Dear Oscar Pistorius believers,
What I’m about to write is the truth about an inspirational Olympian who let us down. I was, like you, in tremendous shock when the news broke that Pistorius faced a murder charge in South Africa. I happened to believe in Pistorius, and was in defense of the “Blade Runner.”
Why are we taken by surprise? Why not realize that athletes are humans, like the rest of us all over the world? Pistorius, a double-amputee who inspired many by the masses, is shocking because of our perception that he’s a hero and a model of excellence to those with disabilities.
The last thing Pistorius wants, while he’s accused of premeditated murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, is for some bitter people to be against him and grasp a sense that he’s a senseless murderer.
He’s used to criticism that he heard all last summer for running with able-bodies as the blades, theoretically, were convenient to try to discourage him from fulfilling a lifelong dream — although he probably doesn’t care what people think about him. But he should be fazed by the murder case that’s giving him a bad name, even if he was built up then suddenly knocked down by the same Olympian cult.
I am shocked by the allegations. I’m stunned by a man who folks all over the world believed in. But why should we be startled? If anything, we should expect a pro athlete to have trouble with the law. We shouldn’t drop our jaws when our beloved pro athletes are involved in a scandal.
He’s like all the rest, after all: an amateur athlete who thinks he’s above the law and failed to realize those before him who were involved in transgressions, as there is a long history of athletes who have disappointed and shocked fans with their poor judgments.
For example, the sex scandal involving Tiger Woods wouldn’t go away for a long time, which caught us by surprise when he was simply, by all accounts, the most manicured, spotless golfer. However, he couldn’t keep his pants zipped and acknowledged that he cheated with as many as 120 women.
Remember Michael Vick‘s dogfighting scandal? That was even more horrific than Woods’ sins, and amazingly enough, we’ve forgiven the quarterback but obviously have not forgotten about the horrific crime. Remember when a 19-year-old hotel employee accused NBA superstar Kobe Bryant of rape? Those charges against him were eventually dismissed.
Alex Rodriguez nationally admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs while he played for the Texas Rangers; Andre Agassi, one of the greatest tennis stars, confessed to using crystal methamphetamine and recently, Lance Armstrong admitted to Oprah Winfrey for cheating.
We act like athletes or celebrities can do nothing wrong while we, as fans and members of the media, express great joy for every amateur or pro athlete and then become blinded by the fact that they make mistakes. It’s OK to make mental mistakes, because in reality it happens and it is only common.
But in this case, I have the feeling, like many, that he killed her intentionally and with premeditation on Valentine’s Day. Then again, I could be wrong. I wasn’t there at the time he shot her, so I can only state carefully about the killing. Viewed just a summer ago as an inspiration, especially to those who are disabled bodies, he’s suddenly a killer in many eyes.
This shocking downfall is jarring — and strangely enough — is unreal, but in reality, he shot and killed his girlfriend, dropping his head in shame at court appearances while shedding tears in a despairing moment. He has always been a fast runner on those blades, a wild animal on the track, a firm believer, making it possible for those who are handicapped.
What we didn’t know, at least when it comes to this devastating news, is that he had personal issues and lived a double-life. But he said he thought an intruder was in the house and that he killed his girlfriend by mistake. That could just be, for all we know, convenient to Pistorius, a way he can try to get away with the slaying of another human.
Turns out Pistorius is in ruins, though. He will be going to prison, unlike most athletes here in the states. He won’t certainly be running in 2016 at the summer games in Brazil. The thing is, no one ever imagined that Pistorius would ever be charged with murdering someone, but surprisingly as we shouldn’t be nonplussed by the recent incident, I was. Now I’m not.
Before this murder case, he was popular and appreciated from his inspirational image, but now he’s not even recognized by those who once showed support for him, including the people of Nike and Oakley. With those two endorsement deals, he was set to earn $2 million this year.
With this happening, we know Pistorius is obsessed with guns and had been involved in previous domestic incidents, according to South African police. It just goes to show that he’s not perfect. He’s certainly a great athlete, but what an Olympian does on the stage doesn’t define their character.
There is, as I write this, a scandal in the making right now. Some athlete is out there using banned substances. Some athlete is out there having an extramarital affair. Some athlete is out there running a scam. Some athlete is out there breaking the rules, or seconds away from a crime.
So this is not the first time an athlete has let us down. Get used to it. Humans are humans.
Showing posts with label Track and Field. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Track and Field. Show all posts
Friday, March 1, 2013
Saturday, August 11, 2012
2012 London Games: Nobody Can Catch Usain Bolt
The first thing I should note, as I couldn’t keep track of the Jamaicans smoking the U.S., is that Usain Bolt is really the greatest track showman. He’s a showboat, a demigod and a natural-born athlete, the sprinting sensation of the world, which affirms he’s The World’s Fastest Man. Nobody can keep up with Bolt, let alone the Americans, an amazing talent running the greatest footraces of these London Games.
Lightning Bolt is the hero of the Olympics, a new theme of track and field. It’s the greatest show in the world by a man who is merely described as the fastest man alive, born with a gift to run for his life and break world records as we become crazy about the Usain Bolt Show. His countryman, Yohan Blake, the 100 and 200-meter silver medalist, handed over the baton and, man, Bolt pulled away in the final leg to blaze across the finish line with a time of 36.84 seconds. I was impressed by him and dropped my jaw Saturday night, as always, when Bolt anchored Jamaica’s world-record performance in the 4×100 relay, breaking its own record in its gold-medal medal victory.
Walt Disney released a film called “Cool Runnings” years ago. The movie was based on a true story about a Jamaican bobsled team that raced at the Winter Olympics. The folks at Disney — as Bolt has been entertaining and electrifying to characterize the nature of track and field events in these games — should choose to make a sequel to “Cool Runnings” and call it Lightning Bolt. The motion picture, after all, would be a seller and top the movie’s box office as one of the greatest sports films of all-time.
It was, after all, the prelude to an Olympic dream, and Bolt cemented his place as one of the greatest runners of all time. There’s no denying it — we are watching Bolt blossom into a legend of these London Games before our very eyes, after sustaining excellence of defending three championships. He is hailed as the Michael Jordan of track stars, captivating 80,000 in Olympic Stadium, with his incredible feet, agility and will to win during his prime as millions across the world respects him rightfully so. The night for Great Britain was filled with euphoria, as well, when Mo Farah beat Ethiopia’s Dejen Gebremeskel in the men’s 5,000-meter final to go with his 10,000 gold, perhaps more impressive than watching Bolt and Bailey in the final leg that concluded with a dramatic finish. Bolt is the most coveted of all Olympians and pulled away from American Ryan Bailey, an impressive run in the final leg of the race, while a rambunctious crowd erupted in cheers and wildly screamed.
My eyes, however, were glued to Bolt the entire time, and no one else. He is, without argument, an Olympic legend, no matter what IOC president Jacques Rogge thinks about his legacy, saying Bolt is not yet there. The rest of the world thinks he wasn’t only the star of the sport, but feels he took another step toward moving into the company of all-time great Carl Lewis, who Bolt ripped earlier this week. If not now, eventually we’ll have no choice but to call him a legend, surpassing Lewis as the most decorated sprinter in Olympic history. Most of all, however, he’s wore the Jamaican flag around his shoulders and gold medals around his neck three times. It’s no fluke that Bolt dominated the 100 and 200-meter with his God-given speed when, rather amazingly, he’s the most relentless athlete the world has ever seen and embraced.
