It’s a sport built on speed, and at U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials last week, sprinters wasted no time drawing conclusions about Usain Bolt’s summertime itinerary.
The consensus: He’ll be in Rio, despite the injury issue.
For the second straight day, the Jamaican sprinter’s hamstring was Topic No. 1 in the track world. If Bolt is seriously hurt, the entire Olympics will take on a new perspective, whether it’s Bolt at less-than-full strength or — still unthinkable at this point — absent altogether.
Now as the latest reports suggest that Usain Bolt will compete in Rio with his nagging hamstring injury, a million dollar question raised – Who will win the 100m in Rio? Can Bolt do it; or it will be Gatlin or is it Blake’s turn?
Indeed, there was more eye-rolling than genuine concern among the U.S. sprinters, who feel like they’ve seen this before.
In 2012, Bolt ran at Jamaica’s nationals, but finished second to Yohan Blake in both the 100 and 200, not far removed from a minor car crash and dealing with his leg issues. Bolt was injured in the lead-up to world championships last year, but nonetheless edged Gatlin in the 100 and blew by him in the 200.
Now, this. Yet again.
“It’s a tradition,” says Tyson Gay, who once was Bolt’s main challenger.
While Usain Bolt’s hamstring injury threatens to rob the Olympics of its biggest star, perhaps no single person might be as impacted as Gatlin, who has had the misfortune of consistently finishing close enough to Bolt to earn footnote status in one of the sport’s most remarkable stories.
In recent years, whenever Bolt has stood at the top of the podium, Gatlin often had to accept a lesser medal at his side, separated by a few feet that might as well have been light years.
This summer, the 29-year-old Bolt will once again represent Jamaica in his fourth Olympic Games, setting his sights on a historic, unprecedented and, until now, seemingly impossible three-peat: winning gold in the 100-meter sprint, the 200-meter sprint, and the 4 x 100-meter relay, precisely as he did in 2008 and 2012. He has also set his sight on running the 200 in under 19 seconds, a feat that no competitor in history has been able to touch.
If he succeeds the feat wouldn’t only earn Bolt a spot in the record books; it would also guarantee him sports immortality. Of course, that’s if he can regain full fitness from an unfortunate hamstring injury in time to make history once again.
In preparation for the most important moment in his career, Bolt has been working with a longtime coach and mentor Glen Mills to fine tune his training and design a smarter, more efficient routine. It means a combination of science—using a high-tech Tecar machine to flush out lactic acid—and common sense. “I start training when the sun is lower,” says Bolt, describing his remedy to beat the Jamaican heat. “It’s the little things you figure out as you get older.”
Bolt’s most challenging obstacle in Rio would not be sore muscles but Brooklyn-born sprinter Justin Gatlin. The 34-year-old won 100-meter gold at the 2004 Olympics—when Bolt first competed but wasn’t yet dominating—and lost to the Jamaican at last year’s world championships in Beijing by a mere one-hundredth of a second.
Gatlin seemed on course to defeat the Jamaican superstar at last year’s world championships in Beijing, having set the faster times all season while Usain Bolt struggled to recover from injury. However, in performances described as his best ever, Bolt beat Gatlin in the 100m and 200m.
The US sprinter, who at 34 will almost certainly be competing in his last Olympic Games this year, has assured he and Bolt would deliver a classic 100m final in Rio’s Olympic Stadium.
So the question again arises – is Usain Bolt beatable?
The answer, it would be tough. Yohan Blake has beaten Bolt earlier. But that was back in 2012. He is the second fastest sprinter after Usain bolt @9.69. The Jamaican even clinched the first spot in the 100 and 200 meters qualifying even in the absence of Bolt. Everybody will expect him to head into the Rio games stronger and faster.
But beating bolt at the Olympics is a different ball game altogether. Even for the likes of Gatlin, Gay, and Powell. Remember how Gatlin had a near perfect run the entire season until the last 20-30 metres where he succumbed to the pressure but Bolt simply got away by 0.01 seconds.
If someone has the potential to beat Bolt, it is Yohan Blake or Gatlin. On the question of whether they would beat Bolt, time will tell.
Though I would put my money on Usain Bolt – the rare specimen and the greatest athlete/sprinter ever!