The Incredible Bolt

Assuming that he didn’t false start, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Usain Bolt would win the 200m gold medal at the World Championships in Berlin. What no one, including the Jamaican himself or Michael Johnson whose record Bolt broke at the Beijing Olympics, was quite prepared for was what happened when the starter’s gun went off.

19.19 seconds later, Usain Bolt had broken his own record, just like he had done in the 100m two days earlier, and one is now left to wonder what this incredible Jamaican is capable of.

“This guy is Superman II” said Michael Johnson after the race.

Bronze medal winner, Wallace Spearmon, who had resigned himself to second place or worse, said, “‘Insane’ Bolt. I mean the guy is crazy. He runs crazy times and he makes it look so easy … even if I run the best turn of my life, I’m still going to be behind.”

Shawn Crawford, the gold medalist in the 200 in the 2004 Olympics, second in Beijing, and fourth in Berlin, calls Bolt a “gift” and a “blessing to the track world,” adding, “Anything that great is a blessing …. any time there’s a blessing in the vicinity, you’re close to being blessed yourself.”

Bolt has never been the best when it comes to blasting off the starting blocks, but his long stride has helped him burn up the track at a blistering pace. Running in Lane 5 in the 200m finals, he caught up with Alonso Edward in Lane 6, and Shawn Crawford in Lane 8, coming out of the bend. And the gap when he crossed the finish line was close on 6 metres – that’s huge.

It has been financially rewarding, too. His haul from the Berlin championships now stands at US$320,000 – winners of an event earn US$60,000, while world records carry a US$100,000 bonus.

“There was the space age and the computer age; now we have the ‘Bolt Age’,” wrote Elias Makorip, a reporter for the Daily Nation newspaper.

Couldn’t have put it better.