2009 World Athletics Championships - Berlin

Jamaica’s 4x100 relay squad is stacked. Usain Bolt and Usain Bolt on the same team? 🙏🙏 Absolutely insane. 🙏🙏

God.

The moon is just unreal, 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏 — absolutely incredible!

Bozo is king. 😁

Brian Doyle6 said:But man, that one heavy-set guy—you know the one—really held his own out there, sprinting like his life depended on it while he was being chased...

He was definitely running somewhere in the sub-9.5 range—I'm telling you, he was fast. 🙏😁

Bolt. 🙏 Wind at our backs? Please. That’s just wishful thinking—pure, unadulterated delusion. 🙏 The wind was basically giving Bolt a massive push in the back. 🙏

Honestly, they’ve got this incredibly distinct running style—it actually reminds me of... ovo 😁

But while everyone else is out there making those martyr faces, he just cruises through his runs like nothing's wrong, acting like none of it's true 😲

Man, I honestly think those Aborigines might actually be faster than Bolt.😁
He’ll probably end up shattering the 200m record too, if you ask me.
Anyway, does anyone remember what the record was back in Beijing?

The man is a complete phenomenon. I honestly don't know how else to put it. Pure class!🙏 🙏 🙏

Ryan Hayes82 said:I mean, maybe some Aborigines are actually faster than Bolt😁
so they'll probably end up breaking the 200m record too, I guess.
Anyway, does anyone remember what the record was from Beijing?

9.69 ☕
Bolt 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏

And there he goes, Gay crossing the finish line

This record is just something else entirely... the sheer ease with which he sprints through everything in his path is unreal...🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Gay is also phenomenal, truly, but against Bolt, he doesn't stand a chance...

I'm honestly at a loss for words...🙏🙏🙏🙏

It’s honestly pretty wild. I really, truly hope the kid isn't on anything... For years, everyone kept saying that running sub-9.8 was basically science fiction and that nobody could actually hit those times..

Bolt is probably the greatest athlete of all time. Actually, I’d say he’s the most capable athlete ever, especially when you consider his results and the specific demands of his sport. I’ve watched just about everything—live matches, old footage, documentaries—across all kinds of sports and games, but those races Bolt ran in Beijing and Berlin really belong in a league of their own.

I watched Michael Jordan play basketball, and I think he was likely the best athlete in team sports. I followed all of Lance Armstrong's victories on the Tour, seeing how he overcame everything under the toughest conditions. I’ve seen Spitz and Phelps and their incredible streaks of world records and medals. I watched Bubka, Sotomayor, and Edwards, with their untouchable technique and world records that just seem to stay put. Bjorn Borg and Roger Federer used to make their opponents look helpless with such effortless grace. And Janica Kostelić always seemed to find just enough of an edge to win by whatever margin was needed.

But Bolt seems to be beyond all of that. Most athletes operate within certain frameworks—there are limits to records, times, heights, distances, or weights. Then there's Bolt, who exists outside of those boundaries. That 9.58 mark isn't even the ceiling. About ten years ago, I remember listening to Moa Greene talk about how a human might be able to hit around 9.50, or how he himself could reach it if everything aligned perfectly. Greene was a fantastic runner, and he did shave five hundredths off the record at the 1997 SP in Athens, but he was still just human. Still, I guess he was right; even though I probably rolled my eyes at the time, there really is someone capable of running near 9.50. There is Bolt!

Samuel Scott54 said:It’s wild. I seriously hope the kid isn't juicing... For years they kept saying anything under 9.8 was pure science fiction and physically impossible..

I remember them claiming the human body couldn't even take that much stress without bones and tendons snapping...

Anyway, we're down to the wire now. The hammer throw finals kick off at 6:05 PM. It'll be a struggle for Kozmus to snag the gold, but silver is definitely on the table.

So, he pushed it all the way down to 9.58, which is something he honestly could have pulled off back in Beijing... if he wants to hit that 9.50 mark, he’s going to need someone like Tyson Gay to step up and run a 9.65 just to push him there. He really needs that extra bit of motivation to chase a number like that...

northerncanyon54 said:So the German pushed it to 9.58, which he could've done back in Beijing. To hit 9.50, he’d need someone like Gay to run a 9.65 just to give him the chance. He needs some serious motivation to chase a number like that...

