2008 Woodie Awards
US track still solid, despite Jamaica's dominance
Staff writer calls for viewers to step back and recognize the strong showing of the United States.
By: Tyrone Gayle
Issue date: 8/29/08 Section: Sports
Blink, and you might miss them. Turn your head, and you might miss a world record. Athletes running so fast (near 30 mph), jumping so high and throwing so far, the idea that the human body can accomplish such feats is simply mind-boggling. The track and field portion of the Beijing Olympics was one for the record books, literally.
Coming into the games, most expected the U.S. team to be the center of attention with several No. 1 ranked athletes and defending World Champions in their respective events (see: Jeremy Wariner, Torri Edwards, Lolo Jones, Sanya Richards, Tyson Gay, Allyson Felix, Bernard Lagat and 400 meter relay team x2).
Alas, it was clearly not meant to be for these individuals as none captured the gold in their individual events. As Michael Phelps was to swimming, Usain Bolt was to track, two-fold. Swimming world records were broken every day in the Olympic games, which is in itself stunning, but a bit unrealistic when the term "world records" is really analyzed. Records are yes, meant to be broken, but it would be nice to have one that stands the test of time, come on now.
On the flip side, coming into the Olympics 30 of the 40 total track and field records had been set before the year 2000.
Now those are truly records. Like a comet streaking across the midnight sky, Bolt put on a performance that was so utterly brilliant and magnificent; he left almost complete certainty that we will never see anything like that again.
While Phelps and his quest for eight gold medals was the story heading into the Beijing Olympics, Bolt exploded in the middle, hotdogging in the 100 (9.69 seconds), driving hard to the finish in the 200 (19.30) then grabbing the lead and handing off to teammate Asafa Powell in the 400 relay (37.10), in blowout fashion. Bolt said it best when after the relay he proclaimed, "All I can say is: yo, Jamaican sprinters, taking over the world."
How dominant was Bolt? Well, in case you missed it, he blasted the first half of the 100-meter final and had the competition beat so severely midway that he was able to make the last 20 meters look like a Sunday afternoon walk around the Botanical Gardens, in a chest-slapping-finger-pointing-pure-exuberance kind of way. No biggie.
Coming into the games, most expected the U.S. team to be the center of attention with several No. 1 ranked athletes and defending World Champions in their respective events (see: Jeremy Wariner, Torri Edwards, Lolo Jones, Sanya Richards, Tyson Gay, Allyson Felix, Bernard Lagat and 400 meter relay team x2).
Alas, it was clearly not meant to be for these individuals as none captured the gold in their individual events. As Michael Phelps was to swimming, Usain Bolt was to track, two-fold. Swimming world records were broken every day in the Olympic games, which is in itself stunning, but a bit unrealistic when the term "world records" is really analyzed. Records are yes, meant to be broken, but it would be nice to have one that stands the test of time, come on now.
On the flip side, coming into the Olympics 30 of the 40 total track and field records had been set before the year 2000.
Now those are truly records. Like a comet streaking across the midnight sky, Bolt put on a performance that was so utterly brilliant and magnificent; he left almost complete certainty that we will never see anything like that again.
While Phelps and his quest for eight gold medals was the story heading into the Beijing Olympics, Bolt exploded in the middle, hotdogging in the 100 (9.69 seconds), driving hard to the finish in the 200 (19.30) then grabbing the lead and handing off to teammate Asafa Powell in the 400 relay (37.10), in blowout fashion. Bolt said it best when after the relay he proclaimed, "All I can say is: yo, Jamaican sprinters, taking over the world."
How dominant was Bolt? Well, in case you missed it, he blasted the first half of the 100-meter final and had the competition beat so severely midway that he was able to make the last 20 meters look like a Sunday afternoon walk around the Botanical Gardens, in a chest-slapping-finger-pointing-pure-exuberance kind of way. No biggie.
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