Usain 'Lightning' Bolt Strikes Again!
Language
Reading Level
Listen to Article
A relatively unknown Jamaican sprinter called Usain Bolt took the world by storm at the summer Beijing Olympics, when he ran the 100 meter sprint in 9.69 seconds - not only setting a new world record but becoming the first human to run the distance under 9.7 seconds without a significant tailwind.
The best part was, he made it look really easy and started to celebrate his victory 10 meters before he even got to the finish line - leaving fans questioning how fast he could have been, had he run the entire distance at his whiz speed.
The 23-year old sprinter, appropriately named 'Lightning Bolt', put that question to rest this afternoon at the World Championships in Berlin. Running the full 100 meters, he completed the distance in 9.58 seconds, shaving off a whopping 0.11 seconds off his previous time.
Of course, Bolt being the fun-loving guy he is, did celebrate with a lot of pomp once he was done - He pranced around the stadium and even did a jig with fellow Jamaican sprinter, Asafa Powell, who took home the bronze medal.
Bolt who accomplished his latest feat at the same stadium where legendary track star Jesse Owens first made his mark in 1936, also holds