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O cto b #
Lightning Bo^t strikes in Beijing
M ax H ays
Staff Reporter
Many people think
that at the Beijing
Olympics swimmer
Michael Phelps was
the main attraction,
but this is far
from the truth.
While Phelps was
swimming laps in
the pool, Jamaican
sprinter Usain Bolt
was breaking three
of the most sought
after records in the entire
Olympics. The 100 meter
dash, the 200 meter dash
and the 4x100 meter relay,
making him the fastest man
in history.
Bolt didn't just set world
records in these events,
but he did so in effortless
fashion. In the 100 meter
dash, Bolt was so far ahead
he began his celebration
20 meters before the finish
line, still managing to run
the race in 9.69 seconds,
breaking his previous record
and becoming the first man
to run the event in under
9.70 seconds. Imagine if
he had run his hardest the
entire way—scientists and
his coach predict that he
would have run under 9.60
seconds, a feat once thought
to be impossible.
In the 200 meters, Bolt's
self-proclaimed best event,
he ran a 19.30 second race
into a headwind, besting
the world record of 12 years
by .02
seconds.
This
makes him
the only
the man in
the world to
break both of these
coveted records in the same
Olympics.
To finish the act, Bolt and
his Jamaican teammates
Asafa Powell, Nesta Carter
and Michael Frater broke
one last record, the 4 X
100 meter relay. The team
shattered the previous
record that stood for
15 years by .3 seconds
completing the race in 37.10
seconds.
People argue that since
Phelps won eight
^ medals and Bolt
won only three that
Phelps was more
races considered sprints and
16 races in the swimming
category, meaning that Bolt
won 60 percent of the races
in his field while Phelps won
50 percent of his. Also, Bolt
was in only one relay while
Phelps was in three. Almost
half of Phelps' medals were
assisted.
The most intriguing
aspect of Bolt's success is
the fact that his professional
sprinting career is relatively
new while Phelps has been
training
to
swim
successful.
Yes, Phelps did win
five more gold medals than
Bolt, but there are only five
his
entire life. Bolt's
natural talent not
only makes him the
greatest sprinter of all
time, but also the greatest
Olympian.
With humility, Phelps trumps Bolt in Olympic history
B C hristopher E rbin _________
Staff Reporter
One runs with the wind,
one swims like a fish;
Michael Phelps and Usain
Bolt, possibly the greatest
Olympians in history, are
still worlds apart in terms
of accomplishment. The
number of Olympic records,
the gold medal count, even
things as subtle as his overt
humility (I don't think the
same could be said for
Bolt)—the imprint Phelps'
has left on the Olympic
games is enormous, and
Bolt's recent domination
doesn't even begin to
compare.
One of the biggest
factors in determining
whether Phelps or Bolt
was more impressive in the
2008 Summer Olympics
is whether you think
swimming or running is a
more difficult sport in which
to excel. Bolt, the Jamaican
running phenom, broke
three world records in three
attempts while Michael .
Phelps broke eight world
records. Granted, Bolt did
not compete in as many
races as Phelps and Bolt is
the first person to set world
records in both the 100m
and 200m events, which is
hard to do for a runner.
Both Phelps and Bolt
are great athletes, there's
no doubt. But who is
more impressive? Eight *
gold medals, seven world
records, two touch-outs,
and a few complete
blowouts later, Phelps
has not only become the
winningest Olympian of
all time, but he did it in
a manner that involved
no moral controversy or
disrespect towards his
fellow competitors, while
popularizing the sport of
swimming and giving the
world a new obsession.
The same simply cannot
be said for Bolt. I've heard
the arguments before—
that Bolt faced tougher
competition, since running
is a more "natural" sport
in which more people can
excel, whereas Phelps is
just facing people that can
swim. That's a horrendous
argument. For every country
that trains their runners
to win Olympic Gold and
break World Records,
there's a school or training
center that is training young
swimmers beginning with
toddlers, to prime them for
the Olympics by the time
they are 16.
Some people are saying
Bolt only trained for the
100m for a couple of
months. While this may be
true, it is basically saying
that he ran half of the
200m, which he trains for
24/7/365. Phelps swims
different strokes in the
pool. That's more difficult.
It'd be like Bolt shattering
the world records in the
100m and 200m, running
frontward, backward and
skipping.
Phelps, on the other
hand, had a much tougher
path to the finals. He had
a total of nine preliminary
races to get to the eight
finals. The three relays did
not have any preliminaries
in which Phelps swam. His
teammates took care of that.
Four of his five individual
races had two rounds each
of preliminaries. Only
the 400m medley had
one preliminary round.
Although Bolt's races each
had three preliminaries,
none of his races were on
the same day. Phelps' 17
races spanned eight days,
with two days having one
race, three days having two
races, and three days having
three races!
With all eyes on Phelps,
he completely focused on
the task at hand, shutting
out all the distractions of the
media, fans, other athletes,
past races, future races and
anything and everything
else. The expectations and
the pressures on him were
tremendous.
Bolt had very little
pressure. Although there
was some anticipation of a
Tyson Gay-Asafa Powell-
Usain Bolt 100m dream
final, the pressure definitely
was on Gay and Powell to
perform. Powell was trying
to overcome his label as
choker at big meets and
reclaim the world record.
Gay was trying to overcome
his hamstring injury and to
reclaim the U.S.'s waning
dominance in the 100m.
Bolt had the world record
and it was evident in the
way he ran and showboated
*
in the 100 that he felt no
such pressure. Additionally,
there just wasn't that much
media coverage of him until
he easily broke the 100m
% record. The pressure he
* felt in the 200m is still
. nothing compared to
j what Phelps had to
go through.
While Bolt
dominated all
three of his race,
Phelps crushed
seven world
records, and
won eight
gold
medals.
Phelps
won four
times as
many gold
medals. Are you
joking me? How
is that NOT more
impressive?
The main reason
I'm going for
Phelps is that he has
demonstrated over
a long period of
time that he can't
be touched in his
sport. Bolt first
came onto the
athletics radar
when he was
15 years old. I
can remember
reading
news reports
excitedly
describing
his future
potential, but
2008 has really been his
breakthrough year. He's
been untouchable only in
recent months. Meanwhile,
Phelps has demonstrated
his superiority since before
the 2004 Olympics. If Bolt is
still the man to beat in ^
2012, then perhaps
I
he may deserve
At
to be in the same
category as Phelps.