The fast and the furious: Beijing slipstream

“I was doing well, till I felt Gay coming on my shoulder, and that’s when I panicked” — Asafa Powell.

Truth be told, you cannot blame the lad. Wouldn’t you have reacted the same way? While his already established reputation for choking like a newbie at the docks guaranteed that the above statement was received with the usual eye-rolling boredom by the athletics community and not given nearly half the headlines it deserved, it must be said that the above encapsulates the enigma that is Jamaica’s premier sprinting talent. Against the clock the man is a banker. Introduce a level of competition into the mix and his temperament does a runner that would amaze even himself. Yet even he is not the man who stands between him and glory. That man is he who possesses the little voice inside his head. Who’ll win? Talent or temperament?

No man has ever run the 100m faster than Tyson Gay (a mind bending 9,68 seconds). Like a skollie who gets away with your wheel caps ‘cos he ran with the wind while you were trying to hold your hat on, his performance wasn’t entirely his own doing and it remains a footnote in the record books. He has all the swaggering pedigree of a much-hyped, much-muscled, much-endorsed US sprint champion.

Identified at a young age and progressing through the über competitive US junior ranks at a (naturally) blinding pace, he is just the latest in the production line that began with Jesse Owens not bringing out Hitler’s gracious side though to Carl Lewis running through the ages and Maurice Greene sticking out his tongue at any illusions of Olympian grace and modesty. He’s the latest American Dream and he’s been training for this moment all his life. Expect him to rise to the occasion.

The almost surreally named Usian Bolt (some prescient ancestors he had, no?) is the man in current possession of that most desired mantle in all of modern athletics. 0-100 metres in 9,72 metric seconds. Read again, swallow. Habana would see Ngwenya’s all over again. No-one has done that before. Certainly with the progress in “sports nutrition aids” his place in the sun is for but a brief moment before history marches on. However, right now he is the benchmark. If he were to snatch your wallet, you may as well call the insurance people. He’s also very young, which means he is yet to reach his fastest, injuries notwithstanding. He’s usurped Asafa Powell as the next Caribbean hope to take on the great Ato Boldon’s mantle and he goes to Beijing on a rich vein of form. Watch him go.

It is shaping up to be one of the greatest 100m contests of the modern age and do not be surprised if the world mark is lowered a few times over the course of the next few weeks as the young men lay down markers to each other and announce their intention to the world in the most emphatic way possible — 66 perfectly measured, fleeting and powerfully executed strides to the top of Mount Olympus and a lifelong seat at the table of Gods and legends.

On yer marks gentlemen.