Honestly, I think Bolt totally smoked Gay yesterday. Hard to see this guy making any more progress after that...

northerncanyon54 said:That German guy pushed him toward 9.58, which he maybe could have done back in Beijing. To hit 9.50, I guess he’d need someone like Gay to run a 9.65 to pull him along. He probably needs some serious motivation to chase a number like that...

Forget about the competition. Yesterday, Bolt pulled Gay along; it wasn't Gay pushing Bolt. That 9.71 was really Bolt's achievement, not Tyson's. I think Bolt just runs as fast as he decides to go, and yesterday all those talk about a head-to-head rivalry pretty much went down the drain since there isn't actually a duel happening.

I guess the whole Bolt phenomenon really comes down to the fact that he’s got those incredible sprinting genetics combined with... well, just plain long legs. If you look at him versus Tyson Gay, it's pretty clear. Tyson Gay is an amazing sprinter, but he just doesn't have that height or those massive strides that Bolt has... I honestly think that might be where that 0.13 difference comes from.☕

Suddenly Bolt is the greatest athlete of all time. Like, Jesus. God. etc.

I mean, credit where credit is due for last night's performance, but he's nowhere near being the greatest athlete ever.

Daniel Booth37 said:Bolt is the greatest athlete of all time. Actually, he’s the most capable athlete ever when you look at his results and the specific demands of his sport. I’ve watched just about everything—live matches, old footage, documentaries—across all kinds of sports and disciplines, but those races Bolt ran in Beijing and Berlin... they belong in a category entirely their own.

I’ve watched Michael Jordan play basketball, and I’d say he was the greatest athlete in team sports. I’ve watched Lance Armstrong’s victories on the Tour, a man who seemed to rise from the dead to conquer everything under the harshest conditions. I’ve seen Spitz and Phelps, watching those incredible streaks of world records and medals. I’ve watched Bubka, Sotomayor, and Edwards, admiring their untouchable technique and world records that just seem to stand forever. Bjorn Borg and Roger Federer used to leave opponents in tears with such effortless grace. And Janica Kostelić was always miraculously better, by whatever fraction of a second was necessary...

But Bolt is above all of that. There are frameworks for other athletes—sort of these margins within which all records, times, heights, distances, weights, and so on, exist. But beyond all of that, there is Bolt. 9.58 isn't even the limit. About ten years ago, I remember listening to Moa Greene talking about how a human could run around 9.50, and how he himself might hit 9.50 if everything lined up perfectly. Greene was a great runner—he moved the record by five hundredths at the 1997 SP in Athens—but even so, he was just human. Still, he was right, even if I rolled my eyes back then. There is a person who can run near 9.50. There is Bolt!

You have a bit of a romanticized view of sports, maybe a little too much. I think you're way off on some of your conclusions, but hey, I get it... Boltmania is everywhere right now and it's sweeping people away 👍
So, everything you listed isn't on the same level as Bolt? Personally, I think basketball requires much more than track and field does, even looking at it from an athletic standpoint. Not to mention how much more intellectually demanding it is compared to track, especially considering how many doping scandals have plagued the history of the 100m sprint. How is someone like Jordan "lesser" when everyone knows that during a decisive championship play, he’s the one who will take the ball and take the shot? And it wasn't just once for a title, but two years in a row... were the opponents just foolish, or was he truly the best? Not to mention his physical gifts, but above all, he had that athletic wit and that ability to outsmart everyone. It felt like everyone knew and expected his next move, especially during the latter half of his career.
I don't feel like explaining other athletes to you because they don't interest me nearly as much as MJ did when I was a kid... 😉

Noah Ross7 said:Now all of a sudden, Bolt is the greatest athlete of all time. It's like Jesus. Or God.

I mean, I have to give him credit for last night's performance, but he's still quite a long way from being called the greatest athlete ever.

If you look at the bigger picture a bit more (which I know you haven't, since you haven't really seen anything yet), you might see it. I don't really feel like getting into all the details, but I'll just say you should enjoy what you're watching these days because these are achievements that go beyond just sports. Just enjoy it; maybe one day you'll tell your kids you saw him in action live.