With Track & Field World Championships starting in less than 48 hours, Usain Bolt says he's not in world record-breaking shape, but he thinks he'll win.
"I think I will win with ease. When I get into my running stride I don't think anybody can match it, no matter my shape," Bolt told Reuters on the eve of his 25th birthday.
(Bolt, in a shoe in endorsement ad I've been seeing everywhere I travel)
For the uninitiated, Usain Bolt's double-gold medal and world recording breaking Olympic performance in Beijing was the most exciting on dryland.
Bolt flew sideways across the 100 meter finish line at the 2008 Games, famously slapping his chest in victory. IOC President, Jacques Rogge, infamously condemned Bolt's showboating.
Bolt did not act in the "spirit of the Olympic ideal" and "failed to show respect to the his rivals," Rogge said.
Rogge, a former Olympic sailor, sounded like a stodgy bureaucrat, completely out of touch, and the timing of his comment was unneccessary. A true leader of the Olympic movement would've (and should've) saved his advice for a private moment with Bolt, delivering it in kindness, and only after an enthusiastic congratulations. Instead, Rogge brought attention to himself. The subtext of his comment was clear: the moment wasn't about Bolt, it was about the Olympic platform.
I actually agree with Rogge, but I also believe some athletes can transcend the Olympic platform. While Michael Phelps needed the Olympic platform, needed the 8 events--the 8 gold medals to seal his place in history--Bolt is simply the fastest human being on the planet.
Being the fastest human, period, is enough. It's makes Bolt a superstar, but Bolt's the best in history.
It took 16 years, from 1991 to 2007, to shave 14 one-hundredths off of the 100 meter world record. Bolt shaved 11 one-hundredths off in one year.
Bolt is also "Bolt". It seems like his fame was written in the stars... I think Bolt transcends the Olympic platform because he's a personality big enough to capture attention and entertain outside of an Olympic years.
Watch Bolt at the Track & Field World Championshps and judge for yourself. If he's out of shape, as he and sports analysts agree, then it'll be interesting to see how he matches up against all the nitro-driven men ready to take his crown.
100 Meter World Records:
9.58 Usain Bolt August 17, 2009
9.69 Usain Bolt August 16, 2008
9.72 Usain Bolt May 31, 2008
9.74 Asafa Powell Sept 9, 2007
9.77 Asafa Powell June 14, 2005
9.78 Tim Montgomery Sept 14, 2002
9.79 Maurice Greene June 16, 1999
9.84 Donovan Bailey July 27, 1996
9.85 Leroy Burrell July 6, 1994
9.86 Carl Lewis Aug 25, 1991
9.90 Leroy Burrell June 14, 1991
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