Usain Bolt (r) of Jamaica on his way to victory in the men’s 200m during day two of the IAAF World Athletics Final at the Kaftanzoglio Stadium
Jamaican sprint sensation Usain Bolt will make a rare appearance in a 300-meter race at the Czech Golden Spike meet in May.
Organizers announced on Wednesday that Bolt, the Olympic and World sprint champion over the 100 and 200 metersand world record in both events, will attempt to break the world mark in the distance in Ostrava on May 27.
American legend Michael Johnson holds the current world record of 30.85 seconds. The IAAF does not recognize it as a world record, as the distance is not used at major events, but the should he become successful he would add to the list of accomplished records, which also include the 150m world record.
Last year, Bolt won the 100 meters in 9.77 seconds and will race for the fourth time at the meet, which is part of the new IAAF World Challenge series.
By Gary Smith, World-Track
Get dem Bolt!!
Yes it’s True. this man is slowly inching his way up to the 400m event. Wariner, merit, are you guys nervous yet?
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes YEs. I’m almost speechless. This man is on the ultimate mission.
31.30 goodbye…… matta fact 30.85 good bye, lol. And from what I’ve been readin and hearing. Bolt has been putting down low 31s in practice. So this will bode well for his WR attempt.
Merritt better look out, not only Wariner. And I could see the 500m record going as well if he were to try it. The first sub 60sec 500m……….
ahhh, I’m on cloud nine right now
boy it seeme like the sky,s the limit for you Nathaniel, when it comes Usain Bolt….as soon as him think about an event, there you comes with another one.
Oh Tony. You must be the funniest blogger ever. I need to stop reading your posts when I have something in my mouth. Is the second time you almost choke me.
rahtid the guy is a comedian you know im going to stop logging on before work the people them must think me crazy
i just saw on the cnn ticker tape that usain bolt says he is unlikely to target the 400 metres world record until after the 2012 london olympics. imho thats seems like a very wise thing to do. now i hope michael johnson will finally keep his trap shut and stop trying to give advice to bolt . usain bolt wants three more gold medals and three more world records, then he will tackle the 400 metres . this means a lot of sleepless nights for CARL and Michael.
Hey Walter. I did not see the CNN ticker but I would be very surbrised if Usain had said otherwise. I’ve competed at track meets in my younger days. It is extremely draining physically and psychologically, to run throught the rounds in two different events at a track meet. Usain’s priorities would have to be to first defend his 2008 titles. he would not drop one of those events, and it would be too much for any human to add another event to those two and still get the best out of his or her body. after Beijing Kerron stewart herself eluded to the idea that she may have come away with a gold medal if she were able to concentrate on one event. Running the 100m or the 200m. just have one event to focus on. I love to see the runners run as many events as they can. but at what cost. certainly not at the cost of trading in 1 gold medal for two silvers.
Leave Nathaniel alone. The man is coming around. Life is funny, but true. He only knew of the the Ped-heads, and he thought this is the only way. But now he is seeing true athletic talent. Now he has seen…give him time to believe. Soon he will preach only Black-Green-Gold.
waynef you know what i think is possible, lets say bolt wins the 100 the 200 and the 4x 100 relay gold medals at the 2012 olympics , and jamaica are in the finals of the 4×400 relay, then they might let bolt run the anchor leg .
And that’s the only one i agree with Walter…after they have qualified….Bolt could run the anchor leg in the final. people just don,t understand…Bolt is by far….the fastest athlete on the planet….but by no means the strongest….you have to have great strength and endurance over that couple of days, to do so much events, and come out on top in all…not even if you are on ‘THE DAM TING’….you know…Justin and Marion,s favorite brew…..it still would not be easy….Marion herself had tried it, and predicted that she would cheat four golds…and end up only cheating two gold a silver and a bronze….so it won,t be that easy for a clean athlete…..but then again, he,s kinda exceptional….so you never know.
Walter That is a possible scenerio but a highly unlikely one. The Americans would most definately make a move like that if they had talent the likes of what bolt posses at their dissposal. Doald quarri, however is not that type of a man. and he will likely be calling the shots at the next olympics. If Don Quarrie were such a man he would have definately called on Melaine walker in Beijing, to run in the finals of the womens 4x400m relay, and again call on melaine walker and keaiese Spencer and Melaine walker to run in the 4×4 in Berlin. that would have posed a more serious threat to Sanya Richards the American squad. Nothing against Shereefa Lloyd or Rosemarie white. they are two very talented athletes but not quite there yet.
i couldnt agree with you more waynef on these 2 occasions walker did express emphatically a willingness to run the 4×4 i was so disappointed when she didnt i think we wouldv done way better because to be honest both athletes just brought the baton around if it wasnt for shereeka we would not have been on the podium
Thank goodness. I thought i was the only one wondering why Melaine wasn’t in the 4×4 relay.
Maybe Malaine does not have 400M flat speed. And I am guessing she does not. She runs the 400M at small meets as part of her training and preparation. But Major meets, I don’t think you are going to see her. And she does not want to get hurt doing something she not like. I would like to say, if we have not seen her in the Olympic and WC, it is safe to say she does not like the 400M flat
SPRINT sensation Usain Bolt has been hailed as a track superstar whose earnings should be in the region of US$15 million by now. But nearly two years after he burst onto the world scene breaking records in a dazzling exhibition of athletic prowess, his earnings have not reached the levels that they should. The swimmer Michael Phelps is expected to bag US$100 million for his eight gold-medal haul in Beijing and is on his way to do so whereas Bolt can barely get out of the blocks in the earnings race.
