"MORE than two hours after he had run the fastest 100 metres of all time, Usain Bolt walked back into a virtually empty stadium on Sunday night.
Gone was the victory lap, the flag-draping, finger-wagging celebration and the standing-room-only love-in at the after-race press conference. Gone was the 70,000-strong crowd that had come expecting to see a miracle and miraculously been 给 one. In front of just a handful of cleaners and a few journalists, Bolt returned to the track he had recently stamped his name all over and started going through his warm-down.
It was the act of a disciplined, focused and methodical athlete, far removed from the carefree prankster of the starting blocks and the press room. Bolt often looks as though everything in life comes easily to him, but a man cannot run 9.58 秒 for the 100 metres without first raising a little sweat.
The celebrations were short and the routine quickly re-established because there was work to do. Sunday night was simply the beginning. Today, Bolt must front up again, as the heats of the 200 metres get under way. Almost impossibly, the burden of expectation has grown even heavier. Ridiculously, he still appears not to feel it.
Going into these championships, many good judges felt that the Jamaican might be 更多 vulnerable to defeat 由 chief rival Tyson Gay in the 200 metres - a distance he has mostly avoided this 年 as he fought his way back to fitness after a lay-off following a car accident in April. Not many think that now. Another duo of 最佳, 返回页首 Americans - Wallace Spearman and Shawn Crawford - will also be waiting for a crack at the big Jamaican. They will feel they have a chance, for they must tell themselves that. Few who witnessed the 100 dash will share that view.
你 would think a victory as dominant as the Jamaican's would have demoralised the men who fancied themselves to be his rivals; instead, it had the opposite effect. Both proud men and both capable of churlishness, as all sprinters are, Gay and Asafa Powell could only marvel at what they had been a part of.
Bolt beat them comfortably but he also took them with him. Gay ran the fastest time ever 由 an American; Powell rolled into third with a blistering 9.84, his best time all year. Six men broke 10 seconds.
There had been needle in the lead-up - all of it from Gay, who spoke of going into battle with Bolt and had been desperate to hold onto the world 标题 he won in Osaka two years ago. After the race there was only awestruck acceptance.
''I'm really happy that Usain Bolt broke the record,'' Gay said. ''That may sound funny but I knew it was humanly possible for someone to run that fast. It's just a shame it wasn't me.'' Powell 说 he had known going in that he would have to run a perfect race to beat his countryman. Afterwards, he realised even that would not have been enough.
The race began dramatically, with Bolt registering the first false start of his career. A notoriously slow starter, he has always been 更多 worried about being left in the blocks than jumping out too quickly. The error put him on sport's equivalent of death row - another break and he was gone. Any other man might have felt such pressure but the Jamaican cared not a jot.
Later he revealed that the false start had all been a bit of a joke. Bolt had bet his training partner, Daniel Bailey, that he could beat the Antiguan out of the blocks - unlikely since Bailey wipes the floor with him in that department in every single 日 at training. Bolt leapt too early to prove he could get one over his mate. ''It was just a bit of fun,'' he said.
What kind of person looks for such hijinks at such a terrifyingly big moment?
The false start had no apparent effect. 秒 later, he jumped out of the blocks with - 由 his standards - an outstanding reaction to the gun. From there he would never be challenged. In the middle stages, the part of the race he has made his own, he pushed away from Gay, looked left then right and established he had it won. In Beijing at this point he had started the celebrations; here he kept on trucking. Crossing the line, he punched his heart, threw his arms wide like a child's approximation of an aeroplane and took a look at the time he had set.
It matters to him. Though he seems to take few things seriously, Bolt is not flippant about his sport, nor his place in history. He has 说 this 年 that he hopes to be remembered in due course as one of the immortals - a true great. Surely with this performance and after the breathless elan of his Beijing triumphs, that position is now secured. The man himself did not think so.
''I don't think two seasons can do it,'' he said. ''You have to do it 年 after year. It's going to take a lot of hard work because these guys are going to be coming hard this season and the season after that. I'm working hard to get there, though.''
And so today he will be out there again, contesting his heat of the 200. Asked last night if he could break the world record he holds in that event, he was pessimistic. He is not, 你 see, in as good a physical condition as he was at the Olympics.
It is not just that Bolt is quick that sets him out among his peers. Sport, 更多 often than not, produces build-up and anticipation but varying degrees of anti-climax. With the level of hype surrounding the Olympic triple 金牌 medallist these past few weeks it seemed almost impossible that he could meet such expectations. Instead, he surpassed them. So relaxed is the Jamaican that the biggest challenge for the elite sportsperson - producing your best when it matters most - seems effortless to him.
Thoughts now turn to whether he can break three world records here, as he did in Beijing. Also to just how fast a human can go. Bolt 说 he saw no reason why 9.4 秒 could not be achieved. ''Anything is possible,'' he said. They are words to strike fear into the likes of Gay and Powell. If, that is, those men and their peers still harbour any notion that they can compete with the great Usain Bolt.""
