MUHLIS
06-02-2008, 12:38 PM
Usain Bolt breaks the 100m world record
By Tom Knight
Running in the wake of an electric storm that raged through New York, Usain Bolt lived up to his name by smashing the world record for the 100 metres.
The 6ft 5in, 21-year-old Jamaican, unsurprisingly nicknamed Lightning Bolt in the Caribbean, clocked 9.72 seconds at the Reebok Grand Prix in the Icahn Stadium on Randalls Island to wipe 0.02sec off the mark set only eight months ago by his compatriot, Asafa Powell.
Electric: Jamaica's Usain Bolt shocked the athletics world with his 100m record time in New York Powell, who has been sidelined by injury since last month, might have thought he was his country's favourite to win the Olympic title in Beijing.
Tyson Gay, the world champion might have shared Powell's dream of taking the gold medal. Despite managing a still impressive 9.85, Gay could finish only a distant second to Bolt.
Bolt's performance, as long as it is ratified by a negative post-race drug test, means that he must now be considered the red hot favourite for the Olympic 100m crown. At the start of this year, his best time in the 100m, an event he was using only to boost his speed for his preferred 200m, was 10.03sec.
Yet his performance in New York, in what was only his fifth race at the distance,was not entirely unexpected. Bolt, the youngest winner of a global title - he was not even 16 when he won the world junior 200m in 2002 - had already stunned the sport by clocking 9.76sec last month at a meeting in Kingston, Jamaica.
"I'm definitely going to double up and run the 100m in the Olympics," he said.
Like Powell and Gay, Bolt has none of the brashness of many sprinters. He said he was happy with the world record, which came with the benefit of a 1.7m per second tailwind, but noted there was still a bigger prize to chase.
"You've got to be Olympic champion or world champion to really count," Bolt, who took the 200m silver medal behind Gay at last summer's World Championships in Osaka, said. "Tomorrow, if someone comes and runs faster than me, I'm no longer the fastest man in the world.
"If you're the Olympic champion, then they have to wait four more years to get you again. I think the Olympics is the biggest thing, so I'm looking for that."
Thunderstorms caused an hour's delay to the start of the meeting and there was a further interruption of 45 minutes when the area was hit by further torrential rain and lightning.
The 100m, the final event of the evening, was also delayed by a false start and Bolt at least was grateful for it. His long legs and extraordinary stride length means that he is still grappling to master this part of his race.
"I was glad for the first false start. My first start wasn't that good," he said. "Me and Tyson, we're horrible starters. I've been working on it a lot.
"I was really surprised I did so well out of the blocks but I'm just proud of myself. My coach told me to concentrate on the drive phase and that's what I did."
Gay, who saw off Powell's challenge at the world championships, was gracious in defeat. "We were on the same rhythm but his stride was covering more ground," Gay said.
"He's run 9.7 before; his body knows what it feels like. This is definitely great for the sport and obviously I have some work to do.
"Right now, it's hats off to Bolt. Today was his day."
It is not just Gay and Powell who need to look out for Bolt. Having conquered the 100m, the sprinter from Trelawny is turning his attention back to the 200m, with his first race set to come at the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava in Czech Republic on June 12.
Michael Johnson, a fan since Bolt first broke 20sec in 2004, knows that his 12-year-old 200m world record of 19.32sec could finally fall this year, and many, including Bolt's coach Glen Mills, believe the 400m could one day become his best distance.
At a time when the sport hopes to find heroes in Bolt, Powell and Gay to replace the villains of too many drug cases, these quiet men are set to make quite a noise this summer.
World record landmarks
10.20 Jesse Owens (USA) Chicago (1936)
10.00 Bob Hayes (USA) Tokyo (1964)
9.95 Jim Hines (USA) Mexico City (1968)
9.93 Carl Lewis (USA) Rome (1987)
9.92 Carl Lewis (USA) Seoul (1988)
9.90 Leroy Burrell (USA) New York (1991)
9.86 Carl Lewis (USA) Tokyo (1991)
9.84 Donovan Bailey (CAN) Atlanta (1996)
9.79 Maurice Greene (USA) Athens (1999)
9.74 Asafa Powell (JAM) Rieti (2007)
9.72 Usain Bolt (JAM) New York (2008)
Fast Show
One beat of a fly's wing takes approx 0.0001 of a second (or 1 ten thousandth of a second).
The average time it takes for a human blink is about 300 to 400 milliseconds or 3/10ths to 4/10ths of a second.
A bullet goes up to 1,500 metres a second and would complete the 100m in 0.06 of a second.