There’s no one as fast as Bolt, a near-perfectionist and the greatest sprinter, running all the way to claim his third gold medal of these London Games and sixth in two summer games. There’s no one who runs harder than Bolt, not right now at least. There’s nothing more breathtaking and wonderful in sports than Bolt. You were delighted, thrilled, essentially falling out of your seat, wondering how the heck he runs so quick. The most athletic runner in London is Bolt. This is a guy who once, with a straight face, said he’s the best of all-time and he’s right about it.
That’s no lie.
But what about the United States? From the moment American Tyson Gay was handed the baton, he had trouble keeping up with Blake, who outran him to give Bolt a huge lead. The handoff from Gay to Justin Gatlin was anything but perfect. But if we’ve learned anything, besides understanding that Bolt is by far the greatest, it’s that Bailey can somehow stay with the fastest man in history. This is not to say, mind you, that he can edge Bolt in a race, because it’s not seemingly possible and won’t ever happen. As time progressed during the race, Bolt had to run all the way and beat Bailey to the finish. There’s no doubt Bailey, 23, is an emerging U.S. track star, not intimidated to compete and endure a challenging footrace against Bolt.
Short of the finish — as Jamaica dominated again — a common trait of the Jamaican culture, the Americans finished second in a time of 37.04 and captured silver. As for Bailey, he’s the emerging U.S track star for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, where he looks to compete and avenge a gold-medal loss against Bolt, who had to run at full speed. This time, Bolt had to actually give it his best effort, like having to accelerate and run all the way until he reached the finish line, just enough to hold off the Americans. Bolt couldn’t slow down and celebrate prematurely, but when he delivered a signature performance, he performed gold-medal winner Farah’s famous salute.
The Jamaicans were running for one purpose, and indeed they brought home the gold, as defending three titles was Bolt’s stated goal. The Jamaicans are celebrating, and among all sprinters, Bolt is partying the most. But as long as Bolt is around, he will be the man to beat. With him around, Jamaica has sustained historic achievements.
Lightning Bolt is the hero of the Olympics, a new theme of track and field. It’s the greatest show in the world by a man who is merely described as the fastest man alive, born with a gift to run for his life and break world records as we become crazy about the Usain Bolt Show. His countryman, Yohan Blake, the 100 and 200-meter silver medalist, handed over the baton and, man, Bolt pulled away in the final leg to blaze across the finish line with a time of 36.84 seconds. I was impressed by him and dropped my jaw Saturday night, as always, when Bolt anchored Jamaica’s world-record performance in the 4×100 relay, breaking its own record in its gold-medal medal victory.
Walt Disney released a film called “Cool Runnings” years ago. The movie was based on a true story about a Jamaican bobsled team that raced at the Winter Olympics. The folks at Disney — as Bolt has been entertaining and electrifying to characterize the nature of track and field events in these games — should choose to make a sequel to “Cool Runnings” and call it Lightning Bolt. The motion picture, after all, would be a seller and top the movie’s box office as one of the greatest sports films of all-time.
It was, after all, the prelude to an Olympic dream, and Bolt cemented his place as one of the greatest runners of all time. There’s no denying it — we are watching Bolt blossom into a legend of these London Games before our very eyes, after sustaining excellence of defending three championships. He is hailed as the Michael Jordan of track stars, captivating 80,000 in Olympic Stadium, with his incredible feet, agility and will to win during his prime as millions across the world respects him rightfully so. The night for Great Britain was filled with euphoria, as well, when Mo Farah beat Ethiopia’s Dejen Gebremeskel in the men’s 5,000-meter final to go with his 10,000 gold, perhaps more impressive than watching Bolt and Bailey in the final leg that concluded with a dramatic finish. Bolt is the most coveted of all Olympians and pulled away from American Ryan Bailey, an impressive run in the final leg of the race, while a rambunctious crowd erupted in cheers and wildly screamed.
My eyes, however, were glued to Bolt the entire time, and no one else. He is, without argument, an Olympic legend, no matter what IOC president Jacques Rogge thinks about his legacy, saying Bolt is not yet there. The rest of the world thinks he wasn’t only the star of the sport, but feels he took another step toward moving into the company of all-time great Carl Lewis, who Bolt ripped earlier this week. If not now, eventually we’ll have no choice but to call him a legend, surpassing Lewis as the most decorated sprinter in Olympic history. Most of all, however, he’s wore the Jamaican flag around his shoulders and gold medals around his neck three times. It’s no fluke that Bolt dominated the 100 and 200-meter with his God-given speed when, rather amazingly, he’s the most relentless athlete the world has ever seen and embraced.
There’s no one as fast as Bolt, a near-perfectionist and the greatest sprinter, running all the way to claim his third gold medal of these London Games and sixth in two summer games. There’s no one who runs harder than Bolt, not right now at least. There’s nothing more breathtaking and wonderful in sports than Bolt. You were delighted, thrilled, essentially falling out of your seat, wondering how the heck he runs so quick. The most athletic runner in London is Bolt. This is a guy who once, with a straight face, said he’s the best of all-time and he’s right about it.
That’s no lie.
But what about the United States? From the moment American Tyson Gay was handed the baton, he had trouble keeping up with Blake, who outran him to give Bolt a huge lead. The handoff from Gay to Justin Gatlin was anything but perfect. But if we’ve learned anything, besides understanding that Bolt is by far the greatest, it’s that Bailey can somehow stay with the fastest man in history. This is not to say, mind you, that he can edge Bolt in a race, because it’s not seemingly possible and won’t ever happen. As time progressed during the race, Bolt had to run all the way and beat Bailey to the finish. There’s no doubt Bailey, 23, is an emerging U.S. track star, not intimidated to compete and endure a challenging footrace against Bolt.
Short of the finish — as Jamaica dominated again — a common trait of the Jamaican culture, the Americans finished second in a time of 37.04 and captured silver. As for Bailey, he’s the emerging U.S track star for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, where he looks to compete and avenge a gold-medal loss against Bolt, who had to run at full speed. This time, Bolt had to actually give it his best effort, like having to accelerate and run all the way until he reached the finish line, just enough to hold off the Americans. Bolt couldn’t slow down and celebrate prematurely, but when he delivered a signature performance, he performed gold-medal winner Farah’s famous salute.
The Jamaicans were running for one purpose, and indeed they brought home the gold, as defending three titles was Bolt’s stated goal. The Jamaicans are celebrating, and among all sprinters, Bolt is partying the most. But as long as Bolt is around, he will be the man to beat. With him around, Jamaica has sustained historic achievements.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
With Failure After Failure, Lolo Jones Doesn’t Live Up to Hype
And so it ends, without Lolo Jones earning a medal to drape around her neck. For the American hurdler who has been criticized so much, it’s quite iconic with what happened to Jones again in these games, heartbroken and disillusioned, fighting through much adversity and having a second chance to respond, but unfortunately she was unsuccessful in redeeming herself of failures.
In Beijing, she tripped over the penultimate hurdle, falling flat on her face in the final to experience an agonizing debacle that crushed her heart, and then she had no choice but to live with the pain and humiliation until the London Games. Seeking redemption after blowing a gold-medal run in 2008, Jones perhaps was too slow, and without even tripping over a hurdle, she suffered a heartbreaker that will hurt for a while as she was supposed to be the comeback kid.
Considering that she’s a megastar in women’s track and field, engulfed in much tension and associated with negative publicity, she’s not famous only for her hurdling but sex appeal and marketing in which Jones attracts so much attention and plenty of hype because she’s gorgeous and sells products. It was four years later, not long after she burst into tears and missed out on Olympic gold, that Jones was burnt out from the annoying criticism and bashing, dealing with a remote crossroads and tough obstacles as she trained hard six days a week for the London Olympics.
