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Not many expected Usain Bolt — the greatest sprinter ever — to bring the world record to the amazing 9.58s, that he did at the 2009 Worlds in Berlin. Many felt that it came at least 20 years too early.
When Coroebus, a cook, won the first documented event at the Ancient Olympic Games in 776 B.C., one could image the multitude that rushed to greet him. In those days, the Olympians ran nude in Olympia in Greece, and Coroebus went something like 200 yards on a sanded course to come up with the most wonderful moment of his life.
There’s something remarkable about the sprint, because the 630-foot race, which roughly equates to 192 metres, or about the length of the stadium at the time, was the Olympiad’s sole event, held every four years for 13 editions. The race was known as the’stade’, and the name stadium was derived from it.
Centuries later, when the modern Olympics were established in 1896 in Athens, Greece, the first race was the 100m, and American Francis Lane won the first heat, becoming the first man to win an Olympic race. Another American, Thomas Burke, a quartermiler, became the fastest man at the inaugural Olympics, winning in 12.0 seconds after recording 11.8 seconds in the semifinals. He was one of the only men to use the crouching start back then.
Frank Jarvis, a descendant of the first U.S.A President George Washington, beat Burke’s time, clocking 11.0s for the gold at the next Olympics in 1900 after timing a world record-equalling 10.8s in his heat.Digging a ‘launch pad’Starting blocks, which helped sprinters accelerate quickly by giving them an extra push off the ground at the start of the race, were introduced in the Olympics only in 1948, but even before that, athletes used to dig their own ‘launch pad’ into the ground at the starting line.
Jesse Owens, the legend The legendary American sprinter Jesse Owens, who entered Berlin as the world record holder in the 100m, 200m and long jump, won a historic four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics in front of an unimpressed Adolf Hitler. Later, he was forced to run against horses and trains after being banned from amateur competitions by Avery Brudage, the president of the US Olympic Committee and the Amateur Athletics Union then, for refusing to fulfill commercial obligations.
For those looking for landmarks, American Jim Hines broke the 10-second barrier in the 100m at the 1968 Mexico Olympics, where he took gold. It came 72 years after the first Olympics, and it took another 42 years for a white man to do a sub-10s run when Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre clocked 9.98s in 2010. A phenomenon Still, not many expected Usain Bolt — the greatest sprinter ever — to achieve the world record of 9.58s in 100m at the 2009 Worlds in Berlin. Many felt that it came at least 20 years too early.
But Bolt is one of a kind, a phenomenon, and probably the greatest track and field athlete of all time. Despite his 6’5” frame, which many felt was not ideal for the short sprint, Bolt made it look so easy, and he completed a hat-trick of Olympic titles in the 100m and 200m (in 2008, 2012 and 2016).
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