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Is Bolt the Greatest Athlete Today?
He may not be a decathlete, but Usain “Lightening” Bolt is hands-down the top male athlete in professional sports today. Yes I am talking about the best today – not five years ago, or last year or even potential for the future.
Why?
Besides the fact that the six foot, five inch Jamaican sprinter is a freak of nature in being able to run well under 10-seconds and 20-seconds respectively in the 100 meters (9.69) and 200-meters (19.30). It is not overstating the matter to say that Bolt threw down arguably the most dominant performances in the history of sports.
Not even Michael Johnson or Carl Lewis did what Bolt pulled off in Beijing. Three races. Three gold medals. Three world records. It was an astonishing culmination of performances to watch the 100, 200 and then the 4×100-meter relay victories come one after another.
Bolt is a lot like Michael Johnson in that he has the best physical tools and the most mental toughness, a combination that makes him a formidable opponent.
He shines the brightest among the biggest names in professional sports today.
In other sports, Tiger Woods and Tom Brady are both on the sidelines recovering from surgery. No matter how much overtime the Nike marketing machines work, LeBron James has yet to win a NBA title. While Michael Phelps may be the greatest swimmer ever, the real question is whether it would be possibly to achieve eight gold medals if he were running? Umm…it’s doubtful – please refer to Lance Armstrong’s running efforts for further reference.
Alex Rodriguez may be the youngest to hit 500 homers, but he’s questionable at best in the playoffs, and baseball has far too much standing around to be a serious contender.
Punching is the upper body equivalent to running, and Floyd Mayweather Jr. has dominated boxing with scorching speed, strength, and the ability to endure pain. Boxing is a brutal, demanding sport, but Mayweather battles in the middleweight division, making him ineligible of winning top honors due to his size.
Winger Cristiano Ronaldo may very well be the best overall soccer player in the world and a prime time contender in this conversation. Last year, he won two titles- the English Premiership and the UEFA Champions League – a noteworthy feat in a sport packed with phenomenal athletes.
As it stands today, no one has even come close in 2008 to delivering the jaw dropping, “did he really just do that” moments that Bolt produced in Beijing.
Jay Hicks is a freelance writer and can be found at the popular track and field PreraceJitters.com.
Jimson Lee
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Nice article and good points, Jay. I agree with you but I always slant in favor of sprinters to middle distant runners in general. While running is the by far the most basic of all athletic skills since the beginning of time it is also the most under appreciated and misunderstood talent by the public and those involved in sports commentary.
Case in point: the very recent selection of Michael Phelps as Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year for 2008. Here’s a direct quote from their recent featured article, “Michael Phelps as the 2008 Sportsman of the Year was the easiest choice I have made,” Sports Illustrated group editor Terry McDonell said.”
His statement is both frustrating and depressing on multiple levels. Maybe some of us should start our own Sports Based on Reality Magazine. I realize that these award matters are subjective but to state that it was the easiest choice makes me question his sanity and knowledge of sports in general. That said, Michael Phelps is one heck of an athlete.
SI partially redeemed itself with an article written 2 days before by writer Tim Layden titled: My Sportsman: Usain Bolt
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/magazine/specials/sportsman/2008/11/04/layden.bolt/
He overstates himself a bit with his last sentences, “But for now the sport lives because of one young sprinter. For that achievement alone, Bolt deserves to be Sportsman of the Year.”, but the sentiment and understanding of accomplishment is there.
The International Association of Athletics Federation further balances SI with their, “Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva confirmed that their generation remains the sport’s driving force after earning the World Athlete of the Year Awards for 2008.” They obviously are more in tune with track and field competitions and what it takes to reach that level. They conclude with a list of times for each. Usain’s times are beyond excellent.
2008 competitions of the male and female World Athletes of the Year (finals only):
Usain Bolt –
100m –
10.03 1 Spanish Town 8 Mar
9.76 1 Kingston 3 May
9.92 1 Port-of-Spain 17 May
9.72 WR 1 New York 31 May
9.85 1 Kingston 28 Jun
9.89 2 Stockholm 22 Jul
9.69 WR 1 Olympic Games 16 Aug
9.83 1 Zürich 29 Aug
9.77 1 Bruxelles 5 Sep
200m –
19.83 1 Ostrava 12 Jun
19.97 1 Kingston 29 Jun
19.67 AR 1 Athens 13 Jul
19.76 1 London 26 Jul
19.30 WR 1 Olympic Games 20 Aug
19.63 1 Lausanne 2 Sep
4 x 100m Relay –
37.10 WR 1 Olympic Games 22
(Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell)
Yelena Isinbayeva –
4.95i WR 1 Donetsk 16 Feb
4.61i =2 Bydgoszcz 20 Feb
4.61i 1 Aubière 26 Feb
4.75i 1 World Indoor Championships 8 Mar
5.03 WR 1 Roma 11 Jul
4.85 Stockholm 22 Jul
4.93 London 25 Jul
5.04 WR 1 Monaco 29 Jul
5.05 WR 1 Beijing 18 Aug
4.88 1 Zürich 29 Aug
4.72 1 Bruxelles 5 Sep
4.60 1 Shanghai 20 Sep
4.60 1 Daegu 25 Sep
As much as I will always admire Tiger, Usain does not have the luxury of throwing away a few strokes here and there. Perhaps the burden of educating the public in the coming years ultimately lies with efforts and articles written by sprinters such as yourself and Jimson.
@Fred – also, Usain didn’t have the luxury to run several relays as in swimming.
See my article:
https://speedendurance.com/2008/11/27/comparing-100-meter-freestyle-and-400-meter-sprinting/
I would like to say that Mr. Bolt without a doubt is an amazing athelete. For at 6’5″ his coordination and control of his feet, gait, and rotation of his legs is phonomenal. For most men his height, either have trouble keeping their feet going in the right direction that is striaht forward, or are knock kneed, or run with a slight lop or sort of gallop. Whereas he does not fall in either of these catgories. His gait is in picture perfect rotation, that’s key (1.); next his feet are in control (very important); next his arms and legs are in tune and cadence with each other, which allows him to pull with his arms and not break stride (almost all guys his height cannot master this). Although he still has some work to do on his start, it is mind boggling how fast he can uncoil that long body from the starting position out of the blocks and swiftly get into full stride, most normal tall guys just don’t do that.
When I say some work to do on his start, I noticed a slight tendancy to rock from side to side, most of the time that is caused by a runner trying to maintain balance when coming out of the blocks to a upright position. As I seen in the recent world record setting 100 meters 9.58 he glanced over his shoulder to see where everyone was, that wether he knows it or not cost him one tenth of a second, and that is a mistake to correct for if you are woried about where the others are it is very simple all he has to do is “listen” and “feel”. In other words you can hear the footstep if anyone is close to you and also as a blind man will tell you ,you can sense closeness behind you, that is one of the bodies built in senses. I can say that when Usain gets a little stronger and he will, and lerns to use the senses I mentioned, plus the start problem he can easily do 8.5. I do recall Mr. Otto Bolton making the point about how many steps it takes him to reach the end of 100 meters in comparison to the other shorter sprinters which is less for him because of his heigth and long stride. But think also of this about his stride, there is trmendous spring in each step he takes!!! From here on all he has to do is stick with track, no matter what the media or anyone else says and stay far, far, far away from football, if he ever venture in that direction that will be the end of his speed, for the training is much different and will be harmful to his God given gifted body. I really urge him to remain humble and live the life of an uncomplicated man. Man I would like to see him in a 400 meter race, wow with that sride and agility I believe he would do an easy 42 something, the question is does he have the endurance and strength for that race.