thethemeis: The London 2012 Olympic Games
theauthoris: LiamD
00:00:00
In the middle of the Olympic Stadium, where eighty thousand people hailing from two hundred and four different nations are holding their breath in suspense, a pistol is fired. At the London 2012 Olympics, the race is on.
00:00:96
It's August 1986 and in a modest dwelling in Sherwood Content, a young Jamaican woman has just given birth to a baby boy. The child is a week and a half late. This is the first and only time that Jennifer will think of him as slow.
00:01:93
My start isn't perfect. It's something the pundits and analysts will talk about, something they would surely dwell on if I'm not standing in the centre of the podium at the end of the session. I won't let that happen. I push my body to its limits.
00:02:89
Jennifer has been a mother for just three weeks but her father is certain his newborn grandson is destined for greatness. 'There is something about this child,' he says to her with a knowing smile. The child doesn't smile back, will not learn to for around eight months, but there is a glint of understanding in his eye. 'Something special...'
00:03:85
In this mad dash I am competing against four of the fastest men alive. Three of these men are Americans, the other is my training partner from Jamaica. All four of them reacted to the pistol before I could, but now I have fallen into my rhythm and moved up easily into sixth. Now, I am catching.
00:04:82
The child has grown and is now of schooling age. He enjoys playing football and cricket. One day, playing football with his brother Sadiki in their street, the boy and his sibling are approached by a small group of older children.
'Run away, baby.' They tell him. 'Your brother is in trouble.'
He looks at them with dark eyes and responds. 'One day I will run, faster than anyone has ever seen. But not today,' he tells them. 'Not from you.'
The group move in on them and a fight ensues. The brothers give as good as they get.
00:05:78
With every first stride I take a breath, every second stride force it out. I have moved up from sixth and the race is now so close it is impossible to tell who is in first place. The man running immediately to my left is the pantomime's villain, having previously been tested positive for banned substances. Today he is clean, but even with drugs he would not have beaten me. Today, Justin Gatlin will take the bronze medal.
00:06:74
At the age of twelve, the boy takes the title of his school's fastest runner. By fifteen, he is winning silver medals at the Inter-Secondary School Champs. It is not long before he begins to enter the larger competitions and continues to set a new personal best in every race. At the age of eighteen, the boy turns professional.
00:07:70
I am flying. There is no greater feeling than this. Gatlin falls behind me to my left and my training partner is the only athlete left to beat. He is fast, of course he is, but only because he trains with the best. I pass him somewhere during the seventh second and leave Yohan Blake to enjoy the silver medal he deserves.
00:08:67
The gold medals come in thick and fast. A new personal best strides triumphantly with each new race the young man competes in. In May 2008, in his fifth senior run over 100 metres, a thunderclap accompanies his record-breaking 9.74 second performance in New York City. It's a gift to the media, given his surname. In the next twelve months, he will set a new olympic record followed by a new world record in the same distance.
00:09:63
Nine point six three seconds. In this short time, it is all over. It's a new olympic record, but that's not what's on my mind. Now I am thinking about the next race, the next faster opponents and my next fastest time. In four days I will enter the two hundred metres at this very venue and take the gold again, only missing my previous world record by two hundredths of a second. Still, it will not be enough. I shall always want to train harder, always want to run faster.
My name is Usain Bolt, and I am the fastest man of all time.
No comments:
Post a Comment