Bolt-ing toward a record for the ages
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EUGENE, Ore. -- The world record for the 200 meters Michael Johnson set at the 1996 Olympics is otherworldly. It has been without a challenger for a decade, and some think that time, 19.32 seconds, could outlive a couple more generations of sprinters.
Not Johnson.
‘I’m ready to kiss it goodbye, if he keeps on doing what he is doing,’’ Johnson said Saturday.
He is Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, considered a 200-meter specialist until he broke the world record in the 100 with a time of 9.72 seconds in early June. No runner with Bolt’s 200 credentials -- second to Tyson Gay at the 2007 worlds, 11th-fastest man in history coming into this season -- ever has run a 100 that fast.
‘He ran 19.75 [a year ago], which was amazing enough, given that he’s not the most technically sound 200-meter runner,’’ Johnson said of Bolt. ‘Whatever technical flaws you have at 200 are going to be highlighted at 100.
‘You take a look at his 100 when he broke the world record and the one before that, and he fixed a lot of things in the off-season. He’s 6-5 and he looked like he was 5-5 getting out of the blocks.
‘If the improvement in technique in the 200 matches what we’ve seen in terms of his improvement at 100, there’s no telling what he’s going to run.’’
Bolt outdistanced Gay in the world-record 100. Over 200, his speed and stride length would seem to leave the U.S. star further arrears. Gay’s current PR, 19.62, is faster than Bolt’s, and Gay ran him down in the final straightaway at last year’s worlds, but . . .
‘If I’m Tyson, I just hope for the best for myself and hope for the worst from Bolt,’’ Johnson said. ‘It is pretty ridiculous what Bolt is running. As a competitor, I would just have to acknowledge that and say there is nothing I can do about that. Maybe he will trip up somewhere, and I need to be in position to take advantage of that.’’
Funny thing about all this is that Johnson, now an agent, has been expecting the other of his enduring records to fall -- the 400 mark of 43.18 he set in 1999. His client, reigning Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner, has been closing in steadily for two seasons, with a PR of 43.45.
Johnson, who won both the 200 and 400 at the 1996 Olympics and the 400 in 2000, says he is ready to see his name erased.
I don’t wake up every morning thinking I’m still the world record-holder, and it’s a good day because of it,’’ Johnson said. ‘If Jeremy breaks it, it won’t take anything away from my career.’’
Still, the 200 record being in jeopardy is a Bolt out of the blue.
-- Philip Hersh