The most hyped Olympian ever, finishing the 100-meter hurdles fourth and then walking off in shock Tuesday, stood at the finish line, with her eyes staring at the scoreboard, fighting away tears and holding back emotions as the gold medal slipped away ever so quickly. This time, it boiled down to a tight, nerve-racking finish, and then by the time Jones broke the tape to record a time of 12.58 seconds, her fastest time of the season, she still couldn’t medal to exceed expectations in the summer games. She was so disgusted, that she barely took a few minutes to congratulate second-place finisher Dawn Harper, the gold medalist in Beijing. The sight of her reaction was depressing and disheartening, and when she walked off promptly to escape from cameramen, she put her hands over her head and bent over, with tears flowing after enduring a gut-wrenching near miss.
The rain dropped softly, and as it was another lamentable night, she failed to prove she’s an athletic runner and not just a marketer, widely dissed by the media and critics for having no athleticism but an image and beauty that has ballooned her stardom. Having a beautiful smile and gorgeous looks that gives off a glow, Jones’ endorsements makes her rich and popular, not the way she performs on the track when she tries jumping over hurdles. The star of American track and field is the epitome of an overly beloved athlete treated like a heroine, making the cover of Time, along with a spread in Rolling Stone and a feature on MTV.com, when she had not medaled in the Olympics. The American diva of Olympians is also the prototype of a supermodel and could have a second career as a famous TV personality, especially after appearing on late-night television as a guest on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where she was rather more entertaining in front of the camera than running a footrace that she has not seen much triumph in during the course of her prosaic Olympic career.
It was, at the very least, intriguing that she opened up publicly to offer her biography on a rough life story. It wasn’t always easy for Jones, growing up in poverty as a young girl and living in a church basement with her family. Growing up poor with practically nothing, her ex-con father taught her to shoplift but she refused to take such a horrific path, turning to sports for a new outlet and then became a track star in high school that earned her a scholarship to LSU. Shortly after her phenomenal college career at Louisiana State University that launched her Olympic career and formed unnecessary hype, she foolishly posed nude in a magazine, and then vowed to remain a virgin until marriage. She is coming off a career threatening injury, and made a strong recovery after undergoing spinal cord surgery. Days after the procedure, despite a speedy rehab that allowed Jones to resume intense training, it was believed to be that she wouldn’t ever race again.
It’s funny she’s overly advertised and portrayed as a winner, when truthfully she has not won a damn thing, sputtering on the biggest stage and fluffing her chances of proving to be one of the best hurdlers. But as it turns out, Jones is merely a Twitter sensation, a superwoman exposed to all the glamour and endorsement deals. So basically, she’s a marketing ploy, a woman with a sexy body and beautiful looks. There’s nothing more to it, and by thinking there’s more to it, then just flash back to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. I remember the race like it was yesterday, and not only was she in the lead for the 100-meter hurdle race, but right there at the finish line to secure the gold medal until hitting the last hurdle to finish seventh.
Talk about a heartbreaker. The standards are always more demanding for Olympic athletes when supporting and savoring high regards, leaving the athlete with no room to breathe or even commit failure. The weight of expectations is larger. The magnitude of failure is a concern. And the pressure of having to win and sustain near-perfection is hard and oppressive. By now Jones can see it, now that she is living through it and faces a sense of reality. She’s anything but golden. Not as advertised, she’s wrongly publicized. Not once in the Olympics has she ever been that good of a hurdler.
Australia’s Sally Pearson finished in 12.35 seconds, just .02 ahead of Harper to win gold. The other American medal-winner was Kellie Wells, an athlete who wasn’t nearly as popular or talked about. If you’ve been watching, then you certainly know of Lolo, a hurdler you cannot miss. It’s impossible to miss her, with all the attention she absorbs, which is not floating too well with a number of U.S. Olympic athletes. The Lolo drama is nothing more but an insult to them, a form of disrespect and disregard when two Americans beat Jones, who is so famous in London, she could have her reality show as the diva of pop culture and not a real athlete. Maybe she’s an idol, but she’s not an Olympian just because of her title in these games.
It doesn’t mean anything if she can’t ever win a medal. It doesn’t matter whether she’s a world indoor champion and first-place finisher at meets in Norway and Qatar. Wake me up when she wins at the Olympics. Until then, I’m sleeping on Lolo, a name that sounds like a baby lullaby. And, after all, she has been pouting and crying in these games, mad over a controversial New York Times magazine article last week that compared Jones to Anna Kournikova. The female tennis star has never won a Grand Slam singles final. So that’s not such a bad comparison quite frankly, in fact, it’s brilliant.
As it seems, at least for now, Jones is no crying or laughing matter. Try an American disgrace.
A fat hippo has a better chance of winning a race than she does.
In Beijing, she tripped over the penultimate hurdle, falling flat on her face in the final to experience an agonizing debacle that crushed her heart, and then she had no choice but to live with the pain and humiliation until the London Games. Seeking redemption after blowing a gold-medal run in 2008, Jones perhaps was too slow, and without even tripping over a hurdle, she suffered a heartbreaker that will hurt for a while as she was supposed to be the comeback kid.
Considering that she’s a megastar in women’s track and field, engulfed in much tension and associated with negative publicity, she’s not famous only for her hurdling but sex appeal and marketing in which Jones attracts so much attention and plenty of hype because she’s gorgeous and sells products. It was four years later, not long after she burst into tears and missed out on Olympic gold, that Jones was burnt out from the annoying criticism and bashing, dealing with a remote crossroads and tough obstacles as she trained hard six days a week for the London Olympics.
The most hyped Olympian ever, finishing the 100-meter hurdles fourth and then walking off in shock Tuesday, stood at the finish line, with her eyes staring at the scoreboard, fighting away tears and holding back emotions as the gold medal slipped away ever so quickly. This time, it boiled down to a tight, nerve-racking finish, and then by the time Jones broke the tape to record a time of 12.58 seconds, her fastest time of the season, she still couldn’t medal to exceed expectations in the summer games. She was so disgusted, that she barely took a few minutes to congratulate second-place finisher Dawn Harper, the gold medalist in Beijing. The sight of her reaction was depressing and disheartening, and when she walked off promptly to escape from cameramen, she put her hands over her head and bent over, with tears flowing after enduring a gut-wrenching near miss.
The rain dropped softly, and as it was another lamentable night, she failed to prove she’s an athletic runner and not just a marketer, widely dissed by the media and critics for having no athleticism but an image and beauty that has ballooned her stardom. Having a beautiful smile and gorgeous looks that gives off a glow, Jones’ endorsements makes her rich and popular, not the way she performs on the track when she tries jumping over hurdles. The star of American track and field is the epitome of an overly beloved athlete treated like a heroine, making the cover of Time, along with a spread in Rolling Stone and a feature on MTV.com, when she had not medaled in the Olympics. The American diva of Olympians is also the prototype of a supermodel and could have a second career as a famous TV personality, especially after appearing on late-night television as a guest on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where she was rather more entertaining in front of the camera than running a footrace that she has not seen much triumph in during the course of her prosaic Olympic career.
It was, at the very least, intriguing that she opened up publicly to offer her biography on a rough life story. It wasn’t always easy for Jones, growing up in poverty as a young girl and living in a church basement with her family. Growing up poor with practically nothing, her ex-con father taught her to shoplift but she refused to take such a horrific path, turning to sports for a new outlet and then became a track star in high school that earned her a scholarship to LSU. Shortly after her phenomenal college career at Louisiana State University that launched her Olympic career and formed unnecessary hype, she foolishly posed nude in a magazine, and then vowed to remain a virgin until marriage. She is coming off a career threatening injury, and made a strong recovery after undergoing spinal cord surgery. Days after the procedure, despite a speedy rehab that allowed Jones to resume intense training, it was believed to be that she wouldn’t ever race again.