Snails travel at speeds that vary from slow (0.013 m/s) to very slow (0.0028 m/s). It would take just over two hours to cover 100m.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/sport/2008/06/02/soknig102.xml
By Tom Knight
Running in the wake of an electric storm that raged through New York, Usain Bolt lived up to his name by smashing the world record for the 100 metres.
The 6ft 5in, 21-year-old Jamaican, unsurprisingly nicknamed Lightning Bolt in the Caribbean, clocked 9.72 seconds at the Reebok Grand Prix in the Icahn Stadium on Randalls Island to wipe 0.02sec off the mark set only eight months ago by his compatriot, Asafa Powell.
Electric: Jamaica's Usain Bolt shocked the athletics world with his 100m record time in New York Powell, who has been sidelined by injury since last month, might have thought he was his country's favourite to win the Olympic title in Beijing.
Tyson Gay, the world champion might have shared Powell's dream of taking the gold medal. Despite managing a still impressive 9.85, Gay could finish only a distant second to Bolt.
Bolt's performance, as long as it is ratified by a negative post-race drug test, means that he must now be considered the red hot favourite for the Olympic 100m crown. At the start of this year, his best time in the 100m, an event he was using only to boost his speed for his preferred 200m, was 10.03sec.
Yet his performance in New York, in what was only his fifth race at the distance,was not entirely unexpected. Bolt, the youngest winner of a global title - he was not even 16 when he won the world junior 200m in 2002 - had already stunned the sport by clocking 9.76sec last month at a meeting in Kingston, Jamaica.
"I'm definitely going to double up and run the 100m in the Olympics," he said.
Like Powell and Gay, Bolt has none of the brashness of many sprinters. He said he was happy with the world record, which came with the benefit of a 1.7m per second tailwind, but noted there was still a bigger prize to chase.
"You've got to be Olympic champion or world champion to really count," Bolt, who took the 200m silver medal behind Gay at last summer's World Championships in Osaka, said. "Tomorrow, if someone comes and runs faster than me, I'm no longer the fastest man in the world.
"If you're the Olympic champion, then they have to wait four more years to get you again. I think the Olympics is the biggest thing, so I'm looking for that."
Thunderstorms caused an hour's delay to the start of the meeting and there was a further interruption of 45 minutes when the area was hit by further torrential rain and lightning.
The 100m, the final event of the evening, was also delayed by a false start and Bolt at least was grateful for it. His long legs and extraordinary stride length means that he is still grappling to master this part of his race.
"I was glad for the first false start. My first start wasn't that good," he said. "Me and Tyson, we're horrible starters. I've been working on it a lot.
"I was really surprised I did so well out of the blocks but I'm just proud of myself. My coach told me to concentrate on the drive phase and that's what I did."
Gay, who saw off Powell's challenge at the world championships, was gracious in defeat. "We were on the same rhythm but his stride was covering more ground," Gay said.
"He's run 9.7 before; his body knows what it feels like. This is definitely great for the sport and obviously I have some work to do.
"Right now, it's hats off to Bolt. Today was his day."
It is not just Gay and Powell who need to look out for Bolt. Having conquered the 100m, the sprinter from Trelawny is turning his attention back to the 200m, with his first race set to come at the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava in Czech Republic on June 12.
Michael Johnson, a fan since Bolt first broke 20sec in 2004, knows that his 12-year-old 200m world record of 19.32sec could finally fall this year, and many, including Bolt's coach Glen Mills, believe the 400m could one day become his best distance.
At a time when the sport hopes to find heroes in Bolt, Powell and Gay to replace the villains of too many drug cases, these quiet men are set to make quite a noise this summer.
World record landmarks
10.20 Jesse Owens (USA) Chicago (1936)
10.00 Bob Hayes (USA) Tokyo (1964)
9.95 Jim Hines (USA) Mexico City (1968)
9.93 Carl Lewis (USA) Rome (1987)
9.92 Carl Lewis (USA) Seoul (1988)
9.90 Leroy Burrell (USA) New York (1991)
9.86 Carl Lewis (USA) Tokyo (1991)
9.84 Donovan Bailey (CAN) Atlanta (1996)
9.79 Maurice Greene (USA) Athens (1999)
9.74 Asafa Powell (JAM) Rieti (2007)
9.72 Usain Bolt (JAM) New York (2008)
Fast Show
One beat of a fly's wing takes approx 0.0001 of a second (or 1 ten thousandth of a second).
The average time it takes for a human blink is about 300 to 400 milliseconds or 3/10ths to 4/10ths of a second.
A bullet goes up to 1,500 metres a second and would complete the 100m in 0.06 of a second.
Snails travel at speeds that vary from slow (0.013 m/s) to very slow (0.0028 m/s). It would take just over two hours to cover 100m.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/sport/2008/06/02/soknig102.xml