posted Aug 29, 2008

Consider Bolt's height, his stride length, the fact that he's in contact with the track less than his opponents. They pound the ground, Bolt canters over it. Carl Lewis at 6ft 3in showed what a tall sprinter can achieve. Usain Bolt is 6ft 5in. As for the drug accusations, suspicions aren't facts!

add comment | complain about this comment

posted Aug 29, 2008

Sorry, Carl Lewis was 6ft 2in, not 6ft 3in.

add comment | complain about this comment

posted Aug 29, 2008

that run tonight was into a .5mps headwind...and he had a cold. awesome.
why isn't this live on BBC - disgrace. Zurich is always the best evening of athletics in the calender. shame on the BBC!
you can listen to all the action live on IAAF website.

add comment | complain about this comment

posted Aug 29, 2008

He was exceptional as a towering, skinny kid. An elite training regime has simply put muscle on his now adult frame; he's developed technique and the results are obvious. Inane, misinformed "drug cheat" accusations are just tedious. No doubt from the same types that roll out the "Spurs have spent more than Arsenal so will finish above them" rubbish that gets posted this time every year.

add comment | complain about this comment

posted Aug 30, 2008

I can't believe people are so fixated with Bolt taking drugs.
He's proved from a very young age that he's a special talent. He's performed well over and over again and yes, he's taken drug tests before and passed without doubt.
Why can't people just enjoy and admire his talent instead of trying to know him down.
A superb athlete with a great character too!

add comment | complain about this comment

posted Aug 30, 2008

All I can say is, I am grateful to witness a once in a life time opportunity. All the haters, will be old and gray or even in their graves, before Usain Bolt take drugs. Why take drugs, when god bless you with talent? Usain Bolt, is a true product of the nurturing of the Jamaican athletics system. This guy was breaking records from he was young, 15 yrs old. That's god given talent right there and along with nuturing. Again, i'm just grateful to be alive to see this. I'm still watching the races over and over.

add comment | complain about this comment

posted Aug 30, 2008

Talent is one thing.

How have the whole squad dropped so much time over the space of the last year.

Melaine Walker? You're having a laugh.

add comment | complain about this comment

posted Aug 31, 2008

Hurdles is about technique, dj....

Good to see Bolt winning the 100 in Zurich, despite being last out of the blocks.

add comment | complain about this comment

posted Aug 31, 2008

Bolt's 200m time at 15yo - M.Johnson didn't do until he was 20yo.
Seems Bolt has not had as steep a progression as Johnson had. But no one would query Johnson's times.

Melaine Walker's improved times over even the flat showed what could/would do in the high hurdles this year. Won again today in the wet.
Powell's time was impressive in wet conditions too. Her technique is improving - reminds me of Sandra Farmer-Patrick (Jamaica then USA) versus Sally Gunnell...speed was good but her technique over hurdles probably wasn't as good as the Brit's. Walker is getting better, so her times should as well.

Still whatever we doing is working. Better than our competitors who're doing the same.
Even if people think ill of us. It should be the same scrutiny for all athletes.

Seb Coe's celebrations, finger wagging (feeling of vindication) after his race, or a Maurice Greene/ any american sprinter....the same hand shaking biz of Rogge should hold for them.
-----------------
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sports/html/20050624t210000-0500_83026_obs_about_the_mvp_track_and_field_club.asp

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080603/sports/sports9.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/caribbean/news/story/2008/08/080811_jamaica_track_field.shtml
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article4628884.ece
http://www.utech.edu.jm/Sports_Comm/C_Tips.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-41xfXoptI&feature=related

"In Louisiana, at a high school track meet, we'll find maybe one or two athletes that could be good enough for [Louisiana State University's track program]," says Dennis Shaver, head track coach of the 2008 NCAA championship LSU track team. "[But] in Jamaica, there are probably 50 women ready to fit right into the program every year."

"Jamaicans have played a significant role in the 31 track and field championships we've won over the years," he says, adding that Jamaica will be "very competitive in Beijing."

Competing in the top US schools was, and is, a fast track out of poverty. The problem, as Mr. Johnson saw it, was that too many Jamaicans never came back home, and some even ran for other Olympic teams. (Donovan Bailey of Canada and Linford Christie of Britain are two examples of Jamaican-born Olympic champions.)

That's why Johnson started a sports program at a two-year vocational college here, and that later became UTECH, a four-year college. Through Johnson's work, which has since passed to Mr. Davis, the program now has 280 student athletes and houses the top professional track teams in Jamaica.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0628/p01s01-woam.html


In Jamaica, every primary school sports day winner imagines himself/herself a star at the annual Boys and Girls High School Athletic Championships.

And the infrastructure built up around 'Champs' - Western and Eastern and Central and parish Champs and such - means Jamaica likely has a higher percentage of our population in ordered track and field programmes than anywhere else.

Most runners in other countries never see big crowds 'til they hit the international stage. But teenage Jamaicans run in front of passionate 30,000- strong crowds who vociferously acclaim victors and insult losers.

This must develop mental toughness. A gentleman named Pelpa Francis - no relation to Stephen - theorises plausibly that Asafa Powell does not perform well at big races because he was never a serious competitor at Champs, and so never got the pressure-cooker seasoning of a Usain Bolt or Veronica Campbell.

Sell-out crowds at Champs

Still, Champs has been drawing sell-out crowds for decades. So why is 2008 the first time Jamaica won either the men's or women's 100 metres, much less both? The answer may lie in drugs and coaches.

The BALCO scandal levelled the playing field for poorer nations who, even if they wanted to, could never afford the sophisticated drugs and monitoring equipment the US has obviously been using for years. In 2000, a knowledgeable friend pointed at the TV to Marion Jones' flattened breasts and manlike shoulders and said, "Only body-altering substances can make a woman look like that." How many medals did she and the likes of Florence Griffith-Joyner deprive Merlene Ottey and company of?

Yet, perhaps the biggest factor in moving Jamaica from track and field prominence to dominance is our coaches. Foreign reporters snidely imply that it's sheer genetic luck, and maybe American college coaching, that makes Jamaicans athletes successful.

But results say Stephen Francis may be the planet's best all-round track and field coach, and Glen Mills the best sprint coach, and people like Maurice Wilson are rapidly moving up into their class.
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080824/focus/focus2.html

----------------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epCkACQUvNQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6zPNkMQcCc&feature=related
http://www.spikesmag.com/news/usainboltdreamsofrealmadridchance172.aspx
http://www.spikesmag.com/features/germainemasontalkssilverstephenfrancisandattentionseeking.aspx
http://www.spikesmag.com/features/whatnextforusainbolt.aspx
http://www.spikesmag.com/news/usainboltlightsuptheweltklasse192.aspx
http://www.spikesmag.com/news/usainboltdreamsofrealmadridchance172.aspx

add comment | complain about this comment

posted Sep 5, 2008

As someone who has followed Jamaican athletics, Bolt comes as no surprize.Flashback to World Junior Championships 2002 in Kingston Jamaaica when Bolt won the 200 in record breaking time. Check the Annual Boys and Girls High School Athletics Champoinships held in Jamaica. Bolt is not an overnight success so unless he has been taking drugs from he was 5 years old! highly unprobable for guy from the rural area of sherwood content in Trelawny Let ppl say what they must but Im positive Bolt is Legit!

add comment | complain about this comment