Record is Bolt from the blue
Jun 2 2008 by Kevin Dinsdale, The Journal
LIKE lightning out of nowhere, Usain Bolt is now the world’s fastest man.
The Jamaican sprinter, who doesn’t even consider the 100m his best event, set the world record in New York on Saturday night with a time of 9.72 seconds at the Reebok Grand Prix – two hundredths of a second faster than the old mark held by his countryman, Asafa Powell.
Bolt was using the 100 as “speed work” to get better for his favorite discipline, the 200m, and also to avoid having to run the more gruelling 400m.
Then, unexpectedly, he ran the world’s second-fastest time a few weeks ago at 9.76.
Even with that, he said he wasn’t sure if he would swap the 400m for the 100m at the Beijing Olympics. “I think that will change today,” Bolt said.
“It doesn’t matter if I have the world record if I don’t have the Olympic medal.”
Bolt admitted he was glad there had been a false start the first time he went into the blocks for his historic race.
Billed as a showdown between Bolt and America’s 100m world champion Tyson Gay, the atmosphere had been tense at the start line with a false start charged to the field.
Once they finally got off and running, there was no catching the 6ft 5ins Bolt, who raced into a clear lead with only Gay remotely in touch. Gay was second in 9.85secs with Darvis ‘Doc’ Patton of the USA third in 10.07secs in front of a sell-out crowd of more than 6,490, a large proportion of them delighted Jamaicans. “I was glad of that first false start,” Bolt, a self-confessed poor starter due to his height, said. “My first start wasn’t that good but I knew if I got Tyson on the start I would have a better chance of winning.
“Tyson and I aren’t really good at starting so my coach said concentrate on your drive (out of the blocks) and transition phase, get it right and just take it from there and I did exactly that.”
The meeting had been temporarily suspended halfway through because of thunder and lightning storms, with sections of the crowd in uncovered areas of the stadium forced to leave the arena and take cover under the nearby Triborough Bridge.
They returned to their seats to see lightning strike again with Bolt’s historic run. “I had an idea (if the record was on) because I ran in Trinidad and I ran pretty bad and still ran 9.92, so I was pretty confident coming here,” Bolt said.
“I wasn’t looking for a world record but it was there for the taking so I just went out there and ran my best race.”
Bolt had set the track world buzzing on May 3 when he ran 9.76secs – the second-fastest 100m time in history – in Kingston, Jamaica, and earlier in the week he was still undecided whether he would even enter the 100m at the Jamaican Olympic trials, proclaiming himself a 200m specialist.
He now stands out in front of the pack as the fastest man in the world and his plan to run just the 200m appeared set for alteration.
“I think that would change now,” Bolt said. “I’m definitely doubling up.”
