Changes: Usain Bolt

Revision as of 01:05, 29 April 2015

Usain Bolt

Country

Sport

Olympics attended

2008, 2012

Olympic medals won
Gold	Silver	Bronze

6

0

Personal information

Full name

Usain Bolt

Nickname

Lightning Bolt

Date of birth

August 21, 1986

Birthplace

Trelawny, Jamaica

Height

6 ft 5 in (196 cm)

Hometown

Kingston, Jamaica

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{Template:Infobox Athlete
+{{Infobox Athlete
 |name = Usain Bolt
+|image =
 |country = [[Jamaica]]
-|sport = [[Track and Field]]
+|sport = [[Athletics]]
+|olympics attended = 2008, 2012
-|best events = 100m; 200m; 4x100m relay
-|olympics attended = [[2004 Summer Olympics|2004]]; [[2008 Summer Olympics|2008]]; [[2012 Summer Olympics|2012]]
 |gold = 6
 |silver = 0
 |bronze = 0
 |nickname = Lightning Bolt
-|birthdate = 21 August 1986
+|birthdate = August 21, 1986
 |birthplace = Trelawny, Jamaica
-|height = 6 ft 5 in
+|height = 6 ft 5 in (196 cm)
-|weight = 200 lb
+|weight = 94 kg (207 lb)
+|hometown = Kingston, Jamaica}}
-|image = [[File:Usain_Bolt.JPG|200px]]
-|hometown = Kingston, Jamaica
-}}'''Usain St. Leo Bolt''' is a sprinter born on August 21, 1986 in Trelawny, [[Jamaica]]. His first worldwide competition was at the 2001 IAAF World Youth Championships in Debrecen, Hungary, where he failed to qualify in the 200 m event. He first became famous at the the World Youth Championships in 2002 because he won a gold medal. He then did a lot of other competitions around the world though fail to make an immediate impact on senior athletics, experiencing three big failures in a row - during the 2003 World Championships in Paris, Bolt was down to run the 200m, but developed pink eye during his stay and could not run; at his first Olympic Games in 2004, Athens, he was eliminated in his first heat, clocking 21.05 at 5th, with a hamstring injury; and at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki he made the final but finished last, pulling up with injury in the home straight. However, at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka he claimed two silver medals, one in the 200m (clocking 19.91 behind Tyson Gay's 19.75) and setting a national record in the 4x100m (37.89, also losing to the USA). It was in 2008 that he participated in his second [http://www.watchathletics.com/video/london-2012/ Olympic Games] in [[Beijing 2008|Beijing, China]] and where he made his ultimate breakthrough. He set new world records for every event he participated in - 9.69 in the 100m; 19.30 in the 200m; 37.10 in the 4x100m.
-The following year he repeated his success by claiming another three gold medals at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, setting two more world records - 9.58 in  the 100m and 19.19 in the 200m. However, despite his large success in 2008 and 2009, many felt his attention was starting to drift, and with no major competition in 2010, Bolt struggled to find motivation - he lost to Tyson Gay badly in the Stockholm DN Galan in August, and ended his season early due to an injury. Returning in 2011, Bolt still seemed to be struggling to find his former self. He remained unbeaten throughout the scene, but his times were far from impressive. At the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, Bolt false started in the 100m and was disqualified, paving the way for his training partner Yohan Blake to take the gold. However, Bolt didn't let the loss get to him. He dulely won the 200m the following week in 19.40, and set a new world record in the 4x100m at 37.04. Come 2012, Bolt had seemed to return to his true self again, clocking 9.82, 9.76 and 9.79 at the beginning of the season - the three fastest times of the year. However, as he would later self admit in his biography, he got cocky and decided to relax, knowing that he was in great shape for London. Yet that relaxation period showed him up at the Olympic Trials, where he was beaten badly by Yohan Blake in both the 100m and the 200m. Many wrote off Bolt, therefore, to retain his Olympic titles. Yet Bolt defied the critics, clocking a new olympic record of 9.63 in the 100m, and then going on to collect the 200m gold in 19.32. He then, with the help of his Jamaican teammates, became part of the first relay team to run sub-37, claiming the gold in 36.84: Bolt had completed the double-triple, and had left an important message with it - never doubt him. The following year again questioned Bolt's motivation - he'd done everything, and it seemed that with nothing left to do he would find it hard to focus. This certainly showed up in the early part of the season, when he worked hard to clock 10.09 (his slowest 100m ever), and when he got beaten by Justin Gatlin at the Rome Golden Gala. Yet he still won three more golds at Moscow - 9.77 in the 100m; 19.66 in the 200m; and 37.36 in the 4x100m.
-==Main Career==
-==='''2008:'''===