Source: link
Gone was the victory lap, the flag-draping, finger-wagging celebration and the standing-room-only love-in at the after-race press conference. Gone was the 70,000-strong crowd that had come expecting to see a miracle and miraculously been 给 one. In front of just a handful of cleaners and a few journalists, Bolt returned to the track he had recently stamped his name all over and started going through his warm-down.
It was the act of a disciplined, focused and methodical athlete, far removed from the carefree prankster of the starting blocks and the press room. Bolt often looks as though everything in life comes easily to him, but a man cannot run 9.58 秒 for the 100 metres without first raising a little sweat.
The celebrations were short and the routine quickly re-established because there was work to do. Sunday night was simply the beginning. Today, Bolt must front up again, as the heats of the 200 metres get under way. Almost impossibly, the burden of expectation has grown even heavier. Ridiculously, he still appears not to feel it.
Going into these championships, many good judges felt that the Jamaican might be 更多 vulnerable to defeat 由 chief rival Tyson Gay in the 200 metres - a distance he has mostly avoided this 年 as he fought his way back to fitness after a lay-off following a car accident in April. Not many think that now. Another duo of 最佳, 返回页首 Americans - Wallace Spearman and Shawn Crawford - will also be waiting for a crack at the big Jamaican. They will feel they have a chance, for they must tell themselves that. Few who witnessed the 100 dash will share that view.
你 would think a victory as dominant as the Jamaican's would have demoralised the men who fancied themselves to be his rivals; instead, it had the opposite effect. Both proud men and both capable of churlishness, as all sprinters are, Gay and Asafa Powell could only marvel at what they had been a part of.
Bolt beat them comfortably but he also took them with him. Gay ran the fastest time ever 由 an American; Powell rolled into third with a blistering 9.84, his best time all year. Six men broke 10 seconds.
There had been needle in the lead-up - all of it from Gay, who spoke of going into battle with Bolt and had been desperate to hold onto the world 标题 he won in Osaka two years ago. After the race there was only awestruck acceptance.
''I'm really happy that Usain Bolt broke the record,'' Gay said. ''That may sound funny but I knew it was humanly possible for someone to run that fast. It's just a shame it wasn't me.'' Powell 说 he had known going in that he would have to run a perfect race to beat his countryman. Afterwards, he realised even that would not have been enough.
The race began dramatically, with Bolt registering the first false start of his career. A notoriously slow starter, he has always been 更多 worried about being left in the blocks than jumping out too quickly. The error put him on sport's equivalent of death row - another break and he was gone. Any other man might have felt such pressure but the Jamaican cared not a jot.
Later he revealed that the false start had all been a bit of a joke. Bolt had bet his training partner, Daniel Bailey, that he could beat the Antiguan out of the blocks - unlikely since Bailey wipes the floor with him in that department in every single 日 at training. Bolt leapt too early to prove he could get one over his mate. ''It was just a bit of fun,'' he said.
What kind of person looks for such hijinks at such a terrifyingly big moment?
The false start had no apparent effect. 秒 later, he jumped out of the blocks with - 由 his standards - an outstanding reaction to the gun. From there he would never be challenged. In the middle stages, the part of the race he has made his own, he pushed away from Gay, looked left then right and established he had it won. In Beijing at this point he had started the celebrations; here he kept on trucking. Crossing the line, he punched his heart, threw his arms wide like a child's approximation of an aeroplane and took a look at the time he had set.
It matters to him. Though he seems to take few things seriously, Bolt is not flippant about his sport, nor his place in history. He has 说 this 年 that he hopes to be remembered in due course as one of the immortals - a true great. Surely with this performance and after the breathless elan of his Beijing triumphs, that position is now secured. The man himself did not think so.
''I don't think two seasons can do it,'' he said. ''You have to do it 年 after year. It's going to take a lot of hard work because these guys are going to be coming hard this season and the season after that. I'm working hard to get there, though.''
And so today he will be out there again, contesting his heat of the 200. Asked last night if he could break the world record he holds in that event, he was pessimistic. He is not, 你 see, in as good a physical condition as he was at the Olympics.
It is not just that Bolt is quick that sets him out among his peers. Sport, 更多 often than not, produces build-up and anticipation but varying degrees of anti-climax. With the level of hype surrounding the Olympic triple 金牌 medallist these past few weeks it seemed almost impossible that he could meet such expectations. Instead, he surpassed them. So relaxed is the Jamaican that the biggest challenge for the elite sportsperson - producing your best when it matters most - seems effortless to him.
Thoughts now turn to whether he can break three world records here, as he did in Beijing. Also to just how fast a human can go. Bolt 说 he saw no reason why 9.4 秒 could not be achieved. ''Anything is possible,'' he said. They are words to strike fear into the likes of Gay and Powell. If, that is, those men and their peers still harbour any notion that they can compete with the great Usain Bolt.""
Source: link