SHAUN CUSTIS sat down with the world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt, to track his life story. In the first part of a special series, he reveals the Jamaican’s burning desire to break his world records at London 2012...
USAIN BOLT was relaxed, smiling yet deadly serious as he told me: “I know I could run 9.4 seconds for 100 metres.”
We were sitting in his palatial home, located in a smart suburb on the outskirts of Kingston.
A far cry from the intensity of an Olympic final, where Bolt hopes to reach his peak during London 2012.
His coach Glen Mills has always predicted Usain will be at his very best by the time of his 26th birthday, which falls less than two weeks after the end of the Olympics on August 21.
Having set world records of 9.58s for the 100m and 19.19s for the 200m in winning golds at the 2009 World Championship in Berlin, Bolt still insists there is room for improvement.
He said: “You can’t be sure when or where you can run a time like 9.4.
“But the major competitions are when I take it really seriously and shine through — that’s business time.”
Injury scares in the lead-up to London and the threat from training partner Yohan Blake have added to the inspirational mix.
And if Bolt gets himself into top shape we could witness more astonishing athletics feats.
Remarkably, too, Bolt recounts how his Berlin 100m was far from the perfect race.
His drive phase out of the blocks was too short, he got too tight in the middle phase and his head was rocking all over the place.
Coach Mills would get so annoyed about the fact his superstar sprinter could not keep his head still, he threatened to put horse’s blinkers on him.
But, even when absolutely everything comes together, the Jamaican reckons the human body can only go so fast and that eventually it will hit the limit.
That limit is 9.4 seconds. Bolt said: “It is impossible to run 9.2.
“The body isn’t made to go that fast no matter how hard you train, how good a shape you’re in or how good your technique.”
He first discovered his love of running at primary school when the sports coach bet him a lunch if he could beat another kid in school called Ricardo Geddes.
It quite literally gave Usain the appetite for competition. The other boy was a big rival but when offered an incentive to beat him, he did.
And once he did so, he made sure he never lost another race to him.
It is a philosophy he has taken into his professional career and one, which save for the very occasional reverse, has largely held up.
It goes: “Once I’ve beaten you, you won’t beat me again.”
He applied it to races against his Jamaican rival Asafa Powell, and the American Tyson Gay.
Yes, he lost over 100m and 200m to Blake at the Jamaican trials but the big championships are what matters and where Bolt aims to produce his very best. Blake won gold in the 100m at the last world championships in Korea but Bolt was disqualified for a false start.
The world is waiting to see what happens when the two actually do go head-to-head in the big one.
But be sure that Bolt has such belief in his ability that he does not expect to lose over either distance.
Interestingly, the real deal for Bolt is not the 100m, but the 200m.
He insists he runs the 100m for fun and that the 200m is his job.
Reason being, he regards the 200m as the more technical event as it involves running a bend, properly executed, to get the fastest time.
Bolt has his sights on becoming the first man under 19 seconds, which would mean reducing his current world mark by a sizeable two-tenths.
He said: “You can be the fastest man in the field and lose if you take the bend wrongly.
“I’ve had to practice, practice, practice. For me it is always the most important event, even if the fans think the 100m is the biggest.”
That said, Bolt loves being the fastest man in the world.
In his book, he talks about what it means. He said: “Never do I get tired of hearing people say — Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world.
“In team sports it can be subjective about who is the better player but when it comes to sprinting the only judgement is the time.
“When people ask ‘Who is the fastest sprinter in the world?’ there is only one answer — Usain Bolt.
“Why? Because that’s what it says on the clock. They say that the population of the earth is 6.8billion and that approximately 107billion have lived on this planet since man came into being.
“It doesn’t get any cooler than knowing you are the fastest of them all.”
