Sunday, August 17, 2008

If you want to be a record breaker

[I planned to post this last night, but didn't have an internet connection. It seems today even more medals have been forthcoming!]

I just saw a replay of the mens 100m final and was, along with everyone else I assume, blown away by Usain Bolt's performance. He just made it look so easy and got himself a new world record to boot. As soon as he got his head up from after the start he powered away from the rest of the field and looked so relaxed. He knew he'd won from about 40m into the race. It was an sublime performance to do so well whilst also making it look so natural, reminiscent of how Michael Johnson always seemed when he ran. He's also a relative novice 100m sprinter compared to the rest as this was only his ninth competitive 100m he'd run and he's only 21! Another thing about Bolt is that he seems like a nice guy compared to the general arrogance of most sprinters. Contrasting to Bolt was Asafa Powell who did what he has continually done in major finals, which is choke. He should have been pressing Bolt for the gold, but in the end didn't even medal.

As long as I'm talking Olympics I should mention the British team's excellent performance today. Firstly Rebecca Adlington in the pool has done us proud. Our mens rowing fours has kept up the almost impossibly high expectation that Redgrave and Pinsent have generated in the event by winning gold in an exciting race that required a very strong last few hundred metres to fight back against the Australians. In the velodrome Wiggins and Hoy also kept up the great form to give us a couple of golds. I think this weekend could be a good medal haul for us, but this is unlikely to continue through the week as our general Athletics team is still pretty weak.

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