The fastest man in the world is still the fastest

Written by Kalpana Gopalkrishnan

Usain Bolt is still the fastest man in the world, and no one is more confident of that than Bolt himself. The world was a little bit scared for Bolt at the beginning of the summer — before the Jamaican Olympic Trials, he suffered from a Grade One hamstring tear that barred him competition. But with Jamaican medical exemption laws on his side, Bolt was allowed to race in the Olympics without competing in the trials. The 100 meter at Rio would be his first official race since the injury, and the media was prepared to write a Bolt obituary.

Instead of crashing, he flew. He flew slower than his Beijing self, than his London self, at 10.07 seconds, but he flew. He flew to the 100 meter finals, where the world pitted him against Justin Gatlin, the American who had won the gold medal at the 2004 Athens Games before receiving an eight-year ban from track and field after a doping scandal.

Unfortunately, Gatlin’s ultimate success story was cut short with a silver medal. At 9.81 seconds, Bolt assured Gatlin that the spotlight would not change sides. After winning the gold in the 100 meter, the crown jewel, Bolt looked higher up the mountain. He didn’t want just one gold medal. He needed three.

And it’s not a long story — Bolt got the three he needed. It’s funny how easy it was for him. Even Bolt seems to think so himself. In the 200 meter semifinals, Bolt laughed on the final stretch after 21-year-old Canadian Andre De Grasse inched closer to Bolt than any mortal did during Rio.

Usain Bolt doesn’t dribble a ball, do a back handspring or swim in water. He runs. But he runs better than anyone has ever run before, and maybe that’s why we’re so taken by him.