-In mid-2007, Bolt had chosen to run the 100m as a second event in the Olympic season, as well as continuing to run the 200m. The early signs showed that perhaps he should give up trying to compete on a competitive level for the 100m, clocking only 10.03 in an early Spanish Town (although this equalled his PB, this was far from competitive standards that had been set by the likes of Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay, who were constantly running 9.8s and 9.7s). However, Bolt showed what he was really worth the following week, at the Jamaican Invitational in Kingston - Bolt, despite easing up in the last 10 metres, clocked 9.76, the second fastest time ever, 0.02 off Asafa Powell's world record of 9.74. Everyone was stunned, even Bolt himself, who had predicted that a lifetime best for him would have been around 9.85. Many Americans felt that there must have been something wrong with the clock in Kingston (it is fair to say that once or twice it has given false results), and immediately dismissed claims that Bolt was the 2nd fastest human ever, faster than their own hero, Tyson Gay. When Bolt clocked 9.92 at the following week in the Port-of-Spain Hampton Gala, many took this as a sign that perhaps the 9.76 had been a fluke, though a sub-10 time still meant that he was in contention. But then, on 31st May 2008, at the New York City Reebok Grand Prix, Bolt beat Tyson Gay to cross the line in 9.72 - a new world record. Since the record had actually been set in the states, the doubters and critics were completely silenced. The run had proved that Bolt was not a fluke, and also that he was now the favourite for the gold medal in the Beijing Olympics.
-After his world record race in New York City, Bolt turned his attention back to the 200m. He cruised to a world lead of 19.83 at the Ostrava Golden Spike in the Czech Republic, breaking the meeting record in the process (this set Bolt up as the favourite for the 200m as well). Bolt then returned to Jamaica to run the Olympic trials, in the 100m and the 200m. Lining up in the 100m final, Bolt was in the lane next to Asafa Powell, the ex-world record holder. It was the first time the two had ever raced, and therefore a highly anticipated race. Bolt destroyed Powell by over a tenth of a second, clocking 9.85 to win the Jamaican title and secure his place in the Jamaican team at the olympics. He then dulely won the 200m title, easing to 19.97, far ahead of the rest of the field.
-In the build-up to Beijing, Bolt ran 19.67 to set a new national record at the Athens Tskilitiria meet, placing him in the top 5 200m runners ever. However, later in the month, Bolt suffered his first loss of the 2008 season, at the Stockholm DN Galan. Getting off to a poor start, Bolt failed to beat Asafa Powell on the line, with Powell clocking 9.88 to Bolt's 9.89. Nonetheless, Bolt remained firm unbeaten favourite over 200m, winning the London Aviva Grand Prix in 19.76 (a new meeting record), before travelling to Beijing.
-Bolt won his first heat with ease, running 10.20 virtually walking. He was able to maintain his cool attitude in the quarter final that followed, running 9.92 at a canter. In the semi-final, he jogged to 9.85, just 0.01 off the olympic record. In the other semi-final, Asafa Powell clocked 9.90, to secure the belief that he was to be Bolt's main rival in the final., after Tyson Gay had failed to make the final due to injury. However, on 16th August 2008, Bolt had no rivals. The race was simply him, running in a different stratosphere to those around him, separating himself from the field at 20m, and extending his lead by 2m come the 60m mark. He then turned to the crowd and celebrated by patting his chest while maintaining his lead before shooting through the line a full 0.20 seconds ahead of silver medallist Richard Thompson. Bolt clocked 9.69, a new world and olympic record...and it looked as if he hadn't even been trying. Asafa Powell had finished 5th, evidently incapable of handling the pressure.
-In the 200m, there was now no doubt that Bolt would win the gold. The question was, would he break another record? The world record stood at 19.32, set by Michael Johnson at the 1996 Atlanta Games. No one had come within 0.30 of that record. Bolt was confident though that he could break it. He cruised his heat and quarter final (running 20.64 and 20.29 respectively) and eased to win his semii-final in 20.09, shwoing no signs of being drained from the 100m run. In the final, Bolt again destroyed the field and also broke the world record, running 19.30, despite running into a -0.9m/s headwind. Bolt, it seemed, was superhuman.
