Bolt - "I think (Gatlin) has a few guys to get past before he worries about me.''

Well that 9.77 that Gatlin ran in Doha in 2006 was bunk, regardless of the drug bust.

It was a .08 s PR for him and the second place finisher ran 9.85 but never broke 10 before or after that day.

Faulty wind reading or something.

I will say that I am surprised that Gatlin is in the mix 8 years after his Olympic Gold.

Though he is still under 30.

7 men have run faster than Gatlin in the last year but it's pretty tight.

My god I want Tyson Gay to beat both those guys so bad.

jgxfch wrote:

My god I want Tyson Gay to beat both those guys so bad.

Gay beat Bolt, once but I don't see that becoming a habit if Usain can keep his ass out of the nightclubs.

Them is fightin' words, indeed. But I agree with him. They have similar SBs so far this year, but Bolt has run 9.58. Bolt would have to have a very sub-par season for Gatlin to be the man this year.

i kinda like running wrote:

Bolt would have to have a very sub-par season for Gatlin to be the man this year.

You mean Blake... you can't mention Bolt yet. :)

3 things:

1) Bolt does not appear to recognize that Blake is at least as fast as he is, if not faster...and if he does, he is exuding a false confidence with respect to placing himself at the top

2) Bolt is absolutely correct vis-a-vis Gatlin, assuming that Bolt is healthy

3) I see a 50-50 chance that Bolt will get injured this year. He is tall, powerful, and currently, is gripping--a recipe for injury. We'll see...Gatlin, OTOH, looks solid and smooth, and presumably has been practicing seriously all indoor season.

Thinking again about what Bolt actually said, I completely retract #2 above.

Who else is left to "get past"?

He is past Dix, Frater, Carter, Collins, Thompson, Bailey, etc., and now Powell.

Gay isn't even running, so he's not even in the discussion, and Blake is currently faster than Bolt.

So, who exactly is separating Bolt from Gatlin, and who does Gatlin have to "get past" to get to Bolt?

No-one.

I hope the big man lays down a huge 100m in Rome, for his sake. Where he finishes relative to Powell will be more instructive, though. If Powell is anywhere near Bolt, Bolt can say hello to his newest serious competition--Gatlin.

Let's face it, Bolt is no longer the sub-9.7 corrected guy that he used to be. I have a sneaking suspicion that Gatlin is just about maxxed-out, and that his best really is somewhere around 9.85, whereas I think Bolt is naturally just a bit faster than that. Gatlin, however, appears very consistent. Bolt could easily lose a race to Gatlin if he doesn't watch out. In fact, he could easily lose in Rome to Powell.

You speak so matter-of-factly about Blake being faster than Bolt. I've never seen a race where it didn't seem as if Bolt had a lot more left in the tank, even when he said he was running all out. If anything, Blake will be the catalyst which pushes Bolt to lower his WRs. Oh and Bolt has been training his ass off in case you haven't been following. He's just saving up the fireworks for later.

"So, who exactly is separating Bolt from Gatlin, and who does Gatlin have to "get past" to get to Bolt?"

The WADA agents.

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I agree with most of what you said, especially Gatlin being maxed at somewhere in the mid 9.8s. Unfortunately for Gatlin, he has to compete frequently and at a high level becasue he needs money. The top guns like Bolt, Blake, Dix and Gay are pointing to one big race and nothing those guys have done up to now tells you what they will do in August. With that said, the possibility of the top 8 sprinters filling the lanes in the Olympics is very slim. Doping, injury, fasle start, not getting out of rounds and not making their national team, etc., will get at least 1 or 2 athletes. Gatlin on the other hand is very consistent; I doubt he will have any doping problems, not make the U.S. national team and not make it to through the Olympics rounds and 9.85 might be good enough for a medal.

jgxfch wrote:

My god I want Tyson Gay to beat both those guys so bad.

Me too. I have forgiven Gatlin.

Tyson Gay is my idol. He is mymost favourite non Kenyan male athlete.

When they started using athletes surnames instead of numbers on vests, my non-athlete friend could not stop giggling when the camera scrolled past Tyson Gay!

Whaaat--When I said that Blake is currently faster than Bolt, I meant it literally--right now he has a slightly better corrected time, 9.86 to 9.90. Even last year, Blake ran two corrected 9.82's to Bolt's one.

I do not deny that Bolt is capable of beating Blake, or anybody, at any particular time...however, he is just as capable of losing, IMHO.

That race in which Bolt just got edged out by Powell, if you watch closely, you can see that Bolt is massively gaining and their feet are even at the finish, but Powell won because he went for the lean, whereas Bolt did not. IMO Bolt would have won had he leaned, as Gatlin did recently.

I still think you will see something extraordinary from Blake this year, and that Bolt has a 50/50 chance of non-trivial injury.

Interesting that bolt isn't concerned about Gatlin taking more drugs. He must know something....

Sprintgeezer wrote:

Whaaat--When I said that Blake is currently faster than Bolt, I meant it literally--right now he has a slightly better corrected time, 9.86 to 9.90. Even last year, Blake ran two corrected 9.82's to Bolt's one.

I do not deny that Bolt is capable of beating Blake, or anybody, at any particular time...however, he is just as capable of losing, IMHO.

That race in which Bolt just got edged out by Powell, if you watch closely, you can see that Bolt is massively gaining and their feet are even at the finish, but Powell won because he went for the lean, whereas Bolt did not. IMO Bolt would have won had he leaned, as Gatlin did recently.

I still think you will see something extraordinary from Blake this year, and that Bolt has a 50/50 chance of non-trivial injury.

I am not convinced about Blake this year.

Looks to me that he has hit the weight room too much.

And he seems to have benefited from those weights more than many body builders.

I think they're both druggies. Only difference is Bolt hasn't tested positive.

I wonder if it has occurred to Usain that his training partner doesn't need bulletin board material.

And former Olympic/World champions don't necessarily respond well to being dissed.

There will certainly be a response, possibly at the Pre Classic (with Gatlin and Dix). At present, it is actually Bolt that needs to get past a couple of people.

The weights and bulk didn't prevent Johnson and Greene from running 9.7's!

But I agree, for the type of runner that Blake is, he needs to lose some bulk. Fortunately, that is a very easy thing to do.

And the weights are what can get him a start and first 3 steps, which is precisely what he needs to be invincible--although there isn't any evidence so far this year that he has actually gotten either of those things.

Sprintgeezer wrote:

I see a 50-50 chance that Bolt will get injured this year. He is tall, powerful, and currently, is gripping--a recipe for injury.

You are always saying that Bolt is going to get injured, but aside from getting in a car crash and shutting down 2010 "early" (after Stockholm in MID-AUGUST) he has been one of the least-injured of the top guys in the 100.

Gay, Powell - now THOSE are guys who get hurt. Only Blake has zero damage.