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This is just insane. Smashing his own record at the Olympics... AND he slows down at the end.

It was absolutely unbelievable to watch. I'm still agape.

Excellent result but it would have been more respectful to the crowd and his opponents to have run it flat to the wire instead of pimping himself the last 5m or so.
Olympic history would honor the incredible time better than him prancing across the line I suspect.

He's not stupid. I think he made the right choice by slowing down a bit. This way he could beat his own record again four years from now and that would make even better Olympic history.

^ respectful to the crowd? Were you not watching the same race I was? They ATE IT UP.

Somehow this slowing down while owning everybody thing reminded me of Ben Johnson in 1988. I am not accusing anything, but I remembered I was there in front of the TV too.

Nevertheless, the experts are commenting that his start is not as good as others. So with him being only 21 I am sure there is still a lot more in him.

That dude is amazing. So much bigger then the rest of them. I watched his prelim race too, and he slowed down even more at the end when he was way ahead. That moving side view of the race is awesome.

I think BoBzeBuilder's theory is right.

Fighterpilot wrote:

Excellent result but it would have been more respectful to the crowd and his opponents to have run it flat to the wire instead of pimping himself the last 5m or so.
Olympic history would honor the incredible time better than him prancing across the line I suspect.

Olympic history honours those who win their respective sports........period. It's how the public perceives that person's reaction to winning that affects their persona. This guy is the fastest human being on the face of this planet. That's an impressive thing in my books. If that was me I would most likely do something like he did. Not to pimp myself, but because I'd be proud of the accomplishment. That's most likely what was going through his mind at that moment. At least that's what I'd like to think, but seeing as how none of us will ever be in that position, I guess we'll never know for sure.

I'm going to take a moment to threadjack here. Does anyone find it odd that twice in swimming this olympics that the difference between a gold and silver came down to .01 seconds? Is a hundredth of a second as accurate as their timing is? I would hope that if that is the case, the would start timing down to the thousandth of a second.
I know Tag Heuer left Formula One because they found timing Indy races more challenging, by needing to time down to the ten-thousandth of a second.

thill9 wrote:

I'm going to take a moment to threadjack here. Does anyone find it odd that twice in swimming this olympics that the difference between a gold and silver came down to .01 seconds? Is a hundredth of a second as accurate as their timing is? I would hope that if that is the case, the would start timing down to the thousandth of a second.
I know Tag Heuer left Formula One because they found timing Indy races more challenging, by needing to time down to the ten-thousandth of a second.

Tag Heuer or not, someone probably just needs to bring 1/1000th second measurements to swimming now I guess. The tech is out there and there seems to be a need, why not?

Hoser wrote:

That's most likely what was going through his mind at that moment.

And the many endorsement contracts he'll be getting.

I'm looking forward to the next summer Olympics because Bolt changed sprinting forever by taking the record. Not just because he ran so fast but because he's 6ft 5in. Most sprinters are more stocky but Bolt opened up a whole new breed.

thill9 wrote:

I'm going to take a moment to threadjack here. Does anyone find it odd that twice in swimming this olympics that the difference between a gold and silver came down to .01 seconds? Is a hundredth of a second as accurate as their timing is? I would hope that if that is the case, the would start timing down to the thousandth of a second.

They can get imagery from their cameras down the to the 1/1000th. I'm thinking that it's still just superfluous to measure to the 1/1000th. And seriously, at some point you just ought to call it a tie. 1/1000th is, like, literally whether or not you've filed your nails in a while (in swimming).

SNM wrote:

thill9 wrote:

Does anyone find it odd that twice in swimming this olympics that the difference between a gold and silver came down to .01 seconds? Is a hundredth of a second as accurate as their timing is?

And seriously, at some point you just ought to call it a tie.

And that's what they do.

I watched it and the first thought that went through my head was that it seemed like it was a scene from Rookie of the Year. Then I thought that instead of him being a freak, that maybe he's a cheater, a la Mark McGwire.

The pic in this week's Sports Illustrated of him when he slowed down to look at the crowd with his hands out, showing the huge margin btwn him and the rest, is really great.

For anyone that's interested in some of the gadgetry behind the timing at the Olympics:
http://www.goodgearguide.com.au/videoview/257930

Ok. That was amazing.
Phelps had 8 races, 8 gold medals, 7 world records
Bolt has had 3 races (so far), 3 gold medals, 3 world records.

idchafee wrote:

I was actually watching that last night. Just terrible all around.

derFunkenstein wrote:

^ respectful to the crowd? Were you not watching the same race I was? They ATE IT UP.

I agree. Bolt has become some sort of superhero. Good for him, I was getting sick of hearing about Phelps and that 14 year old Chinese girl.

Now the talk is about how London is going to follow this act.

I really hope that he never falls into the "shadow of doubt" or even proven guilty of steroids. I love the fact that he is funny before and during the race, and he was definitely serious when he ran the 200. He is a man amongst boys.

Bah. Does anyone else dislike the fact that NBC converts the metric measurements to US units for things like the high jump and long jump? I mean, seriously. Do they really think people are that stupid? At the very least, they should show them both, that way it makes more sense.

That is stupid. Although i prefer metrics, having grown up with them, its quite easy for any normal person to convert to US units. And the other way around.

Usacomp2k3 wrote:

Bah. Does anyone else dislike the fact that NBC converts the metric measurements to US units for things like the high jump and long jump? I mean, seriously. Do they really think people are that stupid? At the very least, they should show them both, that way it makes more sense.

yes people are that stupid

ever go to the DMV?

Aphasia wrote:

That is stupid. Although i prefer metrics, having grown up with them, its quite easy for any normal person to convert to US units. And the other way around.

Well I didn't notice it at first, although I thought it was weird that they were measuring the pole vault at like 18' 2.25" and the next step up was 18'3.5" Then I saw them jumping the long jump, and they had the ruler right up there on the edge of the sand pit, and it downed on me that that ruler was in meters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzSpPaCIG0g

Usain Bolt is...from the future?

~Turkina