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Usain Bolt's next task: Take down the 200 world record

Post a Comment August 19, 2008 – 8:35 pm | Permalink |  Print This Post |

By Philip Hersh | Tribune Olympic Bureau
Source: chicagotribune.com

BEIJING - It sounds so simple.

The Big Man hambones the final 20 meters in Saturday’s Olympic 100-meter final and still covers the distance in 9.69 seconds, breaking the world record he set earlier this season.

The Big Man began running the 100 only this year and has much more experience in — and a greater passion for — the 200.

So the Big Man will take down the record in the long sprint, the 19.32 that remains otherworldly 12 years after Michael Johnson set it in the 1996 Olympic final. No one has come within three-tenths of a second since.

After all, no less an expert than Johnson said two months ago, “I’m ready to kiss the record goodbye, if he keeps on doing what he has been doing.”

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt has done more than that since getting Johnson’s attention May 31 with his first 100 world record of 9.72 seconds. He has run the fifth fastest time ever in the 200, a 19.67, and the three leading 200 times of this season.

Source:Usain Bolt's next task: Take down the 200 world record