Usain Bolt nearly beaten in season opener - only wins in 10.09 after his training partner lets up

He partied all night, maybe had felt a bit of a strain in a workout, and eased through it, hoping just for his check and a win. Don't read too much into one early race. By all appearances and paying no attention to speculation, Bolt is the most talented sprinter ever and gets it all right when he has the incentive to work for it. He'll be fine. Relax, geezer.

stating the obviousss wrote:

Everyone who has ever run under 9.90 seconds is a massive doper.

Nice one.

So all that have run 9.90 or 9.91, etc are clean but 9.89 = PED...

LOL

History Teacher wrote:

Thought we were supposed to learn from history.

Ben Johnson - Usain Bolt

Carl Lewis - Tyson Gay

Class is over.

They're both juiced but gay gets whooped every time they race? Yeah sounds about right to me. The only thing missing is that USADA covering for him, admittedly spiking Bolts drink (watch the ESPN doc) and him actually failing a drug test like Lewis did.

Oh and whining like a little sissy every loss too. At least Gay has some class unlike Lewis.

BigNate wrote:

rumors on the street is that Bolt is in very very heavy training and is expected to knock 0.5 sec off his time

once he juices up

Obviously, with anabolics, the "very very heavy training" and the juicing need to happen simultaneously for best results.

bolt early season results are a mixed bag.

poor-ish 100 and 400m

with a good 150m.

it is obvious that it takes the big man a while to get rolling.

but if he does not break 9.90 a month from now, then he's out of it.

prediction: bolt will go 9.8 high three races from now.

tyson gay and blake - if (a big if) both are healthy - figure to be in and around 9.70 flat. and bolt will be challenged to emulate the special form he needs to go that fast.

so it is a toss up amongst the big 3.

if gay stays healthy he's my betting pick especially with the likely favorable odds.

regarding PED s - it is the same old same old.

PEDs have been the deciding factor since the 60's, even before that in some cases.

so track is really half real half fiction.

except for those on the inside who know.

I'd be very interested in seeing Bolt's biological passport data. Not (just) because I suspect that he's doping, but to see what variables correlate with such enormous fluctuations in performance.[quote]longjack wrote:

It might take him a while to get rolling right now, but when he's on, he's nails over the first 30m.

I don't think that Gay will be around 9.70-flat, nor do I think that Blake is likely to get there.

"but if he does not break 9.90 a month from now, then he's out of it"

Yeah, right--that is the same kind of thinking I had last year, before he went for "medical treatment" and returned to crush the 2nd-fastest 100m in history under any conditions. History has, I think clearly, shown that it is entirely irrelevant how Bolt is running, and what times he is running, before major championships, for one reason or another--either he is roiding up and training heavy the month before, or he is partying and drinking too much during the season and not sleeping enough, and not really training, or--most likely--some combination of the two factors.

If Bolt remains uninjured this year, then it is not a toss-up. He will be the clear winner, crushing everybody in his path--UNLESS for some reason he is now honestly being scrutinized for drug use. I can't see it. He IS track and field. He IS the franchise, the golden goose. He will NEVER be caught.

Gay will do well, and is likely to get into the 9.7x range. Blake is really the big unknown, sometimes time off and treatments can be the best thing. One thing, though--I would dearly love to see Powell knock off Blake this season.