Amazing that in a sport so long dominated by the US, that Jamaica manage a clean sweep on 200m medal places. Given the extreme differences in population (300m to 2.5m) and resource, an unprecedented achievement in the focal Olympic sport. Reckon there'll be a fair bit of partying round these ways tonight... With all the medals GB have picked-up, a massive and equally unprecedented achievement in itself, I can't help wishing we'd have managed a few quality sprinters to further upset the balance. Oh well. Can't have everything I s'pose!
TF should sign Bolt, can't do any worse than Hulse, DJ or Bothroyd. Plus it would put us even more on the global football map.
Thanks for posting Brix. Was actually going to put up a post asking you if Brixton (the place not you big chief) was rocking tonight as I know you have a large population of Jamaican descendants in your area. Amazing feat for a country of that size. Tradition and genes counts I reckon.
Two things you have to take into account are 1.99% of the jamaican population are black. And due to their much higher muscle density, they are able to run faster than white people of equal fitness. It's also why you won't find them winning swimming races. And 2. 99% of Americans are obese!!.. ;-)
Bolt is a supreme athlete and for all the time and money the US have thrown in to track and field over the past few decades, they have never produced a sprinter like him. Even Blake is light years ahead of what they have. Amazing.
And Jamaica was celebrarting the 50th annversary of their independence on Monday. I'm sure there was a party and it's gotta be going on still
Brixton is indeed rocking! This was the scene round the corner from me when Bolt won the 100m (which conveniently coincided with 50 years of Jamaican independence). http://www.urban75.org/blog/usain-bolt-wins-and-the-brixton-cake-shop-goes-wild/ ...and that's just the local cake shop!
For longer thank I remember, Toronto has hosted a Caribbean festival aound this time of the year - it was hopping some here on the weekend too
A superb achievement by a superb athlete from a tiny country...Just wish Grenada had sent a few more....!
Looks that way sometimes dunnit... I hear that half the golds GB have won were won by Yorkshire folk. Maybe it's something in the pudd'n! Anyway, that's not the point though is it? Tiny island cleaned up. Beat all comers - including millions of similarly built black men! How's that happen?
As this seems to be the 'Caribbean appreciation' thread it couldn't go on without a salute to Lalonde Gordon, the only Trinnie Bronze medalist at the games so far !! Well done that man !!!
There was an interesting piece on the BBC before the 200m final. It was discussing sprinting in general, and it specifically said that the Darwinian 'survival of the fittest' trait has possibly contributed to current sprinting, because pretty much all the black athletes (whether from the US, the Carribean, the UK or anywhere) can trace their ancestry back to people who were strong enough to survive the rigours of slavery. Not completely sure I agree wholeheartedly, but they put forward a good case. One supporting fact is that only one white athlete has ever dipped under 10 seconds for the 100m - Christophe Lemaitre of France. Sub 10-second races are now viewed as commonplace, but the statistic remains. Still, Jamaica can have the 100m and 200m - as long as they can't ride bikes or row boats, that's fine!
It was a tongue in cheek comment. Put simply, Usain bolt is just one of those freaks of nature that comes along once in a blue moon. He is an outstanding specimen. No one as tall as him should be that fast over short distances, and we're just lucky to be around to see it. As for Blake, well, he's probably spurred on by training with bolt and determined to beat him one day...
And there's Warren Weir (the bronze medalist), a comparative shrimp against the likes of Bolt. Okay, so he didn't get near Bolt or Yohan Blake - but still beat everyone else.
As a former runner ( englishg schools champ, british team comp) i can assure you that either the Jamacan team are all freaks of nature..or..there is something "diffrent" in thier training regimes..... I know, first hand ; how hard it is to make a 1/100th improvement......but 1 whole second..? I could understand it if 1 runner progressed that much over the given time...but the whole team.? I truely hope (with all my heart) that its all clean, but sadly....my mind says no...! Still, my favourite race of all time is the Ben Johnson win.....I just love watching that over..if you ever get a chance, watch - "the race that changed the world"..bbc i think
It must be a bit depressing for the other sprinters. Bolt is so far ahead that basically, as long as he doesn't step out of his lane or false start and is fit, he CAN'T be beaten. I know Blake beat him in the qualifiers but Bolt wasn't fit. Imagine a sport where all the other competitors knew they couldn't win, that is essentially what happened before the 100m and 200m. Blake was trying to celebrate with Bolt at the end, but when he ws on his own for a second the camera zoomed in on him and he looked a bit depressed really. All that training and he knows he can never beat Bolt if Bolt wants to win/doesn't mess up. Would love to have race with Bolt just to see what its like someone running that fast close-up
