Usanity

It was truly a great weekend in sports once again but one thing I took away from Sunday besides Tiger's loss in the PGA was the new world record Usain Bolt broke in the 100m. To say he broke, shattered, crushed, or crumpled the record does not do this performance justice. A year ago Bolt broke the world record in this event in Beijing by running a 9.69 and that was with him hot-dogging it through the final meters. Yesterday in Berlin he was all business from start to finish. You can watch the video here. The American Tyson Gay finished second to Bolt with a time of 9.71 which is the fastest time ever by an American and only Bolt's Beijing and Berlin times are faster. In the video you can see the three levels of separation; there is the pack, Gay well out in front of them looking like a thoroughbred and then Bolt inconceivably outpacing him.

Bolt will again come under scrutiny from all sides about possible performance-enhancing drug use but the only thing he has been confirmed to use is marijuana, he is Jamaican after all. It appears Bolt is simply a physical freak of nature, or maybe carries with him some form of the evolutionary capabilities of human performance. While it is true athletes are training more rigorously than their past counterparts and technology has enabled to increase in efficiency, there is no doubt that a segment of the population is getting bigger, faster, and stronger. It was once thought a sub-10 second 100m would be the limit of accomplishment in this event but now Bolt is even speaking of a 9.4. While Track and Field has lost some luster due to controversy and the nation's focus on other sports, this record by Bolt deserves recognition for its dominance and historical context. Next up for Bolt? He wants to smash the 200m record just as he did in China a year ago. Maybe it is time we start believing him when he says he has more in store for us.

Usain Bolt sets sights on 200m record after smashing 100m world best [Telegraph.uk]