LONDON OLYMPICS 2012, USAIN BOLT WINS 100 METRES DASH- CAPT AJIT VADAKAYIL

LONDON OLYMPICS 2012, USAIN BOLT  BAGS GOLD IN 100 METRES SPRINT-  CAPT AJIT VADAKAYIL

Bolt has just won  the London Olympics 100m final clocking 9.63 seconds , in the second fastest time he has ever run,  just 0.05 seconds outside his own world record.

He made the whole glittering field look  like also-rans.  Bolt  had made the impossible look mundane.  

Bolt's training partner and fellow Jamaican, Yohan Blake, finished second in 9.75. American Justin Gatlin took bronze in 9.79.

The imperiousness with which Usain Bolt demolished the vocal doubts over his infallibility, made the denizens of this planet wonder why did they ever doubt him.   Is he still the best? Are his best years behind him? Is he lazy?  Is he too laid back for a world class sprinter?

Usain Bolt has now moved into the realms of living legends and arguably the greatest athlete ever. For the 100 metres dash is the most played sport on this planet.

It is NOT some bullshit curling ( spare me!), fencing, boat pulling, horse jumping, wind surfing,  gymnastics etc, Western nations have made and introduced to gain easy medals to show a good medal tally and hence racial superiority.

When Usain Bolt won the gold in the 100 metres dash of Beijing Olympics, 4 years ago, jealous Carl Lewis scuttled his  grace, frothed from his mouth and bitched. He insinuated that Bolt (who is taller and fitter than him) , took drugs as his timing was out of this world. 

Carl Lewis, who has always been miserly with praise for Bolt, has now lost his place in history, where Bolt now reigns supreme. Carl Lewis will do well to remember that he won 4 gold Olympic medals at the truncated Los Angeles Olympics of 1984, which the Eastern block ( half the world ) boycotted. These sheenless gold medals are half size—nay—semi circular.

Bolt spake after the race,  ‘‘I’ve said it from the start: people can talk, all they can do is talk. I tell you people that when it comes to the championships, it’s all about business to me and I brought it.’’

Bolt usually stumbles off the blocks in a ungainly manner .  

‘‘My start wasn’t the best but my coach already explained to me, ‘Forget about the start, you are never a good starter’.   So I looked past that and I came out there with just one goal: to get out a good start and then the last 50 metres are where I shine, so I just did that. ‘‘

Bolt had admitted before the race that he had a bad back and a niggling hamstring. He was on the quiet visiting Dr Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt in Munich, to address his bad back related hamstring trouble.   

And to add to his woes,  he had to suffer  the ignominy of back to back  losses in the 100m and 200m to “Blake the beast “ at the Jamaican Olympic trials.

"I've trained really hard,"  Blake expounded "That's why Usain nicknamed me 'The Beast.' "

‘‘The trials woke me up,’’ Bolt explained. ‘‘Yohan gave me a wake-up call, he knocked on my door and said, ’Usain this is an Olympic year, wake up’.  

So I am happy and grateful for dem moment because after that I refocused and got my head together and got in the game, so I am happy.’’

Bolt, who likes to drive fast, too in his red Ferrari, was involved in a wee-hours car crash in Kingston in June.  ‘Superman is coming’ was London’s message to the ticket-buying public, some of whom handed over £700 for a seat.   Suddenly tongues wagged and the London message  changed to: ‘Superman is vulnerable’.

Curiosity took over from outright worship. 

At the Beijing Olympics Usain Bolt was so laid back that he even forgot to tie his shoe laces . He has this bad habit of switching on his after burners only after the whole field is ahead of him after the start. Still THE character--  Usain Bolt , gave us all on this planet , our greatest moment of sporting history 4 years ago.

With the race about to start, the sell-out 80,000-capacity crowd at the London Olympic Stadium were up on their feet.  Bolt, Gay, Blake and Asafa Powell all  lined up for unadulterated violence on the straight runnin’ track..  

Camera flashes sparkled like glittering diamonds around the stadium as the eight contestants psyched each other just before taking the blocks.

As the television cameras panned each racer, the excitement reached a crescendo when they reached Bolt in lane seven, dressed in black shorts and the yellow and green singlet of the Jamaican team.

Usain the cool cat he is showed no signs of nerves as he bid to replicate his gold medal showing in the Beijing Games in 2008.

He did NOT rob the masses of this planet of their opium.

To mass delight of billions , he practised his DJ mixing skills, one hand raised to his ear, and then drew laughter after drawing pretend pistols and re holstering them after pointing them down the track.

As the starter called them to the blocks, Bolt put a finger to his lips to hush the excitable crowd, briefly crossing himself and looking skywards as the television zoomed in and his picture was broadcast on the giant stadium screen.

