It’s not that Usain Bolt breaks records.
It’s the records he breaks and the way he breaks them.
In the short span of two years, Bolt has done a decade’s worth of restructuring to track and field’s record book. He has made himself a candidate for The Associated Press’ Athlete of the Decade by making people rethink what’s possible in one of the most basic measures of athleticism: how fast a human can get from Point A to Point B.
“His whole life as an athlete has been punctuated by greatness,” says Bolt’s coach, Glen Mills, who prefers to let others determine Bolt’s place in history but knows exactly what he’s working with. “Usain Bolt — he’s a phenomenal, phenomenal athlete.”
In the 100-meter dash at the Beijing Olympics, Bolt broke the record despite hot-dogging it across the line for the final 30 meters. A year later, as if to prove he could play the leading role with a greater sense of gravitas, he broke it again at world championships with a full-on effort — and by .11 seconds, the biggest margin since electronic timing was introduced in the 1970s……Read More