It’s funny she’s overly advertised and portrayed as a winner, when truthfully she has not won a damn thing, sputtering on the biggest stage and fluffing her chances of proving to be one of the best hurdlers. But as it turns out, Jones is merely a Twitter sensation, a superwoman exposed to all the glamour and endorsement deals. So basically, she’s a marketing ploy, a woman with a sexy body and beautiful looks. There’s nothing more to it, and by thinking there’s more to it, then just flash back to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. I remember the race like it was yesterday, and not only was she in the lead for the 100-meter hurdle race, but right there at the finish line to secure the gold medal until hitting the last hurdle to finish seventh.
Talk about a heartbreaker. The standards are always more demanding for Olympic athletes when supporting and savoring high regards, leaving the athlete with no room to breathe or even commit failure. The weight of expectations is larger. The magnitude of failure is a concern. And the pressure of having to win and sustain near-perfection is hard and oppressive. By now Jones can see it, now that she is living through it and faces a sense of reality. She’s anything but golden. Not as advertised, she’s wrongly publicized. Not once in the Olympics has she ever been that good of a hurdler.
Australia’s Sally Pearson finished in 12.35 seconds, just .02 ahead of Harper to win gold. The other American medal-winner was Kellie Wells, an athlete who wasn’t nearly as popular or talked about. If you’ve been watching, then you certainly know of Lolo, a hurdler you cannot miss. It’s impossible to miss her, with all the attention she absorbs, which is not floating too well with a number of U.S. Olympic athletes. The Lolo drama is nothing more but an insult to them, a form of disrespect and disregard when two Americans beat Jones, who is so famous in London, she could have her reality show as the diva of pop culture and not a real athlete. Maybe she’s an idol, but she’s not an Olympian just because of her title in these games.
It doesn’t mean anything if she can’t ever win a medal. It doesn’t matter whether she’s a world indoor champion and first-place finisher at meets in Norway and Qatar. Wake me up when she wins at the Olympics. Until then, I’m sleeping on Lolo, a name that sounds like a baby lullaby. And, after all, she has been pouting and crying in these games, mad over a controversial New York Times magazine article last week that compared Jones to Anna Kournikova. The female tennis star has never won a Grand Slam singles final. So that’s not such a bad comparison quite frankly, in fact, it’s brilliant.
As it seems, at least for now, Jones is no crying or laughing matter. Try an American disgrace.
A fat hippo has a better chance of winning a race than she does.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Oscar Pistorius: ‘The Blade Runner’ Makes for Wonderful Story, So Don’t Ruin It
The folks of the Olympics don’t understand it, probably because Oscar Pistorius is different from everybody else, a double amputee born with no fibulas in his legs. It’s one of the many inspirational stories to ever bring a glow to the summer games, as the South African product ran in the 2012 Olympics on prosthetic legs, with millions inspired and overwhelmed having their sights on the fastest man with no legs.
The problem? Listen to what the naysayers are saying. The oblivious and dubious people are prejudice to the disabled, not kind allowing Pistorius to compete in these games, simply finding a convenient excuse to do whatever it takes to discourage him. But he refused to let the criticism stop him from seizing an opportunity that was finally given to him, and from a very young age, he’s always dreamed of getting into the action at the summer games. Fortunately, he was allowed to run with the world’s best after the International Association of Athletics Federations banned Pistorius from able-bodied events when tests conducted on him at German Sport University showed that his Cheetah blades gave him an advantage. Months later, the court attested that the IAAF had plundered his rights and violated its own rules, and with the concepts of science having a huge influence on their decision, he was unfairly excluded from qualifying for Beijing in 2008.
By now, with only nine days remaining until closing ceremonies, the swirling controversy circling around Pistorius, known as the “Blade Runner, is getting old and people are already fatigued by the endless debates. Why oh why must we ruin such a heartwarming story of a determined athlete who is handicap but has the mettle and self-command to work toward his passion and run with the able-bodies? Why oh why must we discriminate, and turn down a man different from other elite runners, yet he really isn’t much different from any one else? A day doesn’t pass without a tired conversation as to whether or not he belongs on the same track with able-bodied sprinters, an overblown and ignorant argument that has peeved our senses, well, some of us rather. What is there to argue?
Pistorius, like it or not, became the first double-amputee to compete in an Olympics. He also, like it or not, ran on the blades, the prosthetic legs people are negatively passing judgment and voicing opinions on without actually knowing if the blades are what gives him energy to dust able-bodies. Though the laboratories evaluated his blades, which delayed Pistorius’ Olympic eligibility, he dropped into the starting block. From the start, he was slow and couldn’t pick up speed but finally burst out of the crowd, and as a result, he finished in 45.44 seconds Saturday morning, one of his best times this season. That would be good enough for advancing into Sunday’s semifinal round of the 400-meter qualifying to hopefully finish in the top eight of the round to qualify for Monday’s final.
When he is running, as you probably notice, Pistorius’ legs make it seem as if he’s soaring and not actually running. It’s like he’s flying to give us his best imitation of Michael J. Fox on a hover board. It’s like he’s living in the year of 2030, or something. The footrace ended, and Pistorius had qualified for the next round, in sight of advancing further and pulling off the unthinkable. Among all things, now that he’s finally here reaching new heights as a runner, Pistorius is just graceful and happy to be belting along at full speed in these Olympics. He has been training diligently for these games for years and it has certainly paid off. He is stepping into the scene in hopes to stun the world, and he has the heart, he has the spirit, disallowing a birth defect to obstruct a sports career.
But to say he’s not allowed and that his blades gives him an advantage is injustice and folly 24 years after he had his legs amputated. It’s not his fault he was born without fibulas, but still turned into one of the world’s fastest runners with no legs, amazingly keeping pace with the able-bodies that makes for a wonderful book on one of the gorgeous heroic tale. There are signs that his prosthetics are an unfair competitive advantage to abled-bodied runners, but we really don’t know, no matter what scientists tells us, no matter what scientists wants us to believe. The same could be said about Pistorius, unfairly mistreated to take action against healthy runners. The effort of the Court of Arbitration for Sport to reinstate him, after track and field’s international governing body briefly banned him from able-bodied competition briefly, allowed Pistorius to compete — once two scientists confirmed his blades gave him extra propulsion.
He is, indeed, amazing and inspiring that encourage disabled athletes to take on sports and overcome adversity, opening doors for someone handicap, not as fortunate as those with arms and legs that allows them to perform at the highest level in whatever sport they decide trying. It’s only an insult to keep knocking him, downgrading him and disrespecting him, with the human race diminishing the magnitude of inspiration, encouragement, motivation, drive and dedication he brings to mind, uplifting the confidence of others willing to become stimulated with the challenge of overcoming a disability and not letting it stop a person from reaching his or her ambitions. Used to the doubt, Pistorius takes it as motivation. Used to the negative publicity, Pistorius runs harder every time he’s in for a dogfight.
