Will Usain Bolt complete the double?

In the fast-pacing world of today talent must have speed as its integral component. The epitome of this quality is Mr “Lightning Bolt”. This is the name Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt has earned with his dazzling dashes. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has described him as “the future of 200m running”. He also happens to be the current world record-holder in the 100m.

Usain Bolt was born two years after Carl Lewis became a legend with his stunning performance at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. His father Wellesley is a coffee production manager and mother Jennifer a dressmaker. He was educated at the William Knibb Memorial High School, the alma mater of retired Jamaican sprinter Michael Green. Like most West Indians, his interest lay in cricket. But this began to change when he tasted success in high school track.

The new millennium heralded Usain Bolt as the rising star on the firmament of athletics. At 15 he became the youngest world junior gold medalist ever. He won a gold and two silvers at the 2002 World junior championships at Kingston, Jamaica. His gold came for clocking 20.61 seconds in the 200m. His silvers were for the team relays of 4x100 and 4x400. The very next year he improved his timing to 20.40 seconds for the gold he won at the 2003 World Youth Championships at Sherbrooke, Canada.

Now comes the time for the cub of the earlier part of the decade to prove his prowess as the lion of sprint. He may become the first sprinter since 1984 to strike a double at the Olympics. Will Bolt do a Carl Lewis? It does not seem to be a remote possibility as he has won nine out of his last 10 races in the 100m and 200m this year. To quote another statistics, he has five sub-10 seconds in the 100m and twelve sub-20 seconds in the 200m. Of course, the great Lewis will still remain unparalleled. At Los Angeles he had four gold – the other two being for broad jump and 4x100m relay.

Admiration has been pouring in from various quarters for this Jamaican youngster. Maurice Greene, the 100m champion at the Sydney Olympics, names Bolt as favourite to win the short sprint. Canada’s Donovan Bailey, the 100m winner at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, says he can not only break the world 200m record of 19.32 seconds, but can run “19 flat”.

Breaking the record in the 200m may not be that easy, however. It is true that the 100m record-holder Bolt is in fact a 200m specialist. Says he: “I love the 200. The 200 is closer to my heart. I’ve been doing the 200 forever.” Bolt also became the world junior record-holder in the 200m in 2004. His 19.93 seconds eclipsed American Lorenzo Daniel’s record and made him the first junior to go sub-20. But the 200m world record still belongs to Michael Johnson, who ran 19.32 at Atlanta in 1996. The fastest since then is 19.62 – a good three-tenths of a second behind – by Tyson Gay last year. While Bolt remains content with the Jamaican record of 19.67. Nonetheless, Johnson himself has said several times that this summer shows Bolt may be on the verge of breaking his record.

Record or no record, with Gay out of the fray at Beijing, Bolt may not have tough competition for the 200m. But the challenge for the 100m is a lot tougher. American sprinter Wallace Spearmon believes Bolt, his compatriot Asafa Powell and Gay could all run under 9.70 seconds. Says he: “Four athletes ran faster than 9.90 seconds in 2004 but that might be like sixth place here.”

If current form be the basis, Bolt is all set to win the 100m gold. He ran 9.76 in the 100m at the Jamaica Invitational on May 3, the second fastest till then behind Powell. On May 31, he ran 9.72 and established a new world record at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York, breaking Powell’s 9.74. Notably, this was only his fifth senior run over the distance.

But there are certain odds stacked against him. Going by conventional norms, Bolt is too tall for 100m. His 6’5” frame means that it takes extra effort for him to get out of the blocks. According to famous coach Charlie Francis, the optimal sprinting size is 5’9” to 5’11”. Remember Ben Johnson, whose career succumbed to doping? He was 5’11”. So is Gay. Even Lewis (6’2”) and Powell (6’3”) are shorter than Bolt.

Secondly, he has a tendency to slow down before the line. This again works against him.

His hopes for the sprint double may also be clouded by the confusion reigning till as late as this month on whether he would run the 100m. Coach Glen Mills had doubts till recently of his running the double. He had said: “We’ve been working the three previous years for the 200. Running the 100 could jeopardize the 200. A lot of things come into play.”

And so we sit with fingers crossed as much as the Jamaicans do on whether “The Lightning Bolt” will rain gold for Jamaica.