How do you hit that with the lead leg (the hurdle, not Lolo)? She hits it with the trail leg and she probably still wins.

poor lolo took that pretty hard. a least she didn't blame it on a cramp.

Both choked when they tensed up on the lead. One was classy about it, one went for lame excuses.

You take Lolo and I will stick with Nastia Luiken!

Holy sh!t, he got it. What a sick freak.

Was there any doubt he'd get the world record though? It was expected really. It makes it more impressive that he was running into a head wind.

With a -0.9 headwind no less.

i can't wait to see it. he won by .50, thats close to 5 steps.
first 5 finishers all under 20.00.

the only question was if he would run the entire race, and not showboat or jog to the finish.

that was a record i didn't expect to see broken, but i've never seen a guy run like this before either. freakishly and effortlessly fast.

i'm actually disappointed he didn't go faster.

I seriously thought he was going to run something like 19.27 today. As I said a few days ago after he'd won the 100m, I didn't see any doubt that he'd break the world record.

I'd like to see him attempt to stretch out and go for the 400 record now, with how fluid he runs and his freakish speed he shouldn't have any problems with it for 2012. Imagine a 100/200/400 triple?

never happen. he could never get through qualifying. that would be 12 total races,two of the races would run to close together including qualifying. only way he could do it, if he could get the IOC to stretch out the 3 races over the 8-9 days of the meet. i doubt London would agree to it unless tv had a say in it.
i do know they changed the schedule in atlanta to suit MJ.

I would too, but my hunch is that the reason he made the switch from 200/400 running to 100/200 running is that he isn't tough enough to handle 400m training. He just put it all together recently, although in his late teens he had a reputation for being lazy. You can't be lazy and run the 400m...but maybe he is such a freak he could run 42 sec.

The 100m is always the first weekend of the olympics, but the 200/400 running typically overlaps. Remember in 1996 MJ had to get the schedule changed so he could do both.

4x100
 

Jamaica is gonna run 36.95

He is what I'd rather see:

Leg 1: Michael Frater
Leg 2: Asafa Powell
Leg 3 and 4: Usain Bolt

How great would that be?

that dude is ridiculously fast. :tro:

just caught Bolts WR 200. I've never seen a guy so much better than the rest of the field in the short distances at the Olympics. he was only running against the clock. the only time his races were close, he was jogging while the others were all out.

glad to see that Walter Dix got a medal, even if it was due to a double disqualification. the guy is no nonsense and shows up every time with lots of fight and runs fast despite the fact he's built like Earl Campbell.

I think the progression of this record is fascinating. It is very much the opposite of the 100m record, which is shaved away by a couple of hundredths of seconds every 2-3 years. The 200m world record of 19.72 was set in 1979 and stood for 17 years, until MJ ran 19.66 and ultimately 19.32 in 1996. Then, for the next 12 years (1996 - 2008) 200 meter runners at the elite level ran in the area of 19.7 - 20.0 at World Championships and Olympic Games, but never close to 19.3, until now. It shows how above and beyond MJ and Bolt are from their competition; If it wasn't for those two, the world record would have essentially remain unchanged since 1979.

It would take tremendous conditioning but at the age of 21 with four years to train into 2012 where he will be at his athletic peak if there is ever a chance of it happening this is the guy. Think how little those 100 and 200 heats took out of him. If he can get good enough at the 400 where he can run 45 without that really taking a ton out of him then he would really only need 3 full efforts all Olympics and one of those would be at 100 early on which he should have no problem bouncing back from immediately.

He's 21, he could grow up a lot mentally in the next four years. If he decides he wants to stamp himself as the greatest runner for all time that might be enough to summon the dedication it will take. If he went for all three events in the Olympics he will be THE Olympics, the schedulers will work with him even if the TV studio has to get involved to make it happen.

400 is a very different beast.
I dont think he can last.
But I never thought a guy that tall
could possibly be quick enough to win
at 100m.

Who knows.
I am still stunned by the 100m win.
It was too easy.

I'm less stunned by a guy that tall winning the 100 than I am by a guy that tall being able to run the turn on the 200 so fast.

