Well for the past few days a question that has been doing the round is whether the Sprint King Usain Bolt is beatable or not?
Yohan Blake his fellow countryman has proved that the answer to that question is yes, Bolt can be beaten, by defeating him in the Jamaican Nationals on June 29. Well whether these defeats to Blake was due to some fitness issue or did it come because Bolt is no more the force he used to be would be cleared on August 6th when they go head to head in the London Olympics.
Bolt’s supremacy can come in jeopardy if he starts with a fitness problem as it is being for long speculated. But despite his defeat to Blake few months back or the speculative injury, the Jamaican sprinter still starts as a favorite in the upcoming games. Well a player can just not keep on winning but then when it comes to big events, these players just are on a race among themselves. Bolt’s ‘big event mentality’ has been lauded by his competitors with Tyson Gay commenting that there is hardly anyone who could match that.
Bolt for a record is statistically far more supreme than his challengers. He has 12-1 record over Asafa Powell, 2-1 against Tyson Gay and has five wins over Blake, the man who is seen as the frontrunner to challenge Bolt for his Olympic crown.
Bolt before losing to Blake was on a 14 races unbeaten streak and the defeat came much due to a possible injury. Well the numbers stacks the odds on Bolt’s competitor but then everyone knows that these numbers do not really come into consideration during something like Olympics.
Bolt has lost only two races since Beijing Olympics and has clocked under 9.80s for nine times in the short sprint and 10 marks of 19.75 or better in the 200m. The ‘Lightning Bolt’ as he is aiming to clock 9.4 in 100m which gives an indication that he is perhaps not suffering when it comes to fitness.
And moreover if he had any fitness problems, it would have been highly unlikely that Bolt would make such tall claims because that would jeopardize his stand. His world record timing of 9.58s in the short stands far ahead of the current world champion Blake’s best timing of 9.75 whereas he has been received some threat in the 200m where his fellow Jamaican has clocked 19.26 only second best to Bolt’s 19.19.
What makes Bolt a favorite is that it is his third Olympics and he has never been really tested yet. Gay and Powell have tried in the past but could not do much to stop him. Blake who is participating in his first Olympics looks a solid competitor for him but then whether nerve is yet to be tested in the biggest event of all where Bolt has been reigning supreme for last eight years and how he holds on to it would hold the key for him in the tournament.
By Samikshan Dutta Choudhary
Indian Sports News
