By Gary Smith and Miranda Mitchell, World-Track
BERLIN — Former Olympic and world record holder Jim Hines doesn’t believe his fellow American Tyson Gay will be able to stop Usain Bolt from dominating the sprints at the World Championships which start this morning in Berlin.
Gay, the reigning world champion has been in superb form this season and believes he is capable of beating Bolt when the pair clash in the sprints in the Berlin Olympic Stadium.
But Hines, who dominated the 100metres for over a decade, doesn’t think the American will be able to match the triple world record holder and triple Olympic champion.
"He (Gay) can’t (outrun Bolt)," Hines said. "I’ll just be honest with you.
"What would get him is the (long) strides of Bolt. Gay will beat him out of the blocks, for the first 50-60 meters, then destruction is going to set in.
"Bottom line: Gay knows this. He’s going to have to break through the psychology."
Hines, the 1968 Olympic 100m and 4x100m relay gold medallist also backs the Jamaican to rule the sprints for another 10 years, should he stay injury free.
The American who became the first to officially run under 10 seconds, added that Bolt is well on the course to produce his predicted 9.55secs and is capable of easily running 9.60secs this season.
"If anyone is going to run through that ((9.60s) barrier, he’s probably capable of doing it," Hines said of Bolt. "If he ever gets good competition or runs a complete race with a great start, he could run 9.60secs this season, very easily.
"If Bolt stays healthy, he should dominate for the next 10 years," Hines added, while reflecting on his dominating world record performances that lit up the Beijing Olympics last summer.
"It was just amazing — it really awed me. Watching him run that time he ran and kind of slow down at the end, kind of showboating, he could have run faster. It made the point in my mind that he’s the greatest sprinter at the present time, period."
Both Gay and Hines has described Bolt as a "monster," but the sprint legend says the world hasn’t seen anything as yet.
"He’s just a monster," the 62-year-old track observer said.
"I have to watch. I’m the first person (to break 10 seconds), I’m part of the fraternity, and I know exactly what’s going on. It brings back a lot of great memories.
"What impresses me most is the fact that he’s a tall sprinter and he gets into gear pretty quickly at that height, especially running the 100 meters.
"Once he works on his start more, and learns how to really come out of the blocks in a powerful manner and get into transition really quickly, you think he’s a monster now, he’ll be unbelievable."
Hines also believes that Bolt’s fellow countryman and former 100m world record holder Asafa Powell will struggle as long as Bolt is around.
"His problem is Bolt is in his head. Bolt has been in his head the last couple years," Hines said.
