9.58 in the 100m.

Tyson Gay 2nd with 9.71 (new American Record).

And Bolt isn't even in as good a shape as he was in 2008 apparently...car accident and some other stuff.

Bolt is a freak of nature. He'll certainly keep me interested in races.

that was...insane. there's nobody that is even in his league...he's something special.

i thought maybe Gay was on the same level as him - and at least he did push him to run the whole race and not showboat at the end, but he was never in any danger...just crazy

Usain Bolt...Future ex-Raider

Bolt's not freakin' human. OTOH, is it sort of sad I'm waiting for the inevitable test failure?

I'd be so disappointed if that was the case. But looking at him, he really does have the build that screams unique, not drug-aided. But we really never can be sure these days can we? No failed tests thus far, have to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Unbelievable. Any other period of time minus Usain Bolt and American Tyson Gay would be shattering records and would be on top. Must be tough to be second to a once in an every 3 decades type sprinter. No matter how good you are it's not enough.

I'd be so disappointed if that was the case. But looking at him, he really does have the build that screams unique, not drug-aided. But we really never can be sure these days can we? No failed tests thus far, have to give him the benefit of the doubt.

When I read about the incredible cuts in times for the whole Jamaican sprinting program over the last few years it certainly looks suspicious.

Incredible race. I really enjoy watching Bolt running, a 6'5" guy that fast is amazing. Of course his length helps his advance, but you need the body to move those long legs that quick.

Btw, bad homophobic joke i just heard tonight from a guy sitting at the next table in a restaurant.
"If i had a "Gay" (Tyson) running behind my ass, i would also beat that record!"

I heard on NPR that if Bolt hadn't celebrated at the very end during the Olympics, he would have run a 9.55 instead. So this is no big deal.

sure it is. it was a 9.58 into a headwind. without the headwind just think how fast that could be...

I heard on NPR that if Bolt hadn't celebrated at the very end during the Olympics, he would have run a 9.55 instead. So this is no big deal.

Makes sense, he started to celebrate really early in that race, almost humiliating the rest of racers.

I heard on NPR that if Bolt hadn't celebrated at the very end during the Olympics, he would have run a 9.55 instead. So this is no big deal.

I mean, that was an estimate that some Professor made by analyzing the race. To say that a 9.58 is no big deal, that's just crazy. You're crazy, Pass!

I mean, that was an estimate that some Professor made by analyzing the race. To say that a 9.58 is no big deal, that's just crazy. You're crazy, Pass!

Well I was being sarcastic, but I'm sure if you dig hard enough, you can find other reasons to say I'm crazy.

Well I was being sarcastic, but I'm sure if you dig hard enough, you can find other reasons to say I'm crazy.

Yeah, I figured it was sarcasm. But I probably don't get many chances to call you crazy outside of WW, so there it is. :)

Bolt has shaved .16 seconds off the world record in the last two years. It took 16 years to shave the previous .16 seconds off the record. It took 27 years to shave the previous .16 seconds off that (using electronic timing).

Bolt's performance does not compute. Either he is the greatest sprinter of all time by leaps and bounds -- in the class of Tiger Woods, except better. There's guilt by association in that there has been smoke (and in some cases fire) with a lot of Jamaican sprinters. My gut tells me that Bolt is just a positive test waiting to happen.

Usain Bolt has one of the best sprinter names of all time.

It would be a shame if he is using. How much could it really help? At these times you'd think he could smoke people all natural.

Smoking people would likely get him in even more trouble than steroids.

Soylent Weed is made from people!

I am surprised the article from ten months ago (or 8?) in which Bolt predicted he would run this exact time has not been mentioned. I saw it on the news, so sorry no link.

A few notes on other posts: good joke Icy; I think Bolt is way faster then Tiger Woods; and I heard if Bolt had not smoked a fatty, porked a fatty, and ate some fatty pork before the Olympics he would have been so damn fast he would have gone back in time.

