Bolt towers above rest as the world's fastest man

HE STANDS 6ft 5in and weighs 190lbs, a giant of a man, and today Usain Bolt can call himself the fastest man on the planet. The 21-year-old Jamaican ran a world record 9.72 seconds for the 100 metres in the Reebok Grand Prix meet at the Icahn Stadium in New York on Saturday night.

Bolt, 21, lowered the previous best held by compatriot Asafa Powell, who three times ran 9.74secs. Incredibly, he was running only his fifth 100m race.

Bolt was competing in the lane next to America's 100m world champion Tyson Gay on a still night following thunderstorms earlier in the evening. Gay was second in a personal best of 9.85secs with Darvis 'Doc' Patton of the USA third in 10.07secs.

Lightning struck again with Bolt's historic run that sent a huge Jamaican contingent of fans wild with celebrations. Bolt had set the track world buzzing on 3 May when he ran 9.76secs – the second-fastest 100m time in history – in Kingston, Jamaica, and he was earlier in the week still undecided whether he would even enter the 100m at the Jamaican Olympic trials, proclaiming himself a 200m specialist.

He now stands out in front of the pack as the fastest man in the world.

Bolt admitted he was glad there had been a false start the first time he went into the blocks.

"I was glad of that first false start," Bolt, a self-confessed poor starter due to his height, said. "My first start wasn't that good but I knew if I got Tyson on the start I would have a better chance of winning.

"Tyson and I aren't really good at starting, so my coach said concentrate on your drive (out of the blocks) and transition phase, get it right and just take it from there and I did exactly that."

Bolt revealed he was not looking for the world best, but felt in good shape.

"I had an idea (the record was on) because I ran in Trinidad and I ran pretty bad and still ran 9.92, so I was pretty confident coming here," Bolt said.

"I wasn't looking for a world record but it was there for the taking so I just went out there and ran my best race."

Bolt, who had previously suggested he would specialise in the 200m, now looks set to double up in future.

"I think that would change now," Bolt said. "I'm definitely doubling up."

Bolt said he was "pretty happy" with himself for setting the world record, but considered Olympic gold the big prize.

"I don't think there's any comparison between the two. You've got to be Olympic champion or world champion to really count.

"Tomorrow if someone comes and runs faster than me I'm no longer the fastest man in the world," he said. "If you're the Olympic champion then they have to wait four more years to get you again. I think the Olympics is the biggest thing, so I'm looking for that, definitely."

Coach Glen Mills challenged Bolt to work on the 100 during the early part of this season to improve his speed. Mission accomplished.

The build-up to Beijing has long been dominated by talk of a titanic 100 metres between Powell and Gay, but weeks before his heroics in New York, Bolt had signalled that he could be the surprise package for the sprint crown in Beijing.

Bolt electrified the Jamaica International track and field meeting in Kingston last month, setting the second quickest time ever of 9.76secs and suddenly becoming a contender for the title of the world's fastest man.

Gay, who could only look on as 21-year-old Bolt lowered the world record on Saturday night, was a spectator at trackside in Jamaica last month as the new kid on the blocks came within two hundredths of a second of Powell's world record. Powell was already living on borrowed time as the world record holder, but even Bolt wasn't convinced he could topple his countryman.

The emerging sprinter fatefully said at the time: "I haven't thought about the world record. I don't know what the future holds for me. I am just looking forward to my next 100."

Born in Trelawny, Jamaica, Bolt was an all-round cricketer until he started enjoying success in school track events. He remains friends with several members of the West Indies cricket team and is a regular at internationals.

At the age of 15 he won a gold and two silver medals at the 2002 World Junior Championships in front of a home crowd in Kingston, and then he achieved global prominence at the 2003 world youth championships in Sherbrooke as winner of the 200m gold. The following year, he became the first junior to break the 20-second barrier, smashing the world junior record over 200m in a time of 19.93 – a mark which still stands.

Bolt, like Powell, prefers life on the island. Prior to breaking the world record, Bolt insisted that when the Olympic Games are over, his plan is to return to studies at the University of Technology in Kingston.

Four years ago he hired Mills as his coach. Mills' reputation soared when he helped St Kitt's & Nevis sprinter Kim Collins to the 2003 world 100m title. Bolt and his team-mates train together at the National Stadium in Kingston, while his friend and rival Powell uses the spartan facilities at the University of Technology.

"We hang out, not a lot, sometimes," said Bolt. "He likes cars and we talk a lot about cars. I have a Honda Accord. He really loves cars."

Bolt laughs at his last statement. It is well known that Powell owns five luxury cars including a white Mercedes and a sporty Nissan Skyline.

Muted reaction a sad reminder of damage done by drug cheats

IF DWAIN Chambers, Marion Jones and Ben Johnson needed proof of the damage they have done to their sport then it came when Jamaica's Usain Bolt broke the 100 metres world record.

Actually, he did not just break it. In sporting terms Bolt's time of 9.72 seconds picked up his Jamaican compatriot Asafa Powell's old mark of 9.74, scrunched it up like an old newspaper and booted it into the distance.

But did you jump out of your chair when you heard the news? Did you dash for the remote and tune in to the rolling sports channels to check out the greatest feat by an athlete?

Did you marvel at the muscle power, work rate and dedication required to make Bolt the fastest man on the planet?

The chances are that many sports enthusiasts did not. Which is no reflection on Bolt, a fair and sublime competitor who is not and never has been tainted by any suggestion of a link to drugs. Yet the reaction bordering on apathy for his achievement – a feat which once was the pinnacle of all sport – surely demonstrates what drug cheats such as Chambers and company have done to athletics.

They have ensured all great feats come with a caveat of cynicism. They have rendered records virtually meaningless, simply because so many observers are no longer prepared to believe what they are witnessing was achieved simply by natural talent and honest sweat.

Much has been made of the problems facing the Olympics in Beijing which begin in less than ten weeks' time.

The international PR farce of the torch relay was an embarrassment, and the pollution remains a concern while potential human rights protests and the reaction of the Chinese to them hangs like a great weight over the Games.

All these are surmountable. What is not is the suspicion of a watching public no longer entranced by the Olympic rings and the ideal of 'Faster, Higher, Stronger'. The pervading belief is that so many of the medals on offer in Beijing will be won by cheats or those who have indulged in cheating in the past.

Then there are the chilling observations just this past weekend of Ben Johnson, 20 years after he was unmasked in Seoul as athletics' most infamous drugs cheat.

Johnson is reported to have said: "Virtually all the big names, the winners, the stars all the fans come out to see... they're on drugs. Nothing has changed as a result of all the controversies because without steroids it's not humanly possible to keep producing the performances."

Are these the rambling delusions of a bitter man attempting to rationalise his own downfall, or a scenario uncomfortably closer to the truth?

Put it this way. The persistent pleas of innocence by such as Jones, Justin Gatlin and Tim Montgomery were unravelled by the Balco trials in California.

And, just last Thursday, renowned American track coach Trevor Graham, the Balco whistle-blower who became the subject of an inquiry himself when athletes told authorities he was pushing drugs, was convicted of lying to investigators.

The optimists will say it proves that athletics is at last nailing the cheats. The pessimists say it is the tip of the iceberg. Others simply suffer from fatigue, the very mention of athletics and drugs producing an effect not dissimilar to Gordon Brown standing up to give a speech on the credit crisis.

Bolt clearly is now the favourite to win the 100m Olympic final, an event which should be the purest, most exciting, most popular contest in the whole of sport.

The depressing reality is that few of us will be sitting on the edge of our seats.