Lightning bolt
August 16th, 2009 | Published in Sport
Usain Bolt is not of this earth. Earlier this evening at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin he ran the fastest 100m ever.
When you look at the numbers, though, what he’s doing becomes even more staggering. Really. Check this out:
(data from Wikipedia). That bit at the end? That’s what Usain Bolt’s doing to the record book. Here’s the best way to put it into perspective: to go from 9.86 to 9.72 (Usain Bolt’s first world record) took just under seventeen years. Taking roughly the same amount again off the record — 9.72 to 9.58 — has taken Usain Bolt fifteen months.
He’s going at upwards of 37.5 kilometres per hour:
I’m not an athlete by any measure, but I cycle to work every day, and I’m lucky if I hit that speed going full-out downhill. What he’s doing is beyond words.
