Usain Bolt

[Anders Hallin]

He's uh... pretty fast.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPFN-B6SWXI

[caesarbear]

how does he do it

[Post-It]

Analyst said earlier that his peak speed was right at 30mph. Fucking incredible.

[kerzain]

I wonder how fuel efficient he is.

[Kirian]

I heard Tyson Gay ran the fastest non-assisted US time ever recorded in this race. He has a 9.68 wind-assisted (4.0 m/s) to his name which was supposed to be the 'fastest ever' but not world record eligible. I watched this race live and there was nothing anyone could have done, and Gay knew it.

The scary thing is that Bolt reckons he can get down under 9.5 if/when he gets to peak form. I've heard that with a running start he can run eight something, too. He is an absolute monster.

[Pogo]

Analyst said earlier that his peak speed was right at 30mph. Fucking incredible.

You sure about this?

His time averages out to about 23.3 miles per hour.

I always thought these guys ran top speed for pretty much the whole sprint, except for the quick acceleration at the beginning.

Do they really burst up high and then slow down by the end?

[Daly]

Analyst said earlier that his peak speed was right at 30mph. Fucking incredible.

Yeah he mentioned something similar when he was on Top Gear. He knows that his top speed is his strength and that the 'race' is just about him getting to it as quickly as he can.

[Pogo]

Actually I guess I answered my own question myself...

http://www.sportsscientists.com/2008/08/beijing-2008-men-100m-race-analysis.html

Here are the graphs since that's really the point of the link:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ua8ycqfc4ok/SKgWoF6lk9I/AAAAAAAAA08/LZfg0xtqGqk/s320/100m+splits+and+speed+table.gif

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ua8ycqfc4ok/SKgWJg8B07I/AAAAAAAAA0s/eD_SkZFt1Ew/s400/100m+speeds.gif

So peak average speed was about 44km/h (27.3 mph).

His acceleration to 41.4 km/h was 2.5 m/s^2, but if we look at his sharp acceleration from 19.4 km/h to 35.3 km/h, he accelerates at 4.3 m/s^2 ... about as fast as a weak consumer car. Not bad.

The acceleration of a racecar is about 8 m/s^2 up to 100km/h

I can imagine seeing the molecules in his muscles loosen up a bit and gear into super overdrive to cover that final 2.5 km/h increase in speed.

[Houngan]

It looks to my untrained eye like he is really struggling with his size until halfway through the race. I could certainly see him becoming more powerful off of the blocks and getting there more quickly.

H.

[Anaxagoras]

Yeah. He looked really ungainly to me too. (And then proceeded to blow the socks off the competition.)

Moral of the story: I would make a terrible track & field talent scout.

[Wholly Schmidt]

Another version in HD with a little more of the celebration. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPq-T93bK4k&hd=1

[Malcolm Tucker]

Dude loves the camera and the camera loves him.

[kerzain]

Taking bets on how long it will be before he falls out of favor and people start pining for his ultimate fall from glory, be it through drugs, prostitutes, dog fighting, murder or just plain old garden variety racist remarks.

[Jakub]

Taking bets on how long it will be before he falls out of favor and people start pining for his ultimate fall from glory, be it through drugs, prostitutes, dog fighting, murder or just plain old garden variety racist remarks.
Why the negativity?

I resisted my own negative comments on his success. Let's just go with it. Let's take joy in something amazing happening. Another 8 hundredths of a second and he'd be at 9.5!!!

[kerzain]

I'm not being negative about him.

[caesarbear]

As someone who used to (slowly) run the 100m, I'll just add that it does take significant time for the human body to reach it's full potential speed. The 100 can seem a lot longer than 10 or so (ok maybe a little more than 10) seconds when you run it. Bolt's excellent top speed may even require that slower start, i.e., his engine is tuned to the higher rpms.

Oh and way to bring the acerbic kerzain. May your over running cup always flow to the internets.

[kerzain]

I think it's the internets that have been flowing into me, and there's starting to be spillage.

[Daly]

Another version in HD with a little more of the celebration. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPq-T93bK4k&hd=1


I think this proves that if there is one thing faster than Usain Bolt, it is a press photographer trying to get a picture of Usain Bolt. That guy at 1.18 could run a sub nine second time.

[Marged]

Oh man, I love Usain Bolt and his ridiculous showboating. I had to dig up the clip from the Beijing Olympics, it was so funny...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93666250

Mr. BOLT: I never had breakfast. Actually, I woke up, like, 11 o'clock and sat around, watched some TV then I had lunch. Some nuggets. And then I pretty much went back to my room, slept again, went back and got some more nuggets.

[ChrisJanes]

From what I understand, he manages to run so fast because he got taught to not change his stride length, so he still runs at full stretch while other sprinters shorten their strides. That's partly why he looks slightly ungainly out of the blocks, he's getting up to full stride - he takes something like 40 steps to cover the 100m!

[SpoofyChop]

----------> fastest guy in the world
---------> never heard of him

</seinfeld>

[Tim James]

Another version in HD with a little more of the celebration. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPq-T93bK4k&hd=1Tyson Gay you are so slow! Loser!

[Pogo]

Usain Bolt runs faster than my dog, and my dog's no slouch (23 mph).

[Demon G Sides]

He slows down towards the end too. Why not just run it out fully.

[Cosmic Hippo]

Yeah! And why don't they make the whole plane out of the black box?

[Reed]

His name is Bolt. That's almost unfair.

[Hunty]

Some interesting comparison between Usain Bolt and other 100m legends in the Guardian. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/interactive/2009/aug/17/usain-bolt-100m-world-records)

[Tim James]

Last night I watched his appearance on Top Gear from this season (13). I'm sure I'm mentioning the obvious that everyone knows already, but he seemed bizarrely anti-social with an occasional genuine smile. Apparently he wrecked his new M3 and was very competitive about the driving competition they have all their guest stars do.

[Hugin]

Last night I watched his appearance on Top Gear from this season (13). I'm sure I'm mentioning the obvious that everyone knows already, but he seemed bizarrely anti-social with an occasional genuine smile. Apparently he wrecked his new M3 and was very competitive about the driving competition they have all their guest stars do.


I thought he was quite personable on Top Gear, for someone who isn't a professional speaker type. A little arrogant, but in a charming way.

[JM]

Jesus Christ. Bolt just murdered the 200m world record. 19.19! Made the bend look like nothing and was about 10m ahead of the nearest challenger going into the home straight.

[caesarbear]

USA track members apparently are required to butter their hands before each race.