9.58 is not that fast.... I used to do that in high school

Oh wait, sorry I thought you were talking about the 40 yard dash. Nevermind... nothing to see here.

Just wanna chime in on the positive a-sample talk...

All pro sports involve straight up doping, semi-illegal stuff, grey area stuff and questonable stuff. To say that Usain Bolt runs a sub 9.6, becouse of some illegal substances is just... i dont know, naive? And im not attacking anyone, just saying.. The other nine guys next to him are most likely on the same stuff. He's just a freak of nature, plain and simple.

Glad that he ran 100 meters without showboating so that we could see what he could do. Turns out, it is amazing.

9.58 is not that fast.... I used to do that in high school

SportsDigs ran a 9.58 weeks ago

Owl Gore invented 9.58, including the decimal point. He hasn't been credited for that contribution since no one wanted to call it the Gorey System.

Just wanna chime in on the positive a-sample talk...

All pro sports involve straight up doping, semi-illegal stuff, grey area stuff and questonable stuff. To say that Usain Bolt runs a sub 9.6, becouse of some illegal substances is just... i dont know, naive? And im not attacking anyone, just saying.. The other nine guys next to him are most likely on the same stuff. He's just a freak of nature, plain and simple.

To me it doesn't matter what he would've run without using. If he cheated, then he cheated. If he cheated when he didn't need to, that just makes him stupid.

Again, this is all hypothetical, because I don't think he cheated. I just disagree with the logic that the hypothetical cheating doesn't matter because he would've won anyways.

sure it is. it was a 9.58 into a headwind. without the headwind just think how fast that could be...

An article I read said there was a slight wind at his back...

"I don't run for world records," said Bolt, who crossed the line with a slight breeze at his back.

Usain Bolt's 9.58 at world championships shatters 100-meter record - ESPN (http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/trackandfield/news/story?id=4402644)

To me it doesn't matter what he would've run without using. If he cheated, then he cheated. If he cheated when he didn't need to, that just makes him stupid.

Again, this is all hypothetical, because I don't think he cheated. I just disagree with the logic that the hypothetical cheating doesn't matter because he would've won anyways.

I guess i didnt make my point too well.. The point is EVERYONE cheats, so the field is balanced.

I guess i didnt make my point too well.. The point is EVERYONE cheats, so the field is balanced.

You think everyone cheats? Down to the lowest level competitor that didn't make the finals? Or didn't qualify to even run in the preliminaries? If all 8 of the people in that final cheated, then they should all be disqualified.

You think everyone cheats? Down to the lowest level competitor that didn't make the finals? Or didn't qualify to even run in the preliminaries? If all 8 of the people in that final cheated, then they should all be disqualified.

And nobody in the world should ever commit a violent crime, or use inside information on the stock market, or.... You get the point.

Im really inclined to believe that yes, if your on top in pro sports, you have done something that might not be allowed, or is in the grey, at the very least. Should they be DQ'd? Yes, but they are not since i believe most of the methods that they use cannot be detected.

There's way too much money in sports to NOT be able to come up with methods that cannot be detected for the most part.

I'd be fun if there were a performance-enhanced Olympics. The best athletes in the world, no restrictions on drugs. It's not really fun with the grey areas and restrictions. Even if you believed everyone was "clean", there's still all kinds of stuff they're allowed to take, it's kind of an arbitrary, always-moving line.

You mean, like this?

Hulu - Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update: All Drug Olympics (http://www.hulu.com/watch/4090/saturday-night-live-weekend-update-all-drug-olympics)

I don't think you can take the factorial of 9.58, or at least not so many times. Anyway, if you did, I'm sure his actual speed would end up looking a lot slower.

You mean, like this?

Hulu - Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update: All Drug Olympics (http://www.hulu.com/watch/4090/saturday-night-live-weekend-update-all-drug-olympics)

Is that the one from the 90s where the guy's arms fall off?

SI

yup

I guess i didnt make my point too well.. The point is EVERYONE cheats, so the field is balanced.