Even if he doesn’t win, he’s still a winner just for hanging with the able-bodied runners, dauntless and courageous to expose his talent with help from his artificial legs. But while I’m OK with him out there, no different from anybody else who I’m fair to as well, you aren’t fine by him racing and think he should only be sprinting in the Paralympics when he has every damn right to have fun in London on his vicious Cheetah blades. Scientists, and it figures, are trying to study him as if he’s a science experiment, and the research has been vague and false, not sure what to believe. There’s no evidence to prove whether or not Pistorius’ blades offers an advantage, and we can only speculate and theorize, just as scientists can predict and try hard to sound intelligent when deep down they don’t know the truth about these blades themselves. In specifics, the carbon-fiber Cheetah Flex-Feet is what he’s wearing to race, the artificial legs he used for the 2004 Athens Paralympics, where he won gold in the 200 to shatter the world record.
Maybe he’s an unfair advantage. Maybe not. But, no matter what, he’s this year’s delightful story.
Let’s not make this an episode of Sports Science but a story of inspiration.
The problem? Listen to what the naysayers are saying. The oblivious and dubious people are prejudice to the disabled, not kind allowing Pistorius to compete in these games, simply finding a convenient excuse to do whatever it takes to discourage him. But he refused to let the criticism stop him from seizing an opportunity that was finally given to him, and from a very young age, he’s always dreamed of getting into the action at the summer games. Fortunately, he was allowed to run with the world’s best after the International Association of Athletics Federations banned Pistorius from able-bodied events when tests conducted on him at German Sport University showed that his Cheetah blades gave him an advantage. Months later, the court attested that the IAAF had plundered his rights and violated its own rules, and with the concepts of science having a huge influence on their decision, he was unfairly excluded from qualifying for Beijing in 2008.
By now, with only nine days remaining until closing ceremonies, the swirling controversy circling around Pistorius, known as the “Blade Runner, is getting old and people are already fatigued by the endless debates. Why oh why must we ruin such a heartwarming story of a determined athlete who is handicap but has the mettle and self-command to work toward his passion and run with the able-bodies? Why oh why must we discriminate, and turn down a man different from other elite runners, yet he really isn’t much different from any one else? A day doesn’t pass without a tired conversation as to whether or not he belongs on the same track with able-bodied sprinters, an overblown and ignorant argument that has peeved our senses, well, some of us rather. What is there to argue?
Pistorius, like it or not, became the first double-amputee to compete in an Olympics. He also, like it or not, ran on the blades, the prosthetic legs people are negatively passing judgment and voicing opinions on without actually knowing if the blades are what gives him energy to dust able-bodies. Though the laboratories evaluated his blades, which delayed Pistorius’ Olympic eligibility, he dropped into the starting block. From the start, he was slow and couldn’t pick up speed but finally burst out of the crowd, and as a result, he finished in 45.44 seconds Saturday morning, one of his best times this season. That would be good enough for advancing into Sunday’s semifinal round of the 400-meter qualifying to hopefully finish in the top eight of the round to qualify for Monday’s final.
When he is running, as you probably notice, Pistorius’ legs make it seem as if he’s soaring and not actually running. It’s like he’s flying to give us his best imitation of Michael J. Fox on a hover board. It’s like he’s living in the year of 2030, or something. The footrace ended, and Pistorius had qualified for the next round, in sight of advancing further and pulling off the unthinkable. Among all things, now that he’s finally here reaching new heights as a runner, Pistorius is just graceful and happy to be belting along at full speed in these Olympics. He has been training diligently for these games for years and it has certainly paid off. He is stepping into the scene in hopes to stun the world, and he has the heart, he has the spirit, disallowing a birth defect to obstruct a sports career.
But to say he’s not allowed and that his blades gives him an advantage is injustice and folly 24 years after he had his legs amputated. It’s not his fault he was born without fibulas, but still turned into one of the world’s fastest runners with no legs, amazingly keeping pace with the able-bodies that makes for a wonderful book on one of the gorgeous heroic tale. There are signs that his prosthetics are an unfair competitive advantage to abled-bodied runners, but we really don’t know, no matter what scientists tells us, no matter what scientists wants us to believe. The same could be said about Pistorius, unfairly mistreated to take action against healthy runners. The effort of the Court of Arbitration for Sport to reinstate him, after track and field’s international governing body briefly banned him from able-bodied competition briefly, allowed Pistorius to compete — once two scientists confirmed his blades gave him extra propulsion.
He is, indeed, amazing and inspiring that encourage disabled athletes to take on sports and overcome adversity, opening doors for someone handicap, not as fortunate as those with arms and legs that allows them to perform at the highest level in whatever sport they decide trying. It’s only an insult to keep knocking him, downgrading him and disrespecting him, with the human race diminishing the magnitude of inspiration, encouragement, motivation, drive and dedication he brings to mind, uplifting the confidence of others willing to become stimulated with the challenge of overcoming a disability and not letting it stop a person from reaching his or her ambitions. Used to the doubt, Pistorius takes it as motivation. Used to the negative publicity, Pistorius runs harder every time he’s in for a dogfight.
Even if he doesn’t win, he’s still a winner just for hanging with the able-bodied runners, dauntless and courageous to expose his talent with help from his artificial legs. But while I’m OK with him out there, no different from anybody else who I’m fair to as well, you aren’t fine by him racing and think he should only be sprinting in the Paralympics when he has every damn right to have fun in London on his vicious Cheetah blades. Scientists, and it figures, are trying to study him as if he’s a science experiment, and the research has been vague and false, not sure what to believe. There’s no evidence to prove whether or not Pistorius’ blades offers an advantage, and we can only speculate and theorize, just as scientists can predict and try hard to sound intelligent when deep down they don’t know the truth about these blades themselves. In specifics, the carbon-fiber Cheetah Flex-Feet is what he’s wearing to race, the artificial legs he used for the 2004 Athens Paralympics, where he won gold in the 200 to shatter the world record.
Maybe he’s an unfair advantage. Maybe not. But, no matter what, he’s this year’s delightful story.
Let’s not make this an episode of Sports Science but a story of inspiration.
Friday, August 3, 2012
2012 Olympics: Allyson Felix Tries to Exceed Expectations
Allyson Felix sprints into Olympic Stadium with a glare in her eyes, and the body language of a serious competitor, the kind of vibes she brings to racing. It’s about her intensity and emotions, building a winning attitude, on a mission to smoke each sprinter in London and sell a million of Nike shoes, feature on the front cover of sports magazines and be immortalized on Kellogg’s cereal boxes.
The pressure is on as she can rise to stardom, already a rising star in these games, considering that she’s one of America’s fastest women in the world. When she finally arrived in London, after training hard in Los Angeles for the 2012 Summer Olympics, she could have run a marathon around Great Britain. The reigning three-time world 200m champion, Felix, enters as favorite with Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica standing in her way to once again try and unhinge her pursuit of becoming the next beautiful American dream. These games feels like her moment to capture the world’s attention, her moment to shine, proudly wearing the red, white and blue of the United States, representing a nation where it has produced some of the top competitors to take on elite Olympians from all over the world.
Thus, she has twice finished second to Campbell-Brown in the 200-meter at the Games after qualifying in heats running onto the track with a goal on her mind. The two-time silver medalist insisted she is much-improved and can win multiple gold medals, as her goal of winning seems well within reach. She’s dreaming about earning her gold, not silver, which she won at the age of 18 at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The weigh of expectations that she may not exceed, the notion of failure and incompleteness are what the naysayers are thinking about, not kind to give her the benefit of the doubt, although four years later makes a difference in one’s performance.
