If Usain Bolt Wins the 200m As Convincingly as the 100m...

[amat]

Well there are a lot more chances for gold in the sport of swimming. I might be mistaken but I don't believe Phelps swam over 200m in these Olympics, the only way for Bolt to win gold would be for him to enter the marathon and 1500m races as well and have one of the greatest relay teams in history.

But I can't egt over just how dominant Bolt was. I love the sprints, they are the highlight of the Olympics for me. For Bolt to get the second worst reaction time out of the blocks, then have it be a wash at the 50m mark is beyond ridiculous. They were saying he could have been in the 9.5's if he didn't start pounding his chest at 70m, yet even when he pounded his chest he still set the world record and by a lot. 9.69. Put that in the perspective of earlier this year, the day Bolt ran 9.72 in the Jamaica qualifiers, Tyson Gay ran the fastest 100m time in history with a 9.68 which barely qualified as wind aided. He went full stop to try to make a statement and he did. Put him right back up there as the favorite in the race, he could have ran that time, the fastest in history, and Bolt would have been forced to run 75 instead of 70. It's stuff that is so mind boggling it's to hard to wrap your head around. And (barring steroids) there is no controversy about the technology in running which there is in swimming which makes you take those world records with a grain of salt. Not to mention, Phelps, as epic as his Olympics have been, hasn't been untouchable as he's had a few fairly close finishes. Bolt on the other hand just doesn't seem human, he has been running the 100 for less then a year. I think he had less then 10 comps under his belt when he set the WR at the qualifiers, I don't know what he is at now.

Not to mention he is competing in a sport in which every able bodied person on this planet has an opportunity to compete in regardless of where they come from or what type of money they have.

**edit - Phelps did the 400 IM but that was his only event over 200m.

[Kev]

Phelps has won the 400 meters individual medley, 4 x 100 freestyle relay, 200 m freestyle, 200 m butterfly, 4x 200 freestyle relay, 200 m individual medley, 100 m butterfly and 4x100 medley relay.

I think swimming freestyle and butterfly are two totally different strokes and must be similar to a runner running 100 meters and 110 meter hurdles.

I guess for Bolt to match Phelps he would need the following.

100 meters
200 meters
110 hurdles
200 hurdles
400 metres
4x100 meters
4x200 meters

Then he'd be better imo.

[Youngblood]

I think not. Math says no. Bilbo offers a good explanation as to why. Plus consider how many times the world record for 100 and 200m has been broken, and likely how much more it will be broken. How soon until someone breaks Phelps precedent setting performance? Can't see it happening any time soon. Plus he will be back in 4 years most likely also.

[Youngblood]

Just watched Bolt run the 200m. I too am a fan of his and sprinting. He jogged about 1/2 of it.

[match]

I think not. Math says no. Bilbo offers a good explanation as to why. Plus consider how many times the world record for 100 and 200m has been broken, and likely how much more it will be broken. How soon until someone breaks Phelps precedent setting performance? Can't see it happening any time soon. Plus he will be back in 4 years most likely also.

The 200m is rarely broken. It last stood for 12 years.

[BIG H]

Bilbo the 100 metres is just a straight sprint, the 200 metres requires endurance aswell. There is more likelyhood of the greatest 200m runner also being a 400m runner, i.e Michael Johnson, very rarely has the greatest 200m runner being a 100m runner. Only Carl Lewis, and Usain Bolt througn history have been the best at both. Linford Christie, Donovan Bailey, Maurice Green etc etc (Olympic champions at 100m) were never great 200m runners.

Hard to say whose achievement is bigger between Phelps and Bolt, but recovery time and many other factors allow a swimmer to do mumerous events. I bet you anything Bolt goes down a sthe story of this olympics more than Phelps does

[Scrap]

At the end of the day, who would you sooner watch. If the truth is told its Bolt, why because He did something that inspires.

[Kev]

At the end of the day, who would you sooner watch. If the truth is told its Bolt, why because He did something that inspires.

I think that's really a matter of subjective opinion though. Winning 8 Olympic Golds out of 8 events is every bit as inspiring imo, although Bolt did smash two world records which Phelps didn't do.

Both acheivements are incredible imo.

If you mean that running is more inspiring than swimming though I don't really agree.

They are both demanding events, one to see who is the fastest on land, the other to see who is the fastest on water. One is not more inspiring than the other except in a subjective way depending on your own preference.

If anything I think Phelps is a victim of his own success. He has become so utterly dominant that people don't regard his truimph as a big deal, but really to defeat the best in the world in 8 seperate events in one Olympic games is pretty damn inspiring stuff.

Phelps is even more dominant in his sport than Bolt is in his, at least for now.

[amat]

Unfortunately I came upon the result early. Saw his semi final though. I love sprinting, love everything about it. I thought the 100m would be a bit anticlimactic because of Gay but it turned out better then ever.

The 200m I haven't seen the time yet just know that the WR was broken and he had the thing won at the turn. It's not all down to genetics either Bilbo, saying that is basically the equivalent of saying swimming is all down to the technology they are using with the LRZ suits and everything. Also, there are plenty of white American runners but mainly in the middle distance races like the 400 and 800 though there are also a lot in the 70m including some of the world's best right there in Britain like Craig Pickering.

