How many 6-5 person can have his acceleration? There is a reason sprinters are not that tall other than Bolts, they cannot move their legs at fast enough pace.
Hard to say. Obviously he slowed down, but who knows but if it was because he was tired or not. If any of those guys were any closer, I'm pretty confident he would have broken 43 seconds.
9.58 is completely insane. I can see that record standing for 30 years if not longer. FWIW the actual time was 9.572 but due to the rules was rounded up.
...and with modern training and nutrition. It's the same ol' "Babe Ruth" conundrum. Also, regarding Owens and the '36 Olympics, I thought this was a pretty interesting op-ed: What we think we know about 1936 Berlin Olympics is wrong http://www.mystatesman.com/news/new...itler-olympic-prime-example-of-how-mem/nsFFS/
And Nazi Germany kept him from having more success. He may have won more golds and total medals than Carl Lewis if not for the war. The greatest track athlete in history that never ran a mile in his life.
Jesse Owens vs the competition (silver-medalist Metcalfe) does not look like as big a spread on the videos as Bolt's 9.58. Although that could be the camera angle, as Metcalfe appears to almost run him down. And Owens WR fell in 5 years. Bolt's is already 7 years old. Bolt and Michael Johnson both destroyed the field and shattered records, that will last (or did last) fpr a very long time. And they both held WRs for two track events, for very long times.
This. How great an athlete is defined by the separation between him and his closes rivals. No one can touch Bolt when he is on, it is not even close for many years now. He is only racing with himself.
If you're fast...you're fast. But having them long ass legs does help. It's just that there aren't many people 6'5 + people in the world.
The problem is pace, much harder to move long legs at top pace, but if you can do it, you will be super fast (Bolt). Jordan looks fast, but he got destroyed by decathlete in the 100 meter race, not even the sprinters.
Its hard to compare athletes of different eras, especially has disparate as Owens' versus Bolt's. That said, I'd have to go with Jesse Owens
I think the difficult part is getting out of first or second gear when you have long legs but once you get going and have that momentum it's pretty much unstoppable. But Bolt is just an absolute freak that was perfectly built for his races. He doesn't even look real next to his competition he looks likes a god amongst men that was photoshopped in every race picture. I don't think Jordan was ever known for his top speed. I bet someone like Russ WB would've faired way better.
Greatest sprinter ever. There have been others that have been better simply because they were great across multiple events, including high and long jump. You might argue that the greatest T&F people have been decathaloners.
If Jesse Owens ran on a modern track with starting blocks instead of cinders with holes dug out for blocks he could have cracked the 10 second barrier, but that would still be nearly a half second behind Bolt's WR. Ben Johnson juiced out of his mind shocked the world with a 9.79 that amazing time is still far behind a 9.58.
That is absolutely amazing and I still don't care much about track. Why don't more people talk up the Kenyan distance runners? That seems to me a more useful skill in the *cough* long run.
I thought we were talking about "best athletes", not grass growing? Your entertainment level matters none.
