a trained athlete could run 250 km. Some people also attribute to the same guy the (probably mythical) run from Marathon to Athens after the victory of the same name during the first Persian war, but this seems to be a confusion (Plutarch talks about a certain "Thersippus" and Lucian about one "Philippidès"). I am not aware of a messenger sent from Sparta to Rome. When would that have happened? Maybe during Agis' rebellion against Macedonian rule?

I'm just gonna go with "innocent until proven guilty", if he turns out to be another marion jones, I'll jump on the wagon to tear his ass up in no time, but for now, I just want to celebrate his otherworldly ability.

I think when I was a kid, breaking 9.8 was the barrier, this is mind-blowing. and isn't there a theoretical human physical limit, around 9.6 that the body will be torn apart by itself at that speed?

what he has done for the sport if fantastic, so many kids will hopefuly try athletics ect.
i dont believe he is dopping, i think there are some anomalies in life and he is one of them.
i really hope he is clean.

USA DQed from the 4x100m. Apparently they passed the baton too early in the anchor leg. I'm just glad it wasn't Doc Patton again, he's one of the nicest athletes I've ever met.

A counter protest was filed by the US coaches so it isn't over yet.

Originally Posted by Étienne

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I think you are confused.

As far as I know Phidippidès (or Pheidippidès) was an Athenian who, according to Herodotus, was sent as a messenger from Athens to Sparta during the first Persian war. He supposedly ran the 250km between the two cities, over rough roads, in less than two days. It's quite a feat, but not impossible. My father, a few years back, ran more than 130 km over rough roads in the mountain in less than two days and he was more than 50 and not an athlete. I have no difficulty believing that a trained athlete could run 250 km.

Some people also attribute to the same guy the (probably mythical) run from Marathon to Athens after the victory of the same name during the first Persian war, but this seems to be a confusion (Plutarch talks about a certain "Thersippus" and Lucian about one "Philippidès").

I am not aware of a messenger sent from Sparta to Rome. When would that have happened? Maybe during Agis' rebellion against Macedonian rule?

I don't think you read my posts very often. But I learned a lot from your post though. Thanks!

"Seriously, dozens in every pro ball sport better all-around athletes than Bolt. Kobe, Ichiro, Joe Mauer, DMcN, Vick, Moss. On and on." -Skip Bayless

I usually agree with Skip, but this statement he made on twitter is bullshit. There's no way the latter are better athletes than Bolt