Lightening Bolt jolts the World

He came ….He saw….and He conquered !

And the man did that in such style as if he was running for his life. A couple of dazzling sprints and a few flashing strides were all that he needed to transcend the decades to join the distinguished league comprising the likes of Michael Johnson, Carl Lewis and Jesse Owens. While Usain Bolt bolted his position as the world’s greatest sprinter by winning two Olympic golds and looks all set to earn another one on Friday in a span of less than a week, the debate is not whether he is the best in the category today but whether he is the best ever?

At the end of the 100-meter race he was yelling, “I am No 1!� and that was a thorough understatement. He clocked the fastest ever 9.69 seconds beating his own record of 9.72 seconds. The Jamaican pulled off a double, the first man to do so since Carl Lewis who won both 100 and 200 meters in 1984, and the only man ever to do so by breaking world records in both.

Michael Johnson was more optimistic, not about the Jamaican’s chances but of maintaining the world record in the event of 200 meters, but the tall athlete who stands tall on the eve of his 22nd birthday today, defied all odds to clock 19.30 seconds breaking Johnson’s record by 0.02 seconds. Such was the class of the man that he made the competing athletes, some of the greatest names in the sport today, look like mere minnows. Unmindful of their presence on the track, he was running against the clock and competing the history and the greatest ever; that accounts for the biggest victory margin to date, 0.66 seconds to be precise in case of 200 meters.

Possessing a height of 6 ‘ 5�, the Jamaican giant has defeated both tradition and science. When it comes to sprinting, he turned it into his asset and advantage what was considered a big liability only a week ago- His height. Taller guys find it harder to get quickly off the blocks and the friction and air drag have a greater retarding effect on their movement. However, the strides are longer as Bolt needs 41 strides to finish off the 100 meters as against 46 – 47 in case of an average runner on the track.

Woods, Jordan and Phelps are undisputedly the greatest names in the world of sports but the “World’s Fastest Man� knows exactly how to catch them sprinting only in a flash.