Usain Bolt = Phenomenal Swag
I’m in the middle of a real busy weekend, but I had to take a second to post about Usain Bolt’s electrifying (yes pun) performance in the men’s 100m sprint yesterday. It wasn’t even that he broke his own world record (from 9.72 down to 9.69), but it was how effortlessly he ran all throughout the competition. He won every qualifying heat so easily that he actually let up with 30 meters left each time. When the final came, everyone anticipated that he’d finally have to run the full race at top speed.
[Charlie Murphy] wrong…WRONG. [/Charlie Murphy]
From the start of the race, it was clear that Bolt was surpremely confident. He bounced around and struck poses before getting in the blocks. While everyone else wore hi-tech singlets, hoping to shave every possible split second off their time, Usain rocked some shorts and a normal little tank top. Oh, and his left shoe was untied:
(are you kidding me?)
After a decent start and first 40 meters, Bolt turned it on and absolutely blew out his competition. So much so that he let up again, this time throwing his arms out and beating his chest in celebration, a good 20 meters before the finish line:
As the 7 other fastest people on the planet strained towards the line, Bolt glided past it and continued on into his victory lap. In between talking with his family and grabbing a Jamaican flag to show off to the world, he danced and broke out the classic ‘airplane’ move:
Again, it wasn’t just that he ran 100 meters faster than any human in history. It’s that he did it so easily and so relaxed, almost as if it was a mere formality. Apparently, it was. Truly, a display for the ages and one worthy of instant inauguration to the Swag Hall of Fame.
Looking at the pictures doesn’t do it justice, but thanks to NBC’s draconian restrictions on archived video from the Games, you’ll have to watch it on their site here. If you’re outside the US, NBC hates you and you’ll have to find it on your local Olympics carrier instead. Their coverage has been pretty good (aside from Bob Costas repeatedly mispronouncing Beijing), but the lack of archived video is killing me. In any case, find a way to watch the race and look out for Bolt running his real specialty in the 200m. This dude is unreal.
Also, some guy named Michael Phelps won his 8th gold medal over the weekend. Yeah…that was kind of cool too. The Olympics are incredible!
Tags: bolt, gold, jamaica, olympics, phelps, sprint, swag, usain
That performance was remarkable. Everybody is debating how much faster Bolt could have ran if he didn’t start shutting down early but I actually like the fact that he did that. It adds to the memory, the achievement, and more importantly, the complete domination.
I agree, except the only thing I worry about is that he may never reach that level again. I guess that seems far fetched, seeing how easily he ran a 9.69, but it just seems like you don’t play around with greatness. When you’re giving a performance like that, you go all out and set the bar as high as possible. I would hate for him to somehow never get close to that again, and we’d all wonder what could have been.
As long as he runs a full 100m at top speed at some point, I’ll be happy. I can’t wait to see him obliterate the 200m!
SWAG HALL OF FAME!!!!!
That was a perfeect finish. That IS what greatness is all about!!!
Completely ridiculous. Hahaha, I didn’t notice the untied shoe at the time.
[…] you missed Usain’s incredible 100m sprint, here’s the video. Even though it’s taken from the BBC feed, it probably won’t be […]
[…] Martinez, DJ Enuff, and Cipha Sounds at Hot 97 in New York. The interview happened right after Usain Bolt’s domination, and since Kardi has Jamaican roots, you know he was proud. They also talk a little about his […]