-Bolt then quickly turned his attention to the 4x100m relay. The rest of the team was made up of Asafa Powell, Michael Frater and Nesta Carter. Making the final, the team discussed that the only aim was to get the baton around cleanly. However, clean changes didn't seem to matter, since despite some poor changeovers, Jamaica won in a new world record of 37.10, breaking the old world record by 0.30 seconds. Three races, three gold medals, three world world races - Usain Bolt was leaving Beijing as the man who had redefined everything the experts thought they knew about athletics.
-Bolt ended his season with three more races on the European circuit: he jogged 9.83 to win the 100m in Zurich, and then won the 200m in Lausanne, clocking his second fastest time ever, at 19.63, into yet another headwind. However, the most anticipated race of Bolt's was yet to come - the 100m at the Brussels Memorial Van Damme. There he would run against Asafa Powell, who had clocked 9.72 in Lausanne, only 0.03 seconds behind Bolt's world record. However, come Brussels, despite a terrible start, Bolt beat Powell in the last 10m, 9.77 to Powell's 9.83, into a serious headwind of -1.3m/s in a thunderstorm. Bolt had ended his 2008 satisfied.
-==='''2009:'''===
-Bolt started his 2009 season reasonably well, despite starting training over a month later - he helped his track team (Racers track club) win at the Gibson Relays in Kingston in 38.10 seconds, and ran a slightly wind aided 9.93 at a low key Spanish Town meet, jogging with his friend and training partner Daniel Bailey over the line. However, come late spring, Bolt was involved in a car crash near Kingston - thankfully, no serious muscles were affected, though after wounding the sole of his foot slightly, Bolt was forced to run at a painful angle in order to win his races. This didn't seem to stop Bolt from producing superb performances, breaking the 150m world record a few weeks later at the Manchester Great City Games. Bolt ran 14.35, with the last 100m at 8.70 seconds - the fastest ever 100m run by a human who has already accelerated, timed at 42km/hr. The Bolt, was back in business.
-Bolt ran two races before the jamaican trials, and although both times his times were poor or wind-aided, they both looked impressive: he first won the 100m at the Toronto Festival of Excellence in Canada, running 10 flat into a -0.6m/s headwind and pouring rain. He then ran a seemingly stunning 9.77 at the Ostrava Golden Spike meet, though was soon told afterwards that it was slightly wind aided. Bolt then returned to Kingston, and comfortably won both events, destroying Asafa Powell in a new world lead in the 100m at 9.86, and cruising to win the 200m in 20.25. He now had three more meets in Europe, before turning his attention to the World Championships in Berlin.
-Bolt raced three times before the worlds and all three times ran in terrible conditions: first he ran the 4th fastest 200m ever at the Lausanne Athletissima, clocking 19.59 in a thunderstorm. He then ran 9.79 in similar weather at the Paris Areva Meeting, despite a terrible start and -0.2m/s headwind. Finally, he clocked 9.91 at the London Aviva Grand Prix, also into a serious headwind of -1.2m/s, and destroying his rivals by 3m worth. He also helped his team win the 4x100m relay in London, running 37.46, at the world lead. However, Bolt was only going to Berlin at the second fastest man over both events - Tyson Gay had clocked 9.77 in Rome and 19.58 at the US trials. Bolt seemed unperturbed, stating 'its at the championships that i shine'.
-In the 100m at Berlin, Bolt couldn't have looked more comfortable: he jogged his first heat in 10.20, and then started chatting to his friend Daniel Bailey when crossing the line 2nd in his quarter final, with Bailey taking it at 10.02 to Bolt's 10.03. Bolt then secured his place in the final, clocking 9.89 to win his semi final, barely jogging, with his main rival, Tyson Gay, also easing to victory in 9.93, just ahead of Asafa Powell. In the final, Bolt won the race in 9.58, smashing his own world record by 0.11 (the biggest record breaking margin since electronic timings were introduced). Tyson Gay came in a distant second, despite running the third fastest run in history at 9.71. Asafa Powell for once did not crumble at the big occasion and snatched an honourable bronze medal at 9.84. But it was all about Bolt, who from start to finish had led the race with such easiness and smooth nature. He was now not only the first man to breach the 9.7 barrier, but also to breach the 9.6 barrier...and all at the tender age 22.
-Bolt quickly turned his attention to his favourite event - the 200m. Though he was the firm favourite in almost everyone's eyes (especially after Tyson Gay decided not to run the 200m due to injury), many thought he was far too tired to beat his own ridiculous world record. Indeed, in his heats, there was far less of the clowning about seen in the 100m, and much more 'drenched-in-sweat' Jamaican vests and heavy breathing to be seen. Nonetheless, Bolt eased through his heats, winning all three comfortably - 20.70 in Round 1, 20.41 in the quarter final and 20.08 in the semi final. However, come the final, Bolt yet again defied logic again: after getting a hot start and making up the stagger on everyone when tearing round the top bend, he maintained his stamina all the way to the finish line, only to collapse, smiling, on the ground, soon after claiming the gold. Bolt had run 19.19, into a -0.3m/s headwind. Was there any limit to what this man could achieve...
