Ato Bolden was DEAD wrong about predicting the 100 meter final!

This. +1

Yeah, he even said the day before the final “There are none so blind as those who will not see” (in reference to Bolt's fanbase)

I remember hearing his predictions before the Final and also thought, "man, you are going to eat your hat."

But that's the Ego in Boldon speaking... he's got one of the biggest in the sport and was proven wrong by a damn Legend.

Bolts old yam patch is better than Gatlins newest yam patch.

Once I thought I was wrong. But I was mistaken.

I understand the rationale for picking Gatlin for the win. It was not unreasonable at all. But he did not stop there. He went all in and got carried away. Gatlin was going to put on a clinic and it would be a coronation with the other finalists there just as witnesses.

As a track and field analyst how could he have ignored what Bolt did in London? 9.87s on a cold wet track and into a significant head wind. That was an indication that Bolt was in high 9.7x to low 9.8x shape then and there a month before the championship with time to improve by .10s to get to a low 9.7x or high 9.6x and challenge Gatlin. Further Bolt had gone sub 9.7x three times in history while Gatlin was yet to get there.

As it turns out adjusted for wind a mid 9.7x was good enough for the win. Gatlin was never going to improve by much as he had been running at full tilt all season and usually performs only marginally better in championship settings than his seasonal best.

A bad call by someone who failed to heed his own words: "There are none so blind as those who will not see”.

Some people now is validating the "ducking each-other and only facing in a major final" theory as the correct from the drama point of view.

I think this is true, but only viewing it from the financial side. I'm not buying that "drama" if we have to live it once in two years.

I was seeing the final AND DAMN, i have no clue about the potential winner. Ato Boldon have a big mouth.

Bolt knew that Gatlin was better this year, but he also knew that he didn't need to peak in June (like Gatlin in the US trials). He only needed the 9.7 shape in Mid August. Not more, not less.

But this is bad for the sport. Bolt and Gatlin only faced twice in the last 2 years. And there is not going to be a revenge".

The next time it's going to be in 2016 Olympic final.

Was Bolden a drug user back in the day?

If so, it would explain why he never says anything remotely negative or critical about Gatlin. At least he's not a hypocrite.

No Gay in Rio 100m individual and perhaps not even on the Stick Squad.

Seriously?

-1/10

Gatlin was going to win that race. Bolt got lucky in that Gatlin lost his balance at the end. Losing his balance doesn't mean he's not the fastest sprinter right now.

Even if Gatlin was going to win, it would not have been by much. Bolden made it sound like Gatlin was going to destroy the rest of the field. That basically everyone else was just going to be a spectator. Clearly not true.

I kind of figured that Gatlin would take this one, but we have to remember that Usain Bolt had run the 100, 200 and 4 x 100 at 5 major championships, and won all of those races (except for one DQ). More importantly, not one of those races had been anything that could be considered 'close.' He has always been on his game, in spectacular fashion, at the end of the season. Even when he has been running sub par for the majority of the season. To think that the race would be lopsided in Gatlin's favor is to fail to appreciate everything that Bolt has ever done.

That is a question you would have to pose to him. What happened in Athens 1997? Why the no show. Also remember that there was a controversy with the HSI group where he said that to him JS is dead cause there was some issue about performance enhancing portions being doled out which he claims he didn't get. Ha ha.

I'll challange Bolden this question. Do you think that Bolt will show up against Gatlins for the rest of the years competition or will he go back to hiding?