Even at 26, Felix has been mentioned in the same breath as Marion Jones and has the weight her on shoulders to try and surpass a former U.S. sprinter whose sensational performance in Sydney was later tainted because of performance-enhancing drugs. In contrast, Felix has never tested positive for banned substances, which means nobody has placed an asterisk next to her incredible mark. Not once in her Olympic career has she fallen from grace or into deep shame. The world will be looking on to watch Felix hopefully sprint her way into the finish for an elusive individual Olympic gold medal, when she is arguably the fastest U.S. sprinter in track and field nowadays, with another crack to post an exceptional time and have a personal best in the 200 for the first time since in five years. The notion of track and field is that competition is about the fastest, strongest, or toughest, and Felix might just be the fastest, strongest, or toughest woman in these games, a track star who is gifted to blow past every runner in both the 100 and 200.
If she strides in the 100 and solidifies her Olympic career, for the most part, she will be a megastar in the world of track and field. If not, she will have to live with the doubt and misery of failing to capture a gold medal. In the women’s sprints, with all the attention pointing in her direction and really no one else’s, Felix is the more talked-about athlete and is joined by Carmelita Jeter and Tianna Madison. You’ve seen Felix race down the track like a cheetah on the prowl, a burst of speed during the final seconds of her race. At top speed, she just keeps running, on the flat surfaces as thousands of spectators watch from the stands amaze by her incredible agility and swiftness, dashing to the finish with an unbelievable time. For years now, she’s been running, training hard to develop her craft and preparing specifically for these games.
For years, she has been doubted and disrespected as much as she’s finally gotten the credit where credit is due, including in these Olympics favorite to walk away with the bright hardware that she hopes to drape around her neck this time around, awestruck by her improvement and odds of beating the Jamaican girl and other sprinters. With Felix in the middle of the strangest controversy due to a mishandled runoff, in which she and Jeneba Tarmoh finished in a dead heat for the USA’s final spot in the 100 meters, she just missed qualifying for the 100, a race Jeter won as Madison crossed the line second. And when she was disgusted by her fourth-place finish at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Eugene, Ore., while a review of the race conceded that Felix and Tarmoh finished in a dead beat, Tarmoh withdrew from a runoff and Felix was given the spot in the Olympic 100.
It’s no coincidence that we are embracing her as a true heroine or either an American disillusionment, an iconic sprinter anticipated to have a few races of her lifetime, particularly after Tarmoh determined the final Olympic spot by barely beating Felix for third place before it was overturned. Heretofore, she really wasn’t even eligible to compete in her best event, a race that exposes her strength and rarely a weakness and a few other activities she takes on in the summer games. It seems more people like her chances, including disbelievers, which she can likely come away with the gold. It may just be her time to spice up the games for the American folks watching from coast to coast, from state to state, from city to city, from living room to living room, from TV set to TV set.
We tend to fall in love with our superstars in America, and when it involves mano-a-mano competition that comprise of U.S. athletes, then viewers are willing to pay close attention. Felix, win or lose, does give us a show, sprinting as fast as she can, not to only awe spectators but chase her dream of standing tall on the podium with Olympic gold around her neck. This time, it was Felix who won her heat easily on Friday in a time of 11.01 seconds, advancing to Saturday’s semifinals and angling for well-respected, a most precious prize of representing a country as an Olympian. Her coach happens to be Florence Griffith-Joyner, the husband of Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
Her performances and speed, although she has not brought the same kind of intensity into the Olympics, is what allows her to own the moniker as the fastest women in the United States, if not the world. From her body of work, which has been seen over the years, she has won three world championships in the 200 meter and finished second at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. But if she’d like to post the quickest time and respectively finish first to accept the gold medal, an award she has been dreaming of and running after for years, Felix must beat rival Campbell-Brown. Felix saw an opportunity to accomplish her No. 1 goal, as she stated so often over the years.
She wants gold, not silver, not bronze. Gold.
The pressure is on as she can rise to stardom, already a rising star in these games, considering that she’s one of America’s fastest women in the world. When she finally arrived in London, after training hard in Los Angeles for the 2012 Summer Olympics, she could have run a marathon around Great Britain. The reigning three-time world 200m champion, Felix, enters as favorite with Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica standing in her way to once again try and unhinge her pursuit of becoming the next beautiful American dream. These games feels like her moment to capture the world’s attention, her moment to shine, proudly wearing the red, white and blue of the United States, representing a nation where it has produced some of the top competitors to take on elite Olympians from all over the world.
Thus, she has twice finished second to Campbell-Brown in the 200-meter at the Games after qualifying in heats running onto the track with a goal on her mind. The two-time silver medalist insisted she is much-improved and can win multiple gold medals, as her goal of winning seems well within reach. She’s dreaming about earning her gold, not silver, which she won at the age of 18 at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The weigh of expectations that she may not exceed, the notion of failure and incompleteness are what the naysayers are thinking about, not kind to give her the benefit of the doubt, although four years later makes a difference in one’s performance.
Even at 26, Felix has been mentioned in the same breath as Marion Jones and has the weight her on shoulders to try and surpass a former U.S. sprinter whose sensational performance in Sydney was later tainted because of performance-enhancing drugs. In contrast, Felix has never tested positive for banned substances, which means nobody has placed an asterisk next to her incredible mark. Not once in her Olympic career has she fallen from grace or into deep shame. The world will be looking on to watch Felix hopefully sprint her way into the finish for an elusive individual Olympic gold medal, when she is arguably the fastest U.S. sprinter in track and field nowadays, with another crack to post an exceptional time and have a personal best in the 200 for the first time since in five years. The notion of track and field is that competition is about the fastest, strongest, or toughest, and Felix might just be the fastest, strongest, or toughest woman in these games, a track star who is gifted to blow past every runner in both the 100 and 200.
If she strides in the 100 and solidifies her Olympic career, for the most part, she will be a megastar in the world of track and field. If not, she will have to live with the doubt and misery of failing to capture a gold medal. In the women’s sprints, with all the attention pointing in her direction and really no one else’s, Felix is the more talked-about athlete and is joined by Carmelita Jeter and Tianna Madison. You’ve seen Felix race down the track like a cheetah on the prowl, a burst of speed during the final seconds of her race. At top speed, she just keeps running, on the flat surfaces as thousands of spectators watch from the stands amaze by her incredible agility and swiftness, dashing to the finish with an unbelievable time. For years now, she’s been running, training hard to develop her craft and preparing specifically for these games.
For years, she has been doubted and disrespected as much as she’s finally gotten the credit where credit is due, including in these Olympics favorite to walk away with the bright hardware that she hopes to drape around her neck this time around, awestruck by her improvement and odds of beating the Jamaican girl and other sprinters. With Felix in the middle of the strangest controversy due to a mishandled runoff, in which she and Jeneba Tarmoh finished in a dead heat for the USA’s final spot in the 100 meters, she just missed qualifying for the 100, a race Jeter won as Madison crossed the line second. And when she was disgusted by her fourth-place finish at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Eugene, Ore., while a review of the race conceded that Felix and Tarmoh finished in a dead beat, Tarmoh withdrew from a runoff and Felix was given the spot in the Olympic 100.
It’s no coincidence that we are embracing her as a true heroine or either an American disillusionment, an iconic sprinter anticipated to have a few races of her lifetime, particularly after Tarmoh determined the final Olympic spot by barely beating Felix for third place before it was overturned. Heretofore, she really wasn’t even eligible to compete in her best event, a race that exposes her strength and rarely a weakness and a few other activities she takes on in the summer games. It seems more people like her chances, including disbelievers, which she can likely come away with the gold. It may just be her time to spice up the games for the American folks watching from coast to coast, from state to state, from city to city, from living room to living room, from TV set to TV set.
