And Bolt bolted to Gold

[karohemd]

New world record and he still eased off before the finish, leaving the rest of the field (the world's best, no less) at least three strides behind. If he had gone at full pelt, that might have been a ludicrous time... He was already celebrating when he still had 10m to go because nobody could touch him. If he doesn't get injured or turn out to be another Ben Johnson, he'll most like stay there for years to come because he's just at the beginning of his career.

In the women's competition, the 100m WR is still held by Florence Griffith-Joyner from 1988, that's 20 years! I wonder if something's going to happen there this year. Then again, they tend to go for world records when there's money at stake...

Comments

Had Tyson Gay been healthy...

[will-sample.livejournal.com]

...he'd have been an even-money bet to beat Bolt. Remember, the fastest 100M in the world isn't the WR; it's Gay's 9.68 that is still faster than Bolt's new WR.

Re: Had Tyson Gay been healthy...

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Possibly, but Bolt's was a 9.69 and he shut down 10m before the finish so would have needed to work a little harder and race all the way through to beat Gay in his best form.

Re: Had Tyson Gay been healthy...

[davegodfrey.livejournal.com]

But Gay's run translates into 9.86 without wind and 9.78 with the wind at the allowed maximum. If Bolt had had a tailwind he'd have gone faster than that.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

My favourite in teh money stakes was Sergei Bubka, the polevaulter from teh 1990's. His contract with Nike promisesd him $20,000 every time he broke the world record: in practise he'd jumped almost two feet highter than his then world record but on every competitive appearance he just pushed his hieght up a centimetre at a time, maximising his return.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

I doubt anyone would break a world record for 20K these days but yeah, cunning tactic.

[davefish.livejournal.com]

The boy did well.