Lightning Bolt

Recess touched on it already, but I'll expand. Usain Bolt is the fastest human being ever. Now I'm really hoping he never gets a positive drug test, because that would suck.

Jamaica has turned out champion after champion in track, but never for their own country. Canada's fastest men - Ben Johnson and Donovan Bailey were both Jamaican-born. Now, that country's finally getting their guys running for them.

But Bolt's getting some flack - he didn't run full out until he broke the 200m record, he stuck out his arms and turned his head and beat his chest during the last 20m of the 100m because he was so far ahead... and he broke the record anyway. His qualifying runs looked like easy jogs for him.

It's a good thing I'm not 22 and the world's fastest human. I'd be insufferable. The guy isn't cocky, he's HAPPY. You come from a poor country, and not only win an event for that country for the first time ever but break the world record in doing so. He's a national hero, and his performances were so dominating (I can't wait until the 4x100 today) that he rivals Phelps for best of the games in my mind. Let him celebrate... Michael Johnson was 10x the tool this guy could imagine being.

As for not demolishing the world record - like he said, he'll do that on the circuit, but the Olympics is for gold, not records. If he ran the 100m in 9.5 seconds, what do people strive for? Why do people bother watching other events? By keeping it high, the record stays beatable. Wouldn't you rather break the record 12 more times instead of doing it just once? He's no dummy... boy's gonna get PAID. Good for him. Plus, it creates the illusion that he may still be catchable, because he didn't beat the world record by THAT much, right?

And of course, he still can't get a decent start out of the blocks. If he can figure that out, get a legal tailwind, and run full out one day... I expect he'll retire right after because the record will stand for decades.

Oh - and yay Canada again! 15 medals now - another gold and silver today. I do believe we just reached our expected number, despite the naysayers for the first week of sucking.