Once he gets going he really eats up ground.
But you are right, the turns would be tough for a taller man.
I just dont see how he gets started so well for the 100.

If he ever tries the 400 and 800 and wins them both
my head will explode. I dont see anyone ever pulling this
double off in today's specialized track world.

his thin build and longer stride help him walk the inside line and he keeps himself in lane 4 or farther out to help open up the arc of the turn. big guys don't like lane 1-2.

Our 4X100 team is a f***in embarassment. Maybe these guys should think about actually practicing baton exchanges. One of the few remaining things I was looking forward to in the Olympics was the US and Jamaica going head to head in the relay finals. Instead the US doesn't even get out of prelims.

Women are out too. Disappointing Olympics for USATF.

Unreal. Switiching guys in and out in different rounds makes the baton passes that much tougher. We should have the four fastest 100 runners that don't make any individual events and make them our team until the finals. Then we can add the two fastest runners that did qualify for individual events and are willing to dedicate time practicing with the other four. Trying to mix and match every round using people who were in individual events in the prelim rounds is obviously not working.

44.74 is a long way from 42 seconds, Jeremy Wariner. You should have just paid Clyde Hart to coach you instead of stiff the guy who got you to where you are.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26322489/

Bolt chided for not showing respect.
leave the kid alone IOC, he didn't disrespect anyone.

NBC and the advertisers miss Michael Phelps.

Isn't it the job of the people he just dusted to come congratulate him rather than him congratulating them for being left in the dust? If I just got whooped on by half a second I'd be more pissed if the winner came over and congratulated me for getting my ass kicked.

Speaking of which, I seem to recall after Phelps won the 7th gold him celebrating and then going over and shaking hands with Ian Crocker but don't remember him going over to shake the hand of the Serbian that almost beat him. Maybe he did after they got out of the pool but how is that any different than if Bolt congratulated the other guys after they were off the track?

Doesn't bother me. I'd rather he didn't shake Cavic' hand. He's an American in my book and he took the b.itch route and played the Serbian card to avoid U.S. Trials.

i don't care for his act but i'll watch just because he is mind boggling fast! i respect his talent.

maybe you or i wouldn't handle it like that, but he's young and full of himself right now, and a bit of a ham and from a place where they carryon more freely in public. but i didn't think it was anything that they needed to call him out on publicly after he has just wowed the world with two records. everyone in the world is talking about his speed, not that he didn't shake somebodies hand.

to me they come across as stodgy elitists by reprimanding his behavior the day after his feat. christ he is the only big story so far in track and field.

Sprinting has always been about intimidation and trash talking. Bolt doesn't do either. So what if he celebrates a little bit. If you had just done what he did, you'd have the right to celebrate also. What we just witnessed was a performance for the ages. I've never seen anything like it. Michael Johnson was incredible winning the 200/400 double in Atlanta but this was better. The shorter the race, the harder it is to dominate like that and Bolt made it look easy. He was a man against boys even though he is the boy. And to think that he's only just beginning to find out what he can do. I don't think he can triple in those events though. That is beyond my comprehension level. But I wouldn't be surprised to see a different double in London, either 100/400 or 200/400. I think I'd rather see a 100/400 because I doubt that's ever been done before. Remember, his coach thinks that the 400 would be his best event. I wonder just how low he can get with these times? Can we be looking at a guy that can go 9.55 and 19.20? How incredible would it be to have him set the wr in the 400 also and hold all three at the same time? Are we watching the best ever?

No doubt about it. I couldnt agree more. It was the ease of it that did it to me. It looked so incredibly easy and the other runners just knew it.

Shame on IOC. I found his act rather entertaining.

What's gone highly unnoticed and was the most awesome moment of the Olympics to me was David Neville diving for third place in the 400m. For anyone who hasn't ever taken a faceplant on a track while running 100 meter splits of 11 let me assure you it hurts like hell (I was 95% sure I'd lost a nipple). And your chances of actually beating the person by doing it is so slim that is makes it an extra awesome move.

So they are dropping baseball and softball and now I'm going to have to watch this BMX crap? There's a reason I don't watch the X Games, it is close to becoming the same reason I don't watch the Olympics.