We tend to fall in love with our superstars in America, and when it involves mano-a-mano competition that comprise of U.S. athletes, then viewers are willing to pay close attention. Felix, win or lose, does give us a show, sprinting as fast as she can, not to only awe spectators but chase her dream of standing tall on the podium with Olympic gold around her neck. This time, it was Felix who won her heat easily on Friday in a time of 11.01 seconds, advancing to Saturday’s semifinals and angling for well-respected, a most precious prize of representing a country as an Olympian. Her coach happens to be Florence Griffith-Joyner, the husband of Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
Her performances and speed, although she has not brought the same kind of intensity into the Olympics, is what allows her to own the moniker as the fastest women in the United States, if not the world. From her body of work, which has been seen over the years, she has won three world championships in the 200 meter and finished second at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. But if she’d like to post the quickest time and respectively finish first to accept the gold medal, an award she has been dreaming of and running after for years, Felix must beat rival Campbell-Brown. Felix saw an opportunity to accomplish her No. 1 goal, as she stated so often over the years.
She wants gold, not silver, not bronze. Gold.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
2012 Olympics: Usain Bolt Still Has That Swagger
This is Usain Bolt‘s moment, the most extraordinary story waiting to be told at the 2012 Summer Games in London, the one time he can wear Jamaica’s Olympics gear designed by Bob Marley’s daughter and strap on his golden Puma shoes and claim gold medals as the fastest man in the world. He is the quickest sprinter, and in the blink of an eye, he can run faster than Sonic the Hedgehog. Never has there, as one can recall, been a man as fast as Bolt, at least not from Kingston, Jamaica.
And, in London, like the time he won by remarkable margins at the 2008 Sumer Games in Beijing and 2009 world championships in Berlin, he’s again favored to run the fastest and float across the finish line unbeaten. If he reaches the finish to conquer gold medals, he leans back, with his arms tilted and the left hand pointing skyward for his famous victory pose, and then jogs around the track with the Jamaican flag draped across his shoulders. As a child, growing up three hours away in Jamaica’s rural North West, he loved playing a game called cricket. But then one day, his coach saw potential and convinced him to pursue running. Bolt, a world-class Jamaican track star, found a passion for running at a young age.
It’s likely that his coach had seen something in him and knew he’d someday turn famous and showcase his wheels in track and field, earning endorsement deals from Gatorade and Puma, defined as one of the greatest athletes to ever compete in the Olympics. It’s a sign that he was willing to meet the challenge and stand as a competitor against runners on their quest for gold medals. When he tried running at early age, faster than lightning and born with raw talent, Bolt ran at top speed and Dwayne Barrett and Pablo McNeil inspired him to expand on his speed and swagger. As he gotten better over the years, being that he was a gifted runner, he won his first silver medal in the 200 meters with a time of 22.04 seconds at the annual high school championships in 2001 and rose as a star rather quickly.
As the years went by, Bolt finished with a best of 48.28 seconds in the 400 meters and won a silver medal at the CARIFTA Games in 2001, a Caribbean regional competition. Bolt would go on to record a time of 21.81 in the 200 meters and earned a silver medal — and raced at the 2001 IAAF World Youth Championships in Debrecen, Hungary, a world level event in which he never qualified for the 200 meters final. The amazing thing is, he still finish with a time of 21.73 seconds, for a personal best. The matchups would become effortless each time, and other runners had no shot against Bolt, unable to keep pace with the speediest man alive, unable to cross the finish line without being exhausted and overworked by trying to outdistance him. At every opportunity, Bolt was more noteworthy and faster than before, and had impressive numbers at the Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships, setting the record of 20.61 seconds and 47.12 seconds in the event.
By then, they surely knew who Bolt was after those extraordinary races, a sprinter who fuels on Gatorade and prepares and trains for the stiffest competition, even though his competitiveness and sturdiness has never been a problem during his superlative Olympic games. So respectfully, with all that has happened in his teenage days, Bolt’s work ethic, rigorous preparations and workouts have benefited in his favor, such as the time he won a gold and two silver medals at the age 15 when he raced at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Kingston. Beginning his new journey Bolt was the center of national attention and acclamation for his exceptional speed and performances.
After winning a gold medal at the 2003 World Youth Championships, plus breaking records in both the 400 and 200 meters in his last Jamaican High School Championships with 45.30 seconds and 20.25 seconds, he was advertised as the fastest athlete in the world and had been distinguished as a top-notch runner. Favored to dominate in his particular sport, though he’s been struggling with leg and back problems, Bolt is focused and poised in effort to heighten his legacy and represent his native homeland as one of the greatest to ever run for Jamaica, where he is a beloved icon. You can see Bolt’s sense of responsibility four years later. By flashing back, he was arrogant and a showboat as it was a turnoff for many, and he wasn’t the most likable guy around the globe. It’s in his nature suddenly to avoid premature celebrations and compete at the highest level.
And behind it all, entering the 2012 London Games, Bolt is likely vulnerable to plunge to his rival, training partner Yohan Blake, who beat the world’s dangerous sprinter twice at Jamaica’s Olympic trials. The day he set a personal best in the 100 with his finish in 9.75, Blake, in retrospect, was the subject of many regards and gleamed at a moment that Bolt was doubted and questioned. But, to get a few things straight, he is still a menace and is certain he can heal his disappointments and struggles to put fear in the hearts of every runner, including his Jamaican team member, Blake. And more than anyone — the culture of Jamaican sports, the love of running, the investment of conditioning and exhausted training and discipline and the second nature of their heritage — Bolt is simply the best.
If he prevails, he can easily be one of Olympics most gracious athletes and fastest all time. And Bolt, meanwhile, owns 100m and 200m Olympic titles. His moment perfectly came in 2008 when he shattered the world record and won the 100m effortlessly in Beijing. The most perceptible thing about Bolt, besides that he’s mercurial and speedy and can amass gold, silver and bronze medals on his quest to complete a race with the most wondrous track time, is his blatant 6ft 5in frame and blazing vehemence. He has chicken nuggets for his pre-race meal, an unhealthy diet that fuels him to race at such an all-time high. For years now, he’s been known to be “Lightning Bolt,” a trademark that perfectly fits his brand. At age 25, he’s feeling good and can produce astonishing performance to shatter his own world-record 9.69 seconds in the 100. Ricky Simms, Bolt’s agent, told reporters about two weeks ago that Bolt had no tightness in his hamstring and has returned to high-speed, not hindered by chronic back problems or leg injuries.
It’s hard, though he’s nursing injuries that can have a damaging impact on him, to dismiss a runner as good as Bolt. It wouldn’t be right, nor smart to rule out the world’s fastest sprinter, injured or not, because he’s recorded three faster times this year alone. He isn’t worried but disbelievers are left to wonder if he can avert poor starts.
But a couple of days away from another Olympic appearance, Bolt has a chance to not only dominate, but also an opportunity, a golden opportunity to accumulate a large number of gold medals if he runs proficiently and briskly. If that someone can achieve, it’s no one other than Usain Bolt.
And, in London, like the time he won by remarkable margins at the 2008 Sumer Games in Beijing and 2009 world championships in Berlin, he’s again favored to run the fastest and float across the finish line unbeaten. If he reaches the finish to conquer gold medals, he leans back, with his arms tilted and the left hand pointing skyward for his famous victory pose, and then jogs around the track with the Jamaican flag draped across his shoulders. As a child, growing up three hours away in Jamaica’s rural North West, he loved playing a game called cricket. But then one day, his coach saw potential and convinced him to pursue running. Bolt, a world-class Jamaican track star, found a passion for running at a young age.