With the premise that everyone cheats, beating all these guys does indeed make him faster than the rest of the fastest cheaters in the world. In the 'everyone cheats' context, the fact that he cheated makes his accomplishment of being the fastest no less impressive.

The news here is not that he is the fastest of the cheaters, but that he is SO much faster than everyone else before him. That feat would be less impressive without cheating.

It is pretty sad that I sit here only partially impressed by a truly breathtaking feat because I am assuming news will eventually break about some Jamaican institutionalized steroid program.

Bolt ran a 20.61 in 2002 in the 200. Last year he ran a 19.3. I dunno if it's normal for sprinters to drop that much time off their previous marks, but 1.3 seconds over 200 meters over 6 years seems reasonable. Especially if you figure he would have been under a world class training regimen for the previous 6 years.

I tend to think he is clean. I suppose blood doping is a possibility, but I don't think he used any roids.

How close do you think Powell is to just saying "fuck it" and starting the bobsled team?

Bolt ran a 20.61 in 2002 in the 200. Last year he ran a 19.3. I dunno if it's normal for sprinters to drop that much time off their previous marks, but 1.3 seconds over 200 meters over 6 years seems reasonable. Especially if you figure he would have been under a world class training regimen for the previous 6 years.

I tend to think he is clean. I suppose blood doping is a possibility, but I don't think he used any roids.
It's not normal to drop that much time. Would be like a WR consistently running a 4.7 40 out of college and then years later starting to run 4.3 40's.

Roids turned Ben Johnson from a marginal sprinter to a Gold Medal winner. It turned Tim Montgomery from a guy who couldn't make the Olympic Team to a guy who broke the 100m World Record.

I'm getting close to the point where I don't even care if Bolt is using steroids. A roided 9.58 is still head-asplode impressive.

I remember reading an article a few years back (when the record was still in the 9.8 range) where some scientist calculated that fastest possible time that a human body could ever achieve was 9.60. And at the time it seemed like a safe prediction because the idea of anyone ever running 9.60 was just too unrealistic to comprehend.

How much would roids or blood doping really help you in a 100 meter race, anyways?

It's not normal to drop that much time. Would be like a WR consistently running a 4.7 40 out of college and then years later starting to run 4.3 40's.

In 2002 Bolt was 15 years old. You can't compare a 15 year old kid to a 20 something college graduate wide receiver at his physical peak.

How much would roids or blood doping really help you in a 100 meter race, anyways?
A ton. Body recovers much faster, easier to build muscle, much more endurance for training.

A ton. Body recovers much faster, easier to build muscle, much more endurance for training.

In terms of the actual race though, it's going to have little to no effect. I understand the implications on the rest of the year, in any sport in terms of muscle building and injury recovery, but over the course of 100 meters, you can train and train but it all comes down to how you perform in that instance. It's not like a football season where you have a huge upper hand because you stay healthy for 16+ games whereas other people let the little nicks and bangs get to them. Or baseball where your power is jacked up because you've aided your body.

In terms of the actual race though, it's going to have little to no effect. I understand the implications on the rest of the year, in any sport in terms of muscle building and injury recovery, but over the course of 100 meters, you can train and train but it all comes down to how you perform in that instance. It's not like a football season where you have a huge upper hand because you stay healthy for 16+ games whereas other people let the little nicks and bangs get to them. Or baseball where your power is jacked up because you've aided your body.
Depending on what he's taking, he'd have much more energy going into the race. Testosterone does wonders for your energy level and intensity. Other than that, being able to build a ton of muscle where he wants is probably the biggest benefit of all. I mean if your leg muscles are 5 pounds stronger than they normally would be, that helps performance.

Depending on what he's taking, he'd have much more energy going into the race. Testosterone does wonders for your energy level and intensity. Other than that, being able to build a ton of muscle where he wants is probably the biggest benefit of all. I mean if your leg muscles are 5 pounds stronger than they normally would be, that helps performance.