He has endorsement deals with Puma, Digicel and Gatorade which net him in total of somewhere in the region of US$3.5 million a year — a pay packet a rookie American footballer takes home. His contract with mobile telephone service provider Digicel is reputed to be not that great; it is doubtful whether that brings in over US$2 million a year.
Source: The Jamaica Observer.
Bolt and his handlers need to understand the business side of sports.
bunny i dont agree with you i know she doesnt like the 400m hurdles but we do not know whether she in fact doesnt like the 400m flat and i think it is safe to conclude that once you can do a 400m hurdle you can also do the flat and at a faster speed than an average quartermiler because you must possess some level of stamina to do a quartermile much less put hurdles in the mix we have seen many 400 hurdlers do well in flat quartermile relays and bring medals to us who comes to mind automatically is deon hemmings.
lastly on the post on bolt i couldnt agree with you more is saw the article as well and i was like WTF his handlers really need to step it up although to b honest i understand his loyalty if thats the case. truth b told when nutten did a gwaan fi him they stood by him regardless so there may b another side to the story.
Problem #1 is that Usain is neither American or European. Problem #2 is that he became famous right at the beginning of the recession. Problem #3 is that he became famous at a time when the sport he is famous for was at an all time low. Problem #4 is that he has contracts with Puma instead of Nike and Digicel instead of AT&T.
e.g. Walter Dix got 2 bronze medals in Beijing (and one only by default) and was then rewarded by Nike with the most lucrative shoe contract in track & field history. Tyson Gay is the AR holder and the most well known American sprinter, and his contract is nowhere near Walter Dix’s. But then his contract is with Adidas (the parent company to Puma). And even so, I have yet to see Dix in a national Nike commercial. Usain is to T&F what Tiger Woods was to golf. The saviors of their sports; and yet Tiger has his own video games and Usain is mocked by Glenn Beck as being an insignificant athlete from an insignificant country.
Plus you can’t really compare the salary of NFL athletes with track athletes. Remember that NFL athletes get millions/year just from contracts with the teams they sign with, that would be like Racers Track or Jamaica paying Usain millions to run for them. Track athletes incomes are earned from appearance fees and medal bonuses. Appearance fees are really based on the athlete’s popularity and their ability to draw a crowd. Usain gets more $$ from appearance fees than from winning a gold medal or breaking world records (which I think is ridiculous). Mike Rogers said he made more money selling shoes out of the trunk of his car than he did from sprinting.
In watching the WC I was really surprised by the number of empty seats. I mean it was pretty much packed for the 100m & 200m finals, but for every other event I kept thinking, “Damn, there are more people at CHAMPS”. Until we can pack butts in the seats at minor as well as major meets, appearance fees will remain staid.
The best articles of seen to relating to the issue of Usain’s marketability are:
Show Me the Money
http://www.jamaicabusinessjournal.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=56:show-me-the-money
and
Experiencing Bolt-Mania is Priceless http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/blogs/balls/experiencing-boltmania-is-priceless/20100121-mm6n.html
Bunny I definately dissagree with you on the Melaine walker issue Any female that can run a low 53 seconds in the 400m hurdles can certainly run a sub 50 400m. many world class 400m female sprinters can barely break 53 seconds in the 400m flat. Francis has even gone on record as saying Kaliese Spencer has sub 50 400m speed and I don’t doubt that one bit. as for th Usain Bolt Earnings Issue. I don’t want to weigh in on that yet because. While it is true that he is off to a slow start in terms of earnings in comparison to other athletes in other sports, we must remember that we are talking about track vs other sports, just as much as we are talking about Usian vs tiger woods, Federer or Lebron. Track and field has been enduring a very difficult time period. with respects to its reputation. another element to take note of is the fact that Bolt is in the middle of a contract with Puma that is not due to expire fo another a year or so. Bolts big payday is ahead of him. on another not. Lets not forget that Usain Bolt was offered a 2 year $450 million dollar contract to play American Football for the Oakland Raiders. Bolt flat out, turned them down. Question, how many of us would rather be sitting around discussing Bolt the Football superstar Rather than bolt, the Track and Field Superstar?
The BBC will now have to brace themselves for a battle with Sky for the TV rights to show Usain Bolt’s seven-race schedule in athletics’ new Diamond League competition this summer….
People, in any country Usain Bolt is a “cash cow”. The reason British TV and other EU TV stations are fighting to carry Bolt’s races, is that his ratings are through the roof. Phelps cannot draw the ratings Bolt can. You don’t read of any TV stations battling to carry Phelps meets. This is where his handlers should be playing their part to ensure that he get the lucrative contracts his demand warrants. Every country in the world wants Bolt to showup. You folk must not be reading the right papers
The man is a bonified Pele super star. Phelp has top notch business people around him. Bolt may have to make some changes while he his hot.
Hey Bunny, read the 2 links I posted earlier. I think they both explain the problems of Bolt earning money very well.
Thank you Stacy.
Let me read and digest.
If you want to look at “worldwide newspapers”, here.
“www.refdesk.com”
Yes usain is phenomenal. but there are kids who WILL run faster than what he’s done so far (9.58) hes not technically the most efficient sprinter ive seen neither is he the strongest. hes top speed and speed endurance is however second to none, which is exactly why he will beat michael johnsons 300m record if he’s in half decent shape
We explain training in tremenduous detail, yet clear and concise demonstrations @ http://www.speed-development.co.uk check it out guys if you want to sprint faster than ever before.
In track,
Paul Graham