BOLT LETS COMMON SENSE PREVAIL

Ever since Usain Bolt blew away the best sprinters in the world in Beijing four years ago he has repeatedly faced questions about other disciplines that he would take on to cement his greatness. Four-hundred-metre world record holder Michael Johnson would love to see Bolt take on the 400 metres. With Bolt’s speed over the 200 metres, if he trains for the 400m it would be interesting to see if he could be the first man to break 43 seconds.

There has also been talk, even from Bolt himself, about the long jump. I spoke with Bolt shortly after he returned home from Europe this past summer and not even he sounded convinced that he wanted to take on the long jump. At the time he said he did and if he did it would most likely be in 2014, the year of the Commonwealth Games. Why? Because if he got injured given the state of his scoliosis he would need time to recover to compete in Beijing in 2015. That doesn’t sound much like someone who wants to tackle  the 400m or the long jump. When what you do is limited by conditions one gets the sense that if push comes to shove, those other possibilities were going to be left by the wayside.

This is why when Bolt announced from New Zealand this week that his next set of goals would include pushing the 100m world record to 9.4x seconds and that he intends to defend his titles in Rio in 2016, it really came as no surprise even though I did breathe a sigh of relief. The relief was mainly due to the realization that Bolt, under the guidance of Glen Mills, would not allow public pressure to force him in a direction he never really wanted to go. Yes, Bolt began his career as a 2/4 athlete but there is a reason he stepped away from the 400m. He has said it time and time again, he doesn’t like the training involved in preparing for the quarter-mile, and there is really no reason why he should to prove how great he is while there is still so much to accomplish in the 100 metres.

In London, Bolt because the first man to defend his sprint double title at the Olympic Games, he also became the first man to win three gold medals in the same events twice. In Rio, he will attempt to become the first man to go for the three-peat. It will perhaps be his toughest challenge yet for while Tyson Gay and Justin Gatlin will see their powers begin to wane by then, there will be new challengers waiting to topple Bolt if he slips up. Yohan Blake for example, will be 26 years old and once he remains healthy will be at the peak of his powers in four years time. Then there will be others like Adam Gemili of Great Britain, Kemar Bailey Cole should easily be a 9.7x sprinter by then and God knows who else will emerge over the next four years. In short, the 100m field that assembles in Rio could very well be even faster than the one that was assembled in London.

Over the 200m, athletes like Walter Dix and Lemaitre will be major forces as well as Nickel Ashmeade, Blake and others that could make the 200m even tougher when one considers that Mills expects Jamaica to have six or seven men running 19.8 and faster by then.

The sprint relay looks like it will return to Jamaica for a third straight Olympiad as Jamaica possesses the talent pool to take the world record it currently owns even lower than it is now even though I suspect the record will be much lower than it is now by the time Rio rolls around.

Then there is a small matter of the world records in both the 100 and 200 metres that Bolt expects to push to levels where they could remain unchallenged for a long while. I remember having a chat with Glen Mills shortly after Bolt had broken the 100m world record for the first time in May 2008 when he said something that kind of shocked me even though I could see it happening. He broke down how Bolt could easily break the 19-second barrier over the 200m and said he could achieve such a mark within the next four years. Bolt hasn’t but for good reason. Injuries and the demands of his global sponsors have limited his ability to be at his very best. If he can manage to focus on the world records over the next two years, who knows what Bolt can accomplish.

It is good though that he has hopefully put to rest all this speculation about the 400m, long jump and God knows what else. I mean, I never heard anyone asking Michael Johnson after he ran 19.32 in Atlanta , if he wanted to take on the 100m, or Maurice Greene if he wanted to compete in another event after he set the world record of 9.79s in the 100m.

Bolt is already a legend and perhaps excelling the 400m and the long jump would make him the greatest athlete of all time, but I am sure he will settle for being the greatest sprinter ever.