MJ on Usain Bolt

Bolt addressed the issue in an interview. You all need to understand that a world class athlete such as himself might view outcomes slightly differently than the average fan...

When asked about if he could have gone faster Bolt replied that he, "came to the Olympics to win, not to set a world record. I already had the world record". Badass.

Mr. Spock wrote:

Must disagree. Celebrating *after* the event is not disrespectful. Showing off *during* the event is. What he did is little different than if he'd turned around and egged on his competitors while staying just ahead of them. Sure, he's a better runner. But his actions during the race were, IMHO, immature. Must be a generational thing.

Yes, youngsters like Bolt and Ryan Hall who celebrate while still racing are everything that's wrong with our sport.

Time to go for your nap, Grandpa Simpson.

So Usain Bolt is an immature disrespectul punk becuase he celebrated during the event, and becuase he "didnt give it his all"?

You guys are the most hypocritcal group of posers I have ever seen in my life. Where are all the threads bashing the romanian marathon runner for putting her hands up in the air and waving to the crowd with 300m left to go in the race? That must have been soooo disrespectful to the other athletes, and to the posters at letsrun. Apparently 91,000 cheering fans thought otherwise as they cheered her on. Well I guess Bekele was out there showboating aswell, we all know that he could've gone 45 seconds faster, where are the threads saying that he was out there just toying with the field, just to embarass them in the last home stretch?

Only on letsrun can you find immature losers nitpicking a WR holder and Olympic Gold medalist on one of the greatest running performances in the history of the sport.

Were you responding to me? If so, please take a reading class. If not, please take an internet etiquette class.

I have never won an olympic gold medal, but when i one my state meet it was all i could do to control myself. I threw up a huge fist pump and shouted yaaa! did i plan this celebration out? NO! it was a natural reaction to accomplishing something i had trained my tail off for. Bolt wasn't thinking about money or setting a wr, his body was just reacting to what was happening.

"Not Sure" I was not responding to you, you are taking the same side as me. And why would I need to take an internet etiquette class, my statements were merely facts, no cussing and name calling anywhere in my post. Someone that sits on an internet forum and bashes an Olympic Gold medalist and WR holder in arguably the most coveted event in all of sporting is exactly what I described them as, "An immature nitpicking loser".

Low outsretched arms, thumping the chest, a .20 s margin of victory and a world record gold medal performance in the Olympics makes this the most memorable and amazing race that I have ever seen.

You need to figure out how to respond so that your reply makes sense when compared to the person you're responding to.

And still people believe that Gay would have been able to push Bolt while being healthy?? Gay is a 9.8 Guy, he would have been running for the silver...

Intergalactic wrote:

It's gotta be way up there. I mean Asafa's record was already so fast, and he has lowered it by .07 in two nice chunks, the second one and more impressive being at the Olympics after a poor start and while celebrating the last 20+ meters... really something else. There have been a lot of great 100m performances over the years that can't be overlooked... to say it's undoubtedly the best might be selling some of the others short, especially with Gay not healthy, but it's definitely in the running for the greatest ever and what happens amongst all of these fantastic sprinters over the next few years will undoubtedly determine this race's place in history.

USAF_run,

I'll assume you were referring to me, as I disagree, since as you say, you were not referring to someone because they were agreeing with you.

Where do you find the hypocracy in my post? (I love the hypocrocy card - the accusation is made without any proof and then is used to discredit).

Besides, 0.1 sec, a fair assumption of how much faster he could have run, is almost a minute and a half in a marathon. The Romanian's and Hall's speed reductions were certainly not even in same order of magnatude. The Romanian was all business except for a few waves, and Hall was still flying at the end. In neither of these cases was a WR an issue either. And Bekele? It was sound strategy to not run a WR pace in order to give himself the best chance of winning. I agree that winning is more important than the time at the Olympics, but when performing one's best time does not sacrifice (or increase in this case) the chances of winning, there is no excuse.

