Sport
Usain Bolt seeks to repeat ‘living legend’ status at London Olympics
By the time the Olympics were through, he was more than simply another great sprinter; he was in the mix as one of the greatest of all time.
Celebrating before he even reached the finish line, Bolt ran 9.69 in Beijing in the 100-meter final. He came back four nights later and broke Michael Johnson’s 12-year-old record by posting a 19.30 in the 200 meters. As a finale, he ran the third leg for the Jamaicans, who finished in a world-record time of 37.10 in the 400 relay.
Bolt became the first sprinter to set three world records in the same Olympics. He joined Carl Lewis, Bobby Morrow and Jesse Owens as only the fourth man to win the 100, 200 and 400-meter relay at the Olympics.
“You can’t explain the feeling you feel after the greatest Olympics ever,” Bolt said after the relay win.
He stayed in shape and returned at the 2009 world championships to improve on his records in the 100 and 200. The times, 9.58 and 19.19, still stand, and the debate — replete with analysis from track junkies, physics professors and everyone in between — has now become: What times are humanly possible? Many of the experts agree that running 100 meters in the 9.4 range and breaking 19 seconds in the 200 is within reach of the world’s fastest man.
“I don’t think it’s impossible,” Mills said. “But he would have to have the right conditions and I’m not sure if London is going to be the kind” of place where it can happen.
Mills says Bolt focuses more on winning and considers any new world record to be “icing on the cake.”
With Blake looming and the Olympics getting closer, Bolt knows that it’s no longer possible to live the life of the superstar he’s become, at least not for now.
