Usain Bolt

Anyone else think it’s pleasing irony that the world’s fastest man’s actual name is U. Bolt??  After watching Bolt in the prelims last night, I have become fascinated with this speedy Jamaican.  I just watched the clip of Usain Bolt finishing the Beijing Olympics 100m in 9.69 seconds and have to wonder – do you think he could have done it under 9.5 seconds if he would have kept running full speed during the last 20 meters instead of stretching out his arms, pounding his chest in a ‘look at me’ fashion, and casually jogging across the finish line?

I would post a clip of the race, but it appears that NBC has a team of anti-pirating sleuths all over the interwebs, especially on You Tube, that have taken to promptly removing any Olympic clip that makes its way onto a non-NBC website.  I did, however, find a shot of the photo-finish of the race, where you can clearly see that Bolt was not really too concerned with his position, nor does he seem to be exerting himself in a fashion even remotely similar to the rest of his competitors.

Anyone curious what a 9.69 second 100 meter run translates into miles per hour?  Well, for all of you inquiring minds out there, I consulted Google and was able to obtain the following result – 23.0849979 mph.  Crazy.  I guess next on Bolt’s to do list, other than thanking his mother for the most eponymous name a parent could have possibly foreseen, will be to crush Michael Johnson’s 200 meter record – a feat no one has even come within .3 seconds of since it was set 12 years ago.