-Come the 4x100m relay, it is fair to say Bolt was far from his best. After Steve Mullings had handed over the baton to Michael Frater, and then Frater to Bolt, Bolt had barely moved away from Trinidad and Tobago, who were hounding on Jamaica in impressive fashion. After Bolt gave the baton to Asafa Powell, the two Caribbean nations were neck-and-neck, though it was Powell who took the win in 37.31 seconds - a new championship record, and for once, not a world record for Bolt. One might say the crowd was almost underwhelmed, having been spoilt by the big man's top speed throughout the week. Bolt now had 3 Olympic Golds and 3 World Golds, cementing himself as a true champion. A legend? Bolt said he would have to defend his Olympic titles at London 2012 in order to fall into that superhuman category.
-Bolt end of season performances, much like the end of his world championships, were not far off 'sub-par Bolt'. He won the 100m in 9.81 at the Zurich Weltklasse, but only after taking Powell in the last 10m, and straining hard at the leash. He also helped the Jamaican team win the 4x100m in Zurich, running 37.70, but again, barely moving away from the USA by several hundredths of a second. His last two races, however, were won in Boltesque manner: he ran the fourth fastest 200m ever to win the Brussels Memorial Van Damme by over half a second, clocking 19.57. He then closed his season by winning the World Athletics 200m Final in Thessaloniki, equaling the championship record of 19.68. Just as at the end of 2008, Bolt finished 2009 perched firmly on top of the international sprinting tree.
-==='''2010:'''===
-With 2010 being a season with no world championships or Olympics, Bolt let his focus drift, announcing that he would not be going for world records in 2010, and that the simple aim was to maintain his dominance on top (this strategy would prove to have a huge consequence on Bolt's following season, 2011). Starting out, however, Bolt seemed to be in very good shape: he helped his club win two relays early in the season: first at the Gibson Relays, clocking 38.08, and then at the Philadelphia Penn Relays, clocking 37.90 (Bolt himself timed at 8.79 on the anchor leg). Bolt even managed to run the fourth fastest 200m in history at a Kingston Meet, clocking 19.56 into a serious headwind of -0.8m/s.
-Bolt then travelled to Asia to compete in two more meets: the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix, running the 200m, and the Daegu Colourful Promotional Meet, running the 100m. At both meets, signs of tardiness showed and many thought the spark that Bolt had carried in 2008 and 2009 might have been lost slightly due to a lack of motivation. He won the 200m in Shanghai in a new meeting record of 19.76, though looked exhausted after the race, despite clocking, by his standards, a pedestrian time. He then ran 9.86 to win the 100m in Daegu. Again though, he looked unhappy after the race, shaking his head and breathing heavily. Bolt then announced that he would try and break the 300m world record at the Ostrava Golden Spike, hoping it would give him some motivation to try harder. But again, Bolt did not quite live up to expectations, winning in 30.97 (the world record being 30.82, set by the great Michael Johnson). Bolt also gained an Achilles injury as a result of the race and took a mid-season break to recuperate.
-Returning in the late summer, Bolt looked to be back in 'Bolt shape', equaling Asafa Powell's world lead in Lausanne at 9.82, and then beating Powell comfortably in Paris the following week, running 9.84 into a slight headwind of -0.3m/s. Bolt's next meet would be the Stockholm DN Galan, where he would run the 100m against Tyson Gay. Come the press conference before the race though, Bolt looked far from well, showing signs of many-a-late-night-partying and general poor health. The ill signs were confirmed on the track the following day, when Gay beat Bolt badly (9.83 to 9.97) to break Bolt's two year unbeaten streak. Unhappy and unfit, Bolt ended his 2010 season straight after his Stockholm loss.
-==='''2011:'''===
