Bolt – ‘I didn’t think I would run 19.19’. I just go and run and try to do my best at all times.”

Friday, 21 August 2009

Bolt – ‘I didn’t think I would run 19.19’

Usain Bolt leaves the rest of the world in his wake on his way to securing his fifth individual World Record (Getty Images)

Usain Bolt leaves the rest of the world in his wake on his way to securing his fifth individual World Record (Getty Images)
relnews

* Bolt again, and again! 19.19 World record in Berlin

* Usain Bolt of Jamaica with the clock showing the new 200m World Record in the Berlin Olympic Stadium

* Usain Bolt of Jamaica runs a World Record of 19.19 seconds in the men's 200m in the Berlin Olympic Stadium

* Usain Bolt of Jamaica on his way to setting the quickest 200m time in history in the Berlin Olympic Stadium during the IAAF World Championships in 2009

* Jamaica's Usain Bolt points at the clock showing the new 200m World Record of 19.19 seconds at the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Berlin

Berlin, Germany - He must be human. There was sweat dripping from his brow as he signed autographs on his lap of honour. Yet Usain Bolt continues to challenge the limits of what was thought humanly possible.

The World Record for the men’s 200m is now 19.19sec. What happened to 19.2? The Bolt bullet train flew straight past that station last night. Straight from 19.3 to 19.1.

Bolt did to the 200m what Bob Beamon had done to the Long Jump in 1968 when, at the Mexico City Olympics, the American didn’t bother with 28ft and took the World record straight from 27ft 4¾in to 29ft 2½in. The record that Bolt beat here was his own 19.30, set at the Beijing Olympics last year.

So that makes Bolt the first man to break the 100m and 200m World Records more than once. His margin of victory – 0.62sec – is greater than the sum total of winning margins of the five previous winners of the title.

No less extraordinary is his World Record sequence. That’s five now in his last five Olympic and World Championship finals – the 100m (9.69), 200m (19.30) and 4x100m (37.10) in Beijing and his 100m (9.58) and 200 (19.19) here.

So who’s the lucky young fan with the signed shoe? Bolt was seen throwing one such spectator trophy into the stands.

On the Berlin Olympic Stadium track five men ran under 20 seconds in one race for the first time but Bolt made four of them look as though they were competitors in a B race. Sub 20 would have taken the gold medal at seven of the previous 11 World Championships but suddenly all the talk is about sub 19.

Bolt’s time was achieved into a headwind (-0.3 m/s) and after less than ideal preparation. Had he enjoyed the maximum permitted +2.0 m/s would we have been talking 18 point something? “I don’t know,” Bolt said. “I guess, maybe.”

Wallace Spearmon, the American who finished third, had asked Bolt before they were warming up which way is the wind was blowing. “I’m like, I don’t know, and I started thinking about that, like we’ve got a headwind,” Bolt said. “But it’s just a part of life and I just go and run and try to do my best at all times.”

And his imperfect preparation? Bolt’s foot injury from his car accident in April, when his new BMW M3 skidded off the road and overturned, prevented him running the bend in training for several weeks. Not a problem for his 100m final four days earlier but a possible limiting factor for the half lap.

As he said last night: “The only thing really affected was my 200m training because I didn’t do much on the corner, which I wanted to. I’m not in the condition I was in last year.”

Michael Johnson once said of the 200m: ‘The 100 and 400 are the marquee events but the 200m is just stuck in between.” He was referring to the comparative public and media interest in the three events but that was long before he set a breathtaking World Record of 19.32 at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

After Johnson’s retirement the 200m slipped back into the subconscious as Asafa Powell (100m) and Jeremy Wariner (400m) returned the spotlight to their events. But Bolt has returned the 200m to centre stage .

Speaking once again to a packed medallists’ press conference, Bolt was probably the only one in the vast tent who thought he still had to do more to achieve legendary status. “I keep telling people that my main aim is to become a legend,” Bolt said. “That’s the aim for me and that’s what I’m working on.”

Speaking specifically about his latest run, the 100 and 200m World champion added: “What can I say? It’s just a great feeling for me to have broken my World Record. I didn’t know I was going to break it that bad. I was just trying my heart out and I got it right so I’m just happy.

“I don’t put myself under pressure. When I go out there I know what to do so I just go out and execute pretty much.”

Describing his coach, Glen Mills, as “the greatest coach ever”, Bolt said that his trainer would be the only one who might convince him to have a serious attempt at the 400m. “Everybody knows that I’m not going to run the 400m unless my coach gives me a really good reason,” Bolt said. “I’m just trying to stay as far away from that as possible.”

Bolt was keen to set the record straight over reported comments about the 100m World Record. “I did not say I could run 9.4, I said 9.4 would be the limit,” he stated. “Somebody quoted me saying that I said I could run 9.4 – I did not say that. I said that 9.4 is possible, I don’t know if I can do it. 9.4 is going to be the limit for the 100m – that is what I think.”

And the 200m? “I don’t know what is the limit for 200m,” Bolt said. “Anything is possible – I doubt people thought I would run 19.19. I didn’t think I would run 19.19.”

As he turns 23 today, Bolt said he would celebrate with “a long sleep”, adding that he was “really, really tired right now.”

In a wide-ranging press conference, Bolt was asked about a knighthood, Manchester United and the Jamaican team effort here.

On the possibility of a knighthood, of becoming Sir Usain Bolt, he said: “That would be a great thing for the Queen to dub me Sir Usain Bolt. That would be wonderful.”

On the embarrassing defeat suffered by his favourite football team against English Premiership newcomers Burnley on Wednesday night, he said: “Why you gotta bring that up? I don’t want to think about a new side coming up into the Premier League – it was embarrassing for me. But I know my side will bounce back, so there will be no worries.”

And on the Jamaican team. Over the course of history Olympic and World Championships medals tables have been topped by the sport’s superpowers – the United States, Russia and the GDR. Could an island nation take that honour for the first time? Jamaica lead on five gold medals with every chance of at least four more.

Bolt was asked about the Jamaican team performance. “I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t even know the count right now. I just come out and run. That’s the main aim for me – I just come out and perform. I don’t think about the medal rankings.”

The birthday boy and double World champion has enough to celebrate for now.

David Powell for the IAAF