It’s likely that his coach had seen something in him and knew he’d someday turn famous and showcase his wheels in track and field, earning endorsement deals from Gatorade and Puma, defined as one of the greatest athletes to ever compete in the Olympics. It’s a sign that he was willing to meet the challenge and stand as a competitor against runners on their quest for gold medals. When he tried running at early age, faster than lightning and born with raw talent, Bolt ran at top speed and Dwayne Barrett and Pablo McNeil inspired him to expand on his speed and swagger. As he gotten better over the years, being that he was a gifted runner, he won his first silver medal in the 200 meters with a time of 22.04 seconds at the annual high school championships in 2001 and rose as a star rather quickly.
As the years went by, Bolt finished with a best of 48.28 seconds in the 400 meters and won a silver medal at the CARIFTA Games in 2001, a Caribbean regional competition. Bolt would go on to record a time of 21.81 in the 200 meters and earned a silver medal — and raced at the 2001 IAAF World Youth Championships in Debrecen, Hungary, a world level event in which he never qualified for the 200 meters final. The amazing thing is, he still finish with a time of 21.73 seconds, for a personal best. The matchups would become effortless each time, and other runners had no shot against Bolt, unable to keep pace with the speediest man alive, unable to cross the finish line without being exhausted and overworked by trying to outdistance him. At every opportunity, Bolt was more noteworthy and faster than before, and had impressive numbers at the Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships, setting the record of 20.61 seconds and 47.12 seconds in the event.
By then, they surely knew who Bolt was after those extraordinary races, a sprinter who fuels on Gatorade and prepares and trains for the stiffest competition, even though his competitiveness and sturdiness has never been a problem during his superlative Olympic games. So respectfully, with all that has happened in his teenage days, Bolt’s work ethic, rigorous preparations and workouts have benefited in his favor, such as the time he won a gold and two silver medals at the age 15 when he raced at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Kingston. Beginning his new journey Bolt was the center of national attention and acclamation for his exceptional speed and performances.
After winning a gold medal at the 2003 World Youth Championships, plus breaking records in both the 400 and 200 meters in his last Jamaican High School Championships with 45.30 seconds and 20.25 seconds, he was advertised as the fastest athlete in the world and had been distinguished as a top-notch runner. Favored to dominate in his particular sport, though he’s been struggling with leg and back problems, Bolt is focused and poised in effort to heighten his legacy and represent his native homeland as one of the greatest to ever run for Jamaica, where he is a beloved icon. You can see Bolt’s sense of responsibility four years later. By flashing back, he was arrogant and a showboat as it was a turnoff for many, and he wasn’t the most likable guy around the globe. It’s in his nature suddenly to avoid premature celebrations and compete at the highest level.
And behind it all, entering the 2012 London Games, Bolt is likely vulnerable to plunge to his rival, training partner Yohan Blake, who beat the world’s dangerous sprinter twice at Jamaica’s Olympic trials. The day he set a personal best in the 100 with his finish in 9.75, Blake, in retrospect, was the subject of many regards and gleamed at a moment that Bolt was doubted and questioned. But, to get a few things straight, he is still a menace and is certain he can heal his disappointments and struggles to put fear in the hearts of every runner, including his Jamaican team member, Blake. And more than anyone — the culture of Jamaican sports, the love of running, the investment of conditioning and exhausted training and discipline and the second nature of their heritage — Bolt is simply the best.
If he prevails, he can easily be one of Olympics most gracious athletes and fastest all time. And Bolt, meanwhile, owns 100m and 200m Olympic titles. His moment perfectly came in 2008 when he shattered the world record and won the 100m effortlessly in Beijing. The most perceptible thing about Bolt, besides that he’s mercurial and speedy and can amass gold, silver and bronze medals on his quest to complete a race with the most wondrous track time, is his blatant 6ft 5in frame and blazing vehemence. He has chicken nuggets for his pre-race meal, an unhealthy diet that fuels him to race at such an all-time high. For years now, he’s been known to be “Lightning Bolt,” a trademark that perfectly fits his brand. At age 25, he’s feeling good and can produce astonishing performance to shatter his own world-record 9.69 seconds in the 100. Ricky Simms, Bolt’s agent, told reporters about two weeks ago that Bolt had no tightness in his hamstring and has returned to high-speed, not hindered by chronic back problems or leg injuries.
It’s hard, though he’s nursing injuries that can have a damaging impact on him, to dismiss a runner as good as Bolt. It wouldn’t be right, nor smart to rule out the world’s fastest sprinter, injured or not, because he’s recorded three faster times this year alone. He isn’t worried but disbelievers are left to wonder if he can avert poor starts.
But a couple of days away from another Olympic appearance, Bolt has a chance to not only dominate, but also an opportunity, a golden opportunity to accumulate a large number of gold medals if he runs proficiently and briskly. If that someone can achieve, it’s no one other than Usain Bolt.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Shocking Result: Tyson Gay Upsets “Fastest Man in the World” Usain Bolt
In a surprising finish to many, defending World Record holder, and Olympic champion Usain Bolt of Jamaica was upset by the United States Tyson Gay, who beat the “Fastest Man in the World” by an astonishing .13 seconds to win the 100 Meter heat posting a 9.84 time to Bolt’s disappointing 9.97.
Bolt first rocked the world at the 2008 Beijing Olympics when he won Gold in both the 100 Meter and 200 Meter races, becoming the first man since Carl Lewis did it in 1984 to sweep both Olympic sprints.
He electrified the world even further when he proceeded to set a new world record last August at the world championships in Berlin with a nearly unbelievable time of 9.58 in the 100 Meter race.
Coming into these events, most thought he would easily win out over Gay, as he’d ran faster even this year than Gay’s winning time in this meet, posting a 9.82 time just a month ago in Lausanne, Switzerland.
As the race approached, the fans became silent, and their anxiety likely increased when there were two false starts prior to the race finally being run.
Once the race did begin, for the first stretch of the race, it seemed like it would end like all the others Bolt had taken part in, with him being the victor. Usain and Gay raced side by side in lanes four and five, and there was nothing immediately to indicate this would be an upset.
However, as the race progressed Gay seemed far more comfortable in his strides and in total control of the race, while Bolt seemed unusually uncomfortable.
Whatever the cause of this, the American pulled away from the Jamaican as Usain struggled to keep up.
“I think it showed that I wasn’t in the best of shape,” Bolt said after the race about his struggles. “I’m not unbeatable. I can be beaten and it showed today.”
Tyson Gay wasn’t crowing about the win afterward, though, recognizing Bolt’s physical struggles aided him in the win when he said, “I’m really happy with the win, even though Usain Bolt isn’t in the best shape It was very important to beat someone like that for the fans and the sport.”
It was even more of an upset to some because of the fact Gay had been struggling a bit of late. However, he has apparently now put himself right into the mix for the 2012 Olympic Games, and will easily be seen as one of the favorites, along with Bolt, to medal. Hopefully he can do well in those games and possibly beat Bolt again and take gold.
Bolt isn’t conceding that possibility, though, or losing to Gay or anyone else in the future.
“This is my easy season,” he added. “If you don’t beat me this season it’s not going to happen next season because next year is a championship year.”
Yet, with this win, despite Bolt’s apparent physical struggles, Gay has once again showed he’s one of the world’s top runners, and has shown he isn’t done yet.
In fact, he’s just getting started.
Race Notes: Richard Thompson of Trinidad placed third, posting a 10.10 time in the meet. Asafa Powell of Jamaica was forced to drop out Wednesday due to a back injury. This denied fans the chance to see the world’s “three” fastest men face each other.
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