-After an 8 months off the track, Bolt returned to the circuit in May 2011, to get ready to defend his world titles at the 2011 Daegu World Championships in August. Bolt was lined up for 6 races before the championships, though, despite winning all of them, all but one of his races were far from impressive, showing signs that his relaxed behavior in 2010 had lead to early season injuries in 2011, preventing him from performing at his best. He barely won his first race, running 9.91 at the Rome Golden Gala, beating Asafa Powell by 0.02 seconds - redemption was far from complete, comeback only just conceivable. He failed to improve on this mark the following week in Ostrava, where he also ran 9.91, beating Jamaican Steve Mullings only by several hundredths. Had the magic gone forever? Or was this simply early race rustiness? His next race, a 200m at the Oslo ExxonMobil Bislett Games silenced a few critics, after clocking a world lead of 19.86 in the pouring rain, absolutely demolishing the field. Many fans took this as a moment to breathe a sigh of relief, that Bolt had returned to his former self. But it was far from the truth - he failed to run under 20 seconds (running 20.03) in Paris, and only improved on his 100m season's best by 0.03, running 9.88 in Monaco. Though the time was reasonably impressive, Bolt had only beaten Jamaican Nesta Carter by 0.02 hundredths. In his final pre-championship race, a 200m in Stockholm, Bolt won yet again...but yet again failed to dip under the 20 second mark, clocking only 20.03 (albeit, into a -1.2m/s headwind).
-Bolt entered the Daegu World Championships as the fifth fastest man in the 100m, far from the shape he had stroked the track with in '08 and '09. To his luck though, three of those four men who had run faster than him during 2011 were out of the championships: Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay (both clocking 9.77 and 9.79 respectively) were both injured, and Steve Mullings, having run 9.80 in Eugene, had been banned for drug use. This meant that Richard Thompson, of Trinidad and Tobago, was the only man faster than Bolt at the championships, having run 9.85 to win his national trials. But come the heats of the 100m, Bolt's pre-race antics set in, and the old Bolt of Beijing and Berlin returned to the track, having been spurred on by the excitement of another championships. Having been given a BYE through the first round, Bolt caught a hot start in his quarter final and jogged virtually 50m of the race to cross the line in 10.10, the fastest winning time of all the heats. In the semi final the following day, Bolt again got a quick start and jogged a good 3m ahead of the rest of the pack, securing his place in the final after clocking 10.05 to win his semi final. Come the final, however, Bolt was checkmated by his own over eagerness. Having shown such promising form in the early rounds, Bolt false started in the final and was subsequently disqualified, paving the way for training partner and compatriot Yohan Blake to take the title in 9.92. Bolt, embarrassed and angered, returned to the athletes village to recuperate for the 200m.
-Despite having lost the 100m, Bolt returned to the track a week later seemingly unperturbed by his move, and was soon back to his old pre-race antics on the start line. Noticeably, he was the slowest out of the blocks in both his heat and semi final, though comfortably won both with ease, clocking 20.30 and 20.31 respectively. Come the final, Bolt again was slow to rise out of the blocks, but redeemed himself for his 100m loss by clocking his third fastest 200m ever - 19.40. After the race, Bolt explained that he was disappointed with himself for false starting in the 100m, but that he had redeemed himself with his emphatic 200m win. He was still the man...
-Come the 4x100m relay, Bolt and his teammates, Nesta Carter, Michael Frater and Yohan Blake, aimed to simply win the race rather than break any records. After seeing the first three legs however, Bolt decided that the record was there for the taking. Having grabbed the baton from Yohan Blake, Bolt charged to the finish line, crossing the electronic barrier in 37.04, a new world record, and the only world record set in the 2011 athletics season. Despite his 100m loss, Bolt had finished his championships satisfied, with a 200m gold under his belt, and a world record in the relay with his teammates.
-Bolt had two races after the championships before ending his season - running two 100ms, Bolt would race at the Zagreb Hanzekovic Memorial and at the Brussels Memorial Van Damme. Bolt looked much more confident and smooth in his last to races, confirming that he was back to the Bolt the fans loved and knew: in Zagreb, despite a horrible start, Bolt came through in the last 30m to run a meeting record of 9.85. In Brussels, he closed his season out successfully by becoming the world fastest man of the year, running 9.76, despite another poor start, in Brussels, beating compatriot Carter by several metres. Despite a shaky start, Bolt finished the 2011 season yet again perched atop of the athletics body.
 [[Category:London 2012 Athletes]]
 [[Category:Beijing 2008 Athletes]]