“I just blew my mind,” Usain Bolt said, trying to put his achievements into words. “I blew the world’s mind.”
It was classic Bolt, the entertainer who dances as well as runs for the crowd and deadpans the one-liners. He did blow the world’s mind, but who else would dare say such a thing? Over the past week some have found him cocky and immodest, but consider the facts of Bolt’s achievements.
At his first Olympic Games, Bolt became the first man in history to win three gold medals and set three world records in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay. And how. When Bolt broke Michael Johnson’s 12-year-old 200m record of 19.32 seconds, by 0.02 seconds he was running at an average speed of 37.305kph, covering an incredible 10.3m per second.
Five days earlier, the then 21-year-old seemed to jog through the 100m, brazenly slowing down for the final 10m, arms out, hardly out of breath, lowering his own world record to 9.69 seconds. Then last Friday he completed the hat-trick, helping his team to another Jamaican gold medal and breaking the 4x100m relay world record held by the US team for eight years.
Every Jamaican medalist has subsequently hailed Bolt as their inspiration — their own successes labeled “the Bolt effect.” Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding called to tell him that back home the country was road-blocked. In Kingston’s Mandela Park huge screens were set up to watch the athletics and from morning to night, at each of Bolt’s victories, people partied in the streets in celebration.
Since breaking Asafa Powell’s 100m world record in May — having only run that distance at a senior level on four previous occasions — Bolt has gone from being just another Jamaican sprinter to possibly one of the greatest athletes of all time. Within days of his first triumph it was possible to buy Usain Bolt watches, stamps and T-shirts.
It is a steep trajectory that brings with it global recognition as well as scrutiny. How is it possible to run so fast? Faster than any convicted drug cheat. In the same breath, people ask why the Jamaican team have been more successful than ever — there are more medals than there are Jamaican journalists covering the Games.
Bolt understands the suggestion and is patient with his answers.
“We’ve been tested a lot,” he said last Saturday. “I was tested four times before I even started running, urine and blood tests. I’ve been tested so many times now I’ve lost track. I have no problem with that, we work hard and we’re clean and anytime they want to test us it’s fine.”
It is an accusation that all Jamaicans involved in athletics have been defending against. Asafa Powell’s coach, Stephen Francis, who first saw Bolt run as a 13-year-old at the Jamaican National Schools Championships dismissed the question.
“It’s not explainable how they do what they do. It doesn’t mean he’s cheating, he’s just using what he has. Usain ran 19.9 [seconds] aged 17, when he was a skinny kid. Look at him now, 19.3 [seconds] is not that surprising. I can’t stop people doubting,” Francis said. “People always have a way of belittling or trying to explain things they can’t understand by saying, ‘Yeah, Usain Bolt, he’s cheating, he’s not real.’ But in the world people come along who are exceptional. You have Einstein, you have Isaac Newton, you have Beethoven — you have Usain Bolt.”
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