I suppose that makes sense. Still, I'm absolutely going with innocent until proven guilty with him. I don't feel the same about this past generation of baseball players, but with him I feel better about it.

Isn't olympic and general track and field testing some of the strictest that we have in all of sports/athletics?

Testing is a joke. The good drugs are undetectable. Scientists are about 5 years ahead of the testers. Best way to do it for all sports is to freeze samples and test them later on when technology has gotten better.

That's a shame. I have read in multiple places that the testers are far behind, and that there are a lot of undetectable masking agents in play that keep getting more and more advanced. I suppose we'll just have to enjoy the moment and hope the memories aren't tainted in the future.

I'm getting close to the point where I don't even care if Bolt is using steroids. A roided 9.58 is still head-asplode impressive.

I remember reading an article a few years back (when the record was still in the 9.8 range) where some scientist calculated that fastest possible time that a human body could ever achieve was 9.60. And at the time it seemed like a safe prediction because the idea of anyone ever running 9.60 was just too unrealistic to comprehend.

The same NPR story I mentioned earlier said that now the fastest possible time the human body could ever achieve is around 9 seconds.

9 seconds flat? That would be something else.

There was an NPR story tonight with a running mechanics engineer or something like that who thought we could be down below 9 seconds in the next decade or two.

SI

19.19 in the 200 meters by Bolt:

Usain Bolt sets world record in 200 meters at world championships - More Sports - SI.com (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/more/08/20/bolt.ap/index.html?eref=sihpT1)

Shattering his 19.30 World Record.

The man's insane.

Awesome. I wonder how low he can go.

Ran an incredible curve, too. If you can do that at his height no one can ever beat you in the 200.
Would love to see him run the 400, maybe in the relay for Jamaica as a start.

Anybody saw the high Jump ? German Friedrich getting the stadium to stay perfectly quiet , then sport a big smile at that fact. Would have been so awesome if she made the height just now , would have erupted.

This man is awesome. I care about sprinting because of him. 19.19? WTF? He gets records in such large chunks that it is ridiculous.

I don't know much about track & field, but is the long jump the only event where the record hasn't really been improved on very much through time? It's interesting to see the progression of records, and then mind-blowing to see that the long jump record was set in 1991, and that broke a record set in 1968. The 100m record, by comparison, has been set constantly.

the 1968 is widely regarded as kind of a "fake record" . Several reasons:
jumped at a great height (and actually a lot of records were set at that event in sprints and jump disciplines) , bad weather after his jump limiting everyone else, manual measurement, exactly 2,0 metres tailwind (yeah, right).

Case in point, Powell before or after that 1 Jump never came within 60 centimetres of that distance. One of the alltime one hit wonders of sports ;)

There´s quite a few more long standing records. Especially for women, where basically every record has been set way back. Although most are widely regarded as achieved by doping due to solid evidence for state-organised doping in the eastern part of Europe. Like the 400 metre women´s record standing at 47,60 . Best in the 2000s is 48,70.

The 100 and 200 also stand since 1988, the 800 since 1983, long jump 88, high jump 87. The list goes on and on.

For men a lot were set in the mid to late 90s. (400, 800, 1500, 3000, high jump, tripple jump, pole vault, javelin)

and of course i had to look most of them up ;) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_records_in_athletics

I don't know much about track & field, but is the long jump the only event where the record hasn't really been improved on very much through time? It's interesting to see the progression of records, and then mind-blowing to see that the long jump record was set in 1991, and that broke a record set in 1968. The 100m record, by comparison, has been set constantly.

Not really. The women's 100m record was being set on a constant basis until 1984. Flo-Jo broke it in 1988, breaking the previous record by .27 running a 10.49. Bolt is simple amazing but I think that Flo-Jo's record and the fact that no one has even remotely come close to touching it in over 20 years is just as impressive. It doesn't even appear that anyone is anywhere near capable of breaking it.

I doubt Flo Jo was clean. That's just a personal opinion with nothing more than her redicilous body and strange death as evidence to support it.