This entry was written by David Pickle, the NCAA's Managing Director of Publishing.
One would think that you would feel only exhilaration after watching Usain Bolt fly through 100 meters in 9.69 seconds to win the Olympic gold medal Saturday night.
Certainly, it was an incredible sight watching the 6-foot-5 Jamaican obliterate the field and lower his own world record by .03 seconds at the same time. Still, many viewers had to be left with feelings other than excitement after watching Bolt exult for the last 25 meters. In the process, he probably missed a chance to lower the world record much further.
Marc Burns of Trinidad and Tobago, who finished seventh, said he thought Bolt could have gone as low as 9.54 seconds had he not taken time to look back and the field and then extend his arms. (Some experts said the relaxation at the finish may have actually made him go faster, although that clearly was not his intent.)
After the race, the first question Bolt faced was not about his amazing performance but rather how much time he squandered. Bolt was dismissive to the point of seeming irritated, saying he did not care about such things.
The question, of course, is whether he should care, and I believe the answer is yes. On one level, it's Bolt's business to identify his own goals, and winning the gold medal clearly was his only goal. At Bolt's level, though, I believe he owes it to the sport to define the limits of performance.
Given his youth, it's easy to say that Bolt will get other opportunities to lower the world record to the level that he appears to be capable of. He'll get a couple of more chances at these Games to run to the finish when he teams with other Jamaican sprinters in the 400-meter relay and when he takes a shot at Michael Johnson's previously-assumed-to-be-untouchable record of 19.32 seconds in the 200-meter dash.
Ultimately, there's no denying that Bolt is a special talent, and one does feel curmudgeony in not validating the joy that he felt in his moment of achievement. My hope is that he can postpone the celebration for a quarter of a second if another opportunity arises.
