Even champions get jitters. Usain Bolt certainly did, as on the starting blocks of the race that would either define his life or shatter his aura, Bolt battled the butterflies in his stomach.
“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking about it [Daegu],” said Bolt. A false start in the World Championship in Daegu last year had seen Bolt disqualified. “But when I came out and they announced my name and the crowd gave me that roar, everything just went away.”
Indeed it did as Bolt blasted his way to the second fastest 100-metre sprint of all time; a searing 9.63-second run that was required to defeat the best group of sprinters ever assembled in the marquee event.
Bolt had declared his intention to run under 9.50 in London as often as he had declared his intention to become a legend at these Games. But while the Jamaican did not achieve the former, the latter is now in his grasp.
Bolt, surprisingly, was uncharacteristically modest. “It means one step closer to being a legend. That’s one step, I have the 200m to go, so I’m looking forward to that.”
Bolt was in fine form in the press conference following his race, joking around with his friend and training partner Yohan Blake.
“He [Blake] ran a better race than I did. I am not even going to try to say that I ran a good race, because my coach will say that I did not,” said Bolt, amidst much laughter from the gathered press.
The reality is frightening though. Here was a man, who had just posted the second fastest 100-metre time of all time, and clearly he could do better. His coach thought so, he thought so, the press thought so.
Perhaps Justin Gatlin did not. The two share a fractious relationship, which stems back to a race in Zurich last autumn, when Gatlin spat in his lane to try to distract him before a race. But even Gatlin found time to wax lyrical about the giant Jamaican.
“He is the Michael Phelps of our sport,” said Gatlin. “You come out and run your best and he still beats you. Is it arrogant? Is it cocky? I don’t know, but it’s a good show and people pay money to come and watch Usain Bolt.”
Bolt credited Blake for giving him a timely wake-up call after the youngster beat him in both the 100 and 200 metres in the Jamaican trials.
“Yohan gave me a wake-up call. He knocked on my door and said, ‘Usain, this is Olympic year, wake up’. After that I refocused and got my head in the game.”
And he needed to for London gave him the race of his life.
“I just ran. I ran my hardest and ran through the line,” said Bolt, whose exaggerated celebrations in Beijing had propelled him to international stardom.
This time the excesses were reserved for the press conference as Bolt joked around with the press at every opportunity. He also admitted to indulging in a few chicken nuggets before the race.
Bolt admitted to loving London, but the freewheeling Jamaican was upset at the numerous rules being thrust upon him in the Games.
But rules, they say, are meant to be broken. Usain Bolt, in pushing the limits of human boundaries, certainly has shattered many over the course of his two Olympics.
-With The Daily Star input