Is it so wrong to believe that athletes, especially the winners, should hold themselves to the highest personal standards as possible? To let one's actions speak for themselves? Think of where the world could be if we all did our best while inside the lines and celebrated such after the day was done.

And calling people immature nitpicking losers for, at the least, looking at something differently speaks volumes on your train of thought.

He ran 9.77 jogging the last bit of the race. I don't know how fast he can ultimately run (probably not as fast as Usain) but when Bolt is pressured he loses efficiency and Gay is probably the one person who could have pressured him.

The romanian ran an entire lap waving to the crowd before she had finished. Do you think Bolt knew what his time was and was making calculations about how fast he had to run to break his own record? He, as he explained, was concerned with the win. Hall was still flying at the end, and Bolt was what, crawling? He couldn't have slowed that much. He won the race and set a WR!

toro wrote:

Low outsretched arms, thumping the chest, a .20 s margin of victory and a world record gold medal performance in the Olympics makes this the most memorable and amazing race that I have ever seen.

Memorable and amazing, of course. Greatest performance (as others noted), absolutely not. But it could have been, IMHO.

pickingnit wrote:

The romanian ran an entire lap waving to the crowd before she had finished. Do you think Bolt knew what his time was and was making calculations about how fast he had to run to break his own record? He, as he explained, was concerned with the win. Hall was still flying at the end, and Bolt was what, crawling? He couldn't have slowed that much. He won the race and set a WR!

Maybe it was a different network, but on NBC, I saw her wave a couple of times and didn't noticably slow at all while doing it. Her race is even a great example of my point. If she had stayed with the pack and planned to do just enough to win, she probably wouldn't have won.

No world class 100m sprinter thinks of time during the race - don't be absurd. But he did know that he was capable of setting a WR.

Many say that just to participate at the Olympics is the greatest achievement. Does that condone getting plastered every night there?

Bolt eased up 20-30 meters before the finish. That is comparable to being a sub 2-hour pace at mile twenty and high-fiving the spectators the rest of the way for a 2:02. Simply disappointing.

Forget that one; 9.77 in Eugene....a fluke...

turkey leg wrote:

Bolt eased up 20-30 meters before the finish. That is comparable to being a sub 2-hour pace at mile twenty and high-fiving the spectators the rest of the way for a 2:02. Simply disappointing.

Those are not comprable at all. Bolt could go run another 100 in a few days and set a WR. He also has to think about the 200 and 4x100. A marathoner only gets one shot every few months at best, if they are on pace for a world record they should focus on breaking it.

Coach D wrote:Here you go:

RT 0.165

10m 1.85

20m 2.87 (1.02)

30m 3.78 (0.91)

40m 4.65 (0.87)

50m 5.50 (0.85)

60m 6.32 (0.82)

70m 7.14 (0.82)

80m 7.96 (0.82)

90m 8.79 (0.83)

100m 9.69 (0.90)

Speed maintenance nothing short of amazing, and he maybe could have gone 9.64.

Damn. I get 27.27 MPH and if he maintained .82 for every split after 50 we'd get 9.58.

Add a wind and you're probably at 9.5 or less.

MarathonMind wrote:

[quote]Coach D wrote:Here you go:

RT 0.165

10m 1.85

20m 2.87 (1.02)

30m 3.78 (0.91)

40m 4.65 (0.87)

50m 5.50 (0.85)

60m 6.32 (0.82)

70m 7.14 (0.82)

80m 7.96 (0.82)

90m 8.79 (0.83)

100m 9.69 (0.90)

Speed maintenance nothing short of amazing, and he maybe could have gone 9.64..

Half the NFL can run faster than that for 40m. Bolt is overrated.

Tongue in cheek wrote:

Half the NFL can run faster than that for 40m. Bolt is overrated.

Good point. How fast could a cornerback (with 4.2-4.3 40 speed) run a 100?

Or, do they run 40 yards in the NFL? Could that be the difference?