Blog of the Week: Sane? Insane?? Usain???

Usain Bolt striking his signature pose

100 meters in 9.58 seconds. Let me repeat myself, 9.58 seconds, its no typo, Usain Bolt shattered his own world record time of 9.69 secs in the 100 m dash in Berlin, Germany at the 2009 World Championships. Come on,9.58? That is out of this world, machine-like, that is a human being maintaining a 30 MPH average over 100 meters. The man is ridiculous, and there is no reason to doubt that he will be back and he will break his own record. In fact, 9.4 is his goal, and to be quite frank, nothing is impossible for the man who is Usain Bolt.

As he crossed the finish line, Bolt spread his arms portraying a soaring bird, and to be honest, I’m surprised he didn’t take flight after what he had just accomplished. Bolt truly showed how magnificent a sport track can be without its surroundings of doping and steroids.

This race was held in the Olympic stadium in Germany bringing back memories of the great Jesse Owens and his performance in the 1936 Olympics. Bolt stepped up to Owens’ level with his latest performance. Bolt holds the record in both the 100m (9.58 secs) and 200m (19.30 secs) and is quickly becoming a legend on the track.

Second place, Tyson Gay finished the 100m dash at 9.71 secs, a feat accomplished only by Bolt, and he still was a couple large strides from the man. In a sport marred by doping and illegal substances, both Gay and Bolt epitomize the sport in a positive and glorious way. However, at this point of time, no one can touch Bolt, the Michael Phelps of the track world, so to say.

The man will continue to get faster, and that’s a scary thought for any track and field athlete. That’s like saying LeBron will jump higher, Phelps swim faster, Tiger drive further or Roger serve harder. This thought would be truly daunting to any one of their competitors, but just plain exhilarating for all fans.