Features

How far can Bolt take the 100m?

Author: John Harris
Date: 21/08/2009
Athletics betting

Usain Bolt has only gone and done it. The Jamaican speedster lived up to his sportsbook tag as favourite to win the World Championship over 100 metres, but the manner he went about it left has left everyone speechless.

Tyson Gay got home in 9.78 seconds, but the American could only achieve a silver medal. Because Bolt was two tenths of a second faster.

In an unbelievable final, Bolt crossed the finish line in 9.58 seconds, to establish himself as the greatest athlete of the 21st century.

Forget Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and Cristiano Ronaldo, Bolt has proved to be able to dominate on the world stage better than no other.

Can Bolt win more gold at the World Championships? - Latest Athletics Betting

But for Gay, Dwain Chambers and the rest of Bolt's helpless rivals, the daunting reality of the current state of the 100 metre race (indeed, the 200 metres as well) is that they are fighting a losing battle.

That's because Bolt has immediately set his sights on shaving further tenths from his new record time. He insists he can dash from the blocks to the finish in 9.4 seconds.

The 100 metres has had a glamorous past, but it looks set for an even more astounding future.

The 100 metres has (and probably always will be) the main attraction of athletics.

In 1936, Jesse Owens won Olympic gold in Berlin, much to the annoyance of Adolf Hitler.

Carl Lewis took the headlines of the 1984 Olympic Games, winning gold with a 9.99 second finish.

Lewis confirmed the arrival of an era of sub-10 second races with his medal, two years before Bolt was born.

Then came along Ben Johnson, whose Olympic win was chalked off for failing a drugs test.

Johnson brought along the cheating habit of athletics, though the 100 metres continued to thrive.

Linford Christie came along and won Olympic Gold, before American Maurice Greene became a World and Olympic champion after Sydney 2000, confirming his dominance of the sport.

Since then, the Jamaicans have risen to the summit of athletics, with Asafa Powell and then Bolt arriving to become the world's best.

Bolt was redefined athletics, as jogging to a world record in the 2008 Olympics provided one of the greatest sporting moments of all time. And the 2009 World title rivals that, for sheer brilliance as she shaved 0.11 off his Olympic record.

But how far can he take it? It'd be stupid to bet against Bolt breaking his record again, but as he does, he takes it ever closer to the threshold of the human body.

Unless evolution says otherwise, Bolt must be close to achieving the fastest time possible by our species.

Can he break 9.4? It'd be silly to bet against it.

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