As the 8 best super-sprinters of the planet hunkered down, at the blocks , the electric tension in the stadium was palpable—nay –you could cut it with a knife.

When a bottle was thrown from the crowd as Usain settled on the blocks, others were distracted but he did not notice it. 

Every Olympic 100m champion in the last 3 decades , had their eyeballs glued on Usain Bolt - Maurice Greene, Donovan Bailey, Linford Christie, Carl Lewis , Alan Wells—the lot.

Bolt sprinting to the 50 metres mark,  to arrive at his favourite part of the race --cheeks puffing, arms pumping right along with each of those lengthy strides.

Watch this , Usain now switches on the transition phase--

Pulling away from the pack with every long stride, Bolt surges ahead and overwhelms the star-studded field .

Unlike Beijing , where he show boated the last 20 metres, at London he even dipped at the finish for good measure. The sheer strength of the field meant he could not celebrate from 15 metres out as he had four years ago.

If Beijing was a conquest, London was consolidation.

He had just decimated the star studded field.

Seven men went under 10 seconds, beating the previous record of six, achieved at both the 1991 World Championships and 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The times for the athletes finishing from third to seventh were the fastest ever registered for those positions.

Had Asafa Powell not popped his groin and limped over the line, all eight finalists would have gone under 10 seconds for the first time in history

"I stopped worrying about the start," Bolt said. "The end is what's important."

After taking half a victory lap around the track, he stopped, kissed the track and gave his now-famous "To The World" pose, pointing both fingers in the air, as the denizens of this planet blew their collective minds — the second time after Beijing.

After the finish line, ever the showman, Bolt kept right on running for a victory lap that included high-fives for front-row fans, a pause to crouch down and kiss the track and even a somersault.

The entire 80000 crowd deliriously chanted as one   "Usain! Usain! Usain!" .

What a delectable moment in history. 

Bolt, as ever, was in the mood for partying - cavorting, clowning, delighting the capacity crowd with his full range of showman celebrations.

"People can talk," he shrugged afterwards, in a brief moment of sober reflection. "All they can do is talk. I brought it. I know what I need to do."

USA's Tyson Gay missed out on the podium, finishing in fourth place at 9.80. Gay was in tears following the race. "I tried maan. I tried my best. I just came up short." 

America still had no answer to Usain’s speed.

Bolt now focuses on defending his Beijing gold medals in the 200 meters and 4x100 relay. If he does that, he'll be the first runner in Olympic history to ever defend all three “That’s my ultimate goal," Bolt said of being a legend. "That's it for me."

His talent was noticed early. . In the absence of a disciplined lifestyle, he became ever-more reliant on his natural ability to beat back the competition  on the track .  

Noticing the potential , several elite American colleges offered Bolt track scholarships . But the Jamaican small town boy from Trelawny refused them all, stating that he was content to stay in his homeland.

I had commanded a Chemical tanker whose home port was Kingston with crew from Jamaica. I spent 6 months of my life there.  My Jamaican Second Mate had once told me “ Everybody wants to immigrate to America.  If USA opens out free immigration, the last man will have to put off the lights in Jamaica.  

Allow me to reminisce --

At Beijing 4 years ago, when Usain Bolt being himself, had showboated,  immediately his uppity detractors including IOC president Jacques Rogge, condemned Bolt and wanted to blackball him and strip him off the gold medal , for showing disrespect.

They had done it in the past for the infamous" black power salute", -- to John Carlos and Tommy Smith ( he smashed the world record in this 200 metres event ) in the 1968 Mexico Olympics. They were on familiar ground.

This was just a " human rights salute" -- misinterpreted to suit the white man's mood swings. In that era the black man was an full American with full rights and respect only during Olympics-- and that too only the world record holders. A devout and articulate black Catholic man could NOT even be a priest. The ball was surely moving this ominous way..

How dare a mangy black man misbehave in this manner-- only the white Yank like superbrat John McEnroe can be allowed to get away with this type of bad behaviour, right?.

Then someone had suggested . Usain is now the people's darling.

There will be riots within the “away from home” Chinese stadium. This Olympics will have to be aborted , if you ever make this silly immature mistake, and you might get a public lynching too.

The people of this planet will NOT accept such a gross decision inflicted on this living legend.

Jamaican minister Edmund Barlett vigorously supported Bolt , switched himself to wisdom mode and opined tersely "  The celebrations are appropriate. You have to see the glory of dem moment!"

Above- Lightning striking twice!

The title of "world’s fastest man" will continue to remain humanity’s most sought after title.

Grace and peace!

 CAPT AJIT VADAKAYIL

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