Bolt isn't a case of genetics. So many have said him being 6'5 is an advantage and even one guy I read who said that Bolt is the future of sprinting and soon all our sprinters will be massively tall. It's just not true though, it's just the case of Bolt being a freak.

I'll do my best to explain some of this. Basically, the key to running is the point of impact. The point of impact is where your lead foot hits the ground in front of you. Now for about 99.9999% of us, it would be better to be shorter, stronger and more explosive because then you don't have to much catching up to do with your lead foot, it never gets to far in front of you and you can explode and get greater turnover, the time it takes to make 1 stride, then a long legged runner. You want to spend as little time behind your lead foot as possible until the next foot hits the ground. That's why shorter guys have the advantage because most of their stride is spent exploding forward off that foot instead of behind it.

What makes Bolt such a freak of nature is just his speed, and not just his footspeed but how fast he catches up to that foot. For a taller runner, more of their time is spent behind that point of impact because it just naturally takes them longer to catch up, Bolt is not only catching up to the point of impact faster then other tall sprinters, he's doing faster then any of the more traditionally built ones either. I can't begin to explain how unprecedented this is. He's getting a greater turnover, thus a greater speed, with a 6'5 body then the guys who are 5'11 and instead of taking 45-47 strides to complete the 100, he's doing it in 40. It's not unheard of for someone of his size to complete 100m in 40 strides, but usually that difference is made up by competitors with greater turnover speed. Bolt is 1 upping them in that department.

There might not ever be another athlete quite like Bolt, what he's doing doesn't just defy the track but it defies all human logic. I don't care if he's drinking THG by the drum (he's never tested for anything and I really don't think he will, guys with his build usually steer clear of that stuff) what he's doing is absolutely off the charts. That's what I mean by more dominant, not decorated but going into these games, it was conceivable that Phelps would win 8. Not expected, but Spitz won 7 so it's not to far fetched. Now I don't know the science of swimming, I know he has an unconventional freestyle stroke and that's about it, but Bolt is defying science and what it says is possible.

Bolt, imo, is the baddest man on the planet right now. For the past few years I've thought of Lebron James as the most electrifying athlete in the world, I'm going to have to put Bolt in that spot now. And like James, he can still improve. His form out of the blocks is pretty much all wrong, he doesn't have great reaction time and I've heard it said that he has to high of a knee lift but I wouldn't mess with his stride for anything. Ridiculous what he's doing, he's competing against himself right now.

[CutMeMick]

Bolt was crazy fast man...

But still I think Phelps accomplishments are far and beyond anyone has ever done at the Olympics.

[Scrap]

Theres a reason why the Athletic Stadium is by far the Biggest.

[amat]

There is no way Bolt is going to be even close to as decorated as Phelps I'm not arguing that, and I don't buy the freestyle/butterfly stroke either because how many swimmers compete in both? Nearly all of them. How manny runners compete in both sprints and hurdles? I can't recall any and I imagine you would have to go back a bit to find someone who medaled in both. That can't be a valid comparision.

And none of Phelps margin of victories were as completely unprecedented as Bolt's who could have won by more 5 lengths if he chose to.

[Kev]

There is no way Bolt is going to be even close to as decorated as Phelps I'm not arguing that, and I don't buy the freestyle/butterfly stroke either because how many swimmers compete in both? Nearly all of them. How manny runners compete in both sprints and hurdles? I can't recall any and I imagine you would have to go back a bit to find someone who medaled in both. That can't be a valid comparision.

And none of Phelps margin of victories were as completely unprecedented as Bolt's who could have won by more 5 lengths if he chose to.

Well Carl Lewis won Olympic golds in both the 100 meters, 200 meters and Long Jump and then became the only man in history to defend both his 100 meters and Long Jump titles.

I don't really see any difference at all between 100 and 200 meters to be honest, the best sprinter in the world would naturally be world class over both events.

Phelps has won both 100 and 400 meter medals in this tournament plus there's much more of a difference between swimming an extra hundred meters and running it.

Besides am I alone in thinking that running is mostly a matter of genetics, I mean how much skill can there really be in running in a straight line?

At least swimming involves relatively difficult and unnatural techniques to learn, man not being adapted to the water after all.

I don't see any reason why a track and field athlete should find it any tougher to dominate multiple events than a swimmer really.

IF Carl Lewis can win both the 100 meter and 200 meter events plus the Long Jump then why not Bolt?

He hasn't done as much as Phelps, not even close imo, it just happens that the 100 meters is perhaps the most glamourous event and so gets more publicity.

[Salty]

I'd like to see Bolt win the 400m, he could win 5 golds that way 100m, 200m, 400m, 4x 100m and 4x 400m. Now that would be a massive achievement. He is a freak of nature though, starting to wind up his run with about 70 m to go and still manages 20.0 something. He could break Michael Johnsons record by the looks of him.

[Kev]

I'd like to see Bolt win the 400m, he could win 5 golds that way 100m, 200m, 400m, 4x 100m and 4x 400m. Now that would be a massive achievement. He is a freak of nature though, starting to wind up his run with about 70 m to go and still manages 20.0 something. He could break Michael Johnsons record by the looks of him.

Yeah that would be something to see.

I see no reason why an athlete like Bolt couldn't dominate several events, like I said Lewis was the Long Jump world record holder as well as a top sprinter.

It's about time we had a truly great athlete who could do it all.