Michael Johnson Gives His Take On Usain Bolt's 100m Mid-Race Celebration

I would love to see Usain Bolt wear a watch next time he races. Have him hit the start and stop button during the race. Just like you see distance guys do. Maybe even click the lap button at 50m to get his splits.

That would be great.

It's all an excuse for immature behavior.

One day Bolt may look back and regret it because - on that day, and maybe only on that day of his life - he had a chance to transcend the event beyond anyone's wildest expectations. Instead, he squandered it. Sure he got a WR and a gold, but it could have been so much more.

havn't read the whole thread but...

I hope all of you who were incredibly offended by Bolt's early celebration had those same feelings when Ryan Hall was fist pumping and waving to the crowd at the end of his olympic trials run. This sort of thing happens everywhere in sports and IT IS NOT offensive. Those of you who were offended obviously just have some beef with Bolt/sprinters/Jamaica.

And for those of you who say "well he could have a much better WR" TRUST ME, Bolt was not at all concerned with the WR in that race all he wanted was that gold medal, and I'm fairly confident he'll have many more chances to lower his WR even further.

lol wrote:

I hope all of you who were incredibly offended by Bolt's early celebration had those same feelings when Ryan Hall was fist pumping and waving to the crowd at the end of his olympic trials run.

At the end? So in other words, Hall wasn't "celebrating" for the last 40% of his race, right? Somehow I think that if he had been doing that for the last 10½ miles of the race, people would have frowned upon HIS behavior, too.

On the contrary! wrote:

lol wrote:

I hope all of you who were incredibly offended by Bolt's early celebration had those same feelings when Ryan Hall was fist pumping and waving to the crowd at the end of his olympic trials run.

At the end? So in other words, Hall wasn't "celebrating" for the last 40% of his race, right? Somehow I think that if he had been doing that for the last 10½ miles of the race, people would have frowned upon HIS behavior, too.

so you are saying UB could have celebrated the last 1% of his race, and it would be ok? So he get's one meter, say 1/12 of a second, how is that fair? if Ryan Hall gets 30 seconds of celebration before the finish line, You can't count percentages with this sort of thing. I mean if he was running 11% faster than the 3rd place guy, and the crowd was 98% full, and the clouds were blocking the sun by 72% UB should only get to celebrate for xx% of his race. people who are so up in arms about this need to get the stick out of their ass and maybe not let the smallest things aggravate you.

average DII distance guy wrote:

people who are so up in arms about this need to get the stick out of their ass and maybe not let the smallest things aggravate you.

Aggravated? Not quite. Just stating the facts.

On the other hand, based upon YOUR articulate prose it sounds like you need to look in the mirror when you say that! Perhaps if you had actually attended a D-1 school, you could learn to author an effective counter-point without the unnecessary profanity. If that tactic designed to either intimidate or to give your words greater emphasis, it fails miserably.

Dang, I knew my pathetic DII education would get me in trouble. Oh well, maybe I could transfer to a prestigious DI state university and maybe learn something. Will you be proud of me then?

average DII distance guy wrote:

people who are so up in arms about this need to get the stick out of their ass and maybe not let the smallest things aggravate you.

I'm proud of you, kid! Now, c'mon back home to my message board and let the adults continue their conversation.

--haven't

What a stupid argument. I MUST have some beef with Bolt/sprinters/Jamaica. If I had emotions, I'd laugh.

And let's examine this a bit more. IF, Mr. Hall had been on a 2:00:00 pace for the marathon, and starting celebrating a mile early, slowing to high five, take a bow, thump his chest, etc. and finished in 2:02:00, it would still be, admittedly, a great record. But it would be a disappointment because he threw away the other 2 minutes and the potential to do something monumental.

Oh yeah, TRUST YOU! How could I possibly doubt that you know exactly what will happen in the future. He'll have LOTS of chances. Elite athletes never get injured. Well, maybe he'll break it - I wish him luck. But the hindsight of middle age is that you *never* take something like that for granted. Get it while you have the chance.

the Olympic trials are about qualifying for the Olympics

the Olympics are about medals and/or placing as high as you can

time doesn't matter for either

so, you fail

Anyone see the celebration after the women's pole vault gold medal/WR?