JFLNYC wrote:

Monkeyboy wrote:He's so big that it takes a bit for him to get going.

IMO that's the coolest thing about watching him run. He starts off kind of lumbering for the first 40 yards or so then, all of a sudden, it's like he hits the turbo button. You can almost hear the turbo whine.

we had a tall kid on my smalltown HS football team, big but not really an athlete, fast. Same kind of running performance; wouldn't impress you at ignition, but he'd be blowing by you shortly.

So he was an interior lineman. Coach devised a running play for him, sort of an end-around, we used it probably 8 times that season. I think he scored 3 times, and averaged about 65 yards a carry. I also think he's in jail someplace now.

Monkeyboy wrote:I wonder if he has the endurance for the 400.

I've wondered this too. Michael Johnson used to be called the "World's Fastest Human" because he ran the 200m in a faster pace than the fastest 100m runners, right?

I wonder if Bolt could do the same in the 400m.

In the 100M, Bolt stopped trying after about 94 meters.

I wish I was this good at anything, even if it was just spitting watermelon seeds.

phatj wrote:

Monkeyboy wrote:I wonder if he has the endurance for the 400.

I've wondered this too. Michael Johnson used to be called the "World's Fastest Human" because he ran the 200m in a faster pace than the fastest 100m runners, right?

I wonder if Bolt could do the same in the 400m.

I bet he could, though the training is so different for the two events that he would probably hurt is 100m times by training for the 400m. Maybe once he goes as fast as he thinks he can go in the 100m, he can switch to the 400m. The longer distances tolerate the ravages of age more than the shorter distances, so it might work out just right. I'd love to see him try.

he needs a gender test

This has little to do with Usain Bolt, even though he did win his race in 9.81, but Dathan Ritzenheim set a new American record in the 5K of 12:56:27. His mark, set at the Weltklasse meet in Zurich, beats Bob Kennedy's 13-year old record and is approximately 20 seconds better than Ritzenheim's previous PR. While far from Kenenisa Bekele's world record of 12:37, it's still nice to see American's being competitive in the distance races. Bekele won the race in 12:52.32.

some dude ran 3 miles in 12 minutes

GTFO

Woody wrote:some dude ran 3 miles in 12 minutes

GTFO

He had just seen Lidge's most recent blown save.

Woody wrote:some dude ran 3 miles in 12 minutes

GTFO

3.2 miles. And yeah, that's incredible, next to my 32 minute 5k time. Even if I am a fat old guy.

nm

Squire wrote:Tyson Gay defeats Usain Bolt

...pisses hgh afterward...

Squire wrote:Tyson Gay defeats Usain Bolt

"This is my easy season. If you don't beat me this season it's not going to happen next season because next year is a championship year."

SMUG LEVEL RED

Well, Usain Bolt did something amazing at the world Track Championships, but it's not quite as thrilling.

swishnicholson wrote:Well, Usain Bolt did something amazing at the world Track Championships, but it's not quite as thrilling.

I think the "one-and-done" false start rule is pretty stupid. Of course, him false starting was also stupid considering he probably could've run backwards and won.

traderdave wrote:

swishnicholson wrote:Well, Usain Bolt did something amazing at the world Track Championships, but it's not quite as thrilling.

I think the "one-and-done" false start rule is pretty stupid. Of course, him false starting was also stupid considering he probably could've run backwards and won.

I go back and forth about the rule. On the pro side, "don't start until you hear the gun" sounds like a pretty basic rule that everyone should be able to abide by, and in every other arrangement you have runners trying to game the system and negatively affecting the other competitors. So one and done seems like the most fair system.

However, it really can take the wind of of the sails for spectators, in a sport that is already struggling to attract them (although the times when it took ten minutes to get a race off because of all the false starts wasn't so great either). And sprinters are so on edge that it really is possible to false start without trying to gain any advantage. Plus there are plenty of jerk starters out there who think they are the show, just like some baseball umpires.

As you say though, Bolt doesn't deserve any sympathy. It's not like he's inexperienced, and any kind of decent start would have given him the win. Or maybe even a lousy one.

That was amazing to me. Jeez Loueeze. What a mistake to make.

I too remember when it took two false starts on the same guy to DQ him. Those races could take a long, long time to get a fair start.

When they charged the first false start to the field, I thought that was pretty OK.

I'm not gonna condemn the new rule because of this incident though. After this, guys are really gonna be careful on their starts.

I used to follow Track and Field pretty closely back in the day. It used to be televised quite often back then -- I loved the way Ralph Boston used to say : "Jay Syl-VEST-er."

Nowadays I only occasionally pay attention -- mostly just the Olympics unfortunately. It's cool to see the Americans so good in the Decathalon again. But it's also kinda cool that other countries besides the US; Kenya the Rooskies and Cuba win medals nowadays.

The Cold War made rooting interests different back in the olden days as you rooted for Americans and NATO allies and then non-aligned nations and cheered when the Rooskies and the Warsaw Pact and other commies got beat.

Anyways, Track and Field is pretty kewl.

Wow, Jennifer Simpson of the US won the 1500m title. That's a surprise.

Despite some disappointments, the US leads in both gold medals and total medals at the halfway point. While you'd be led to believe that the big stories have been Bolt false starting out of the 100 and Dayron Robles being DQ'd from the hurdles (see image below, resulting in a victory for Jayson Richardson of the US ), there's also been a ton of great races, particularly the men's 5000 and women's 400.

Bolt still has the 200 to run this meet, starting with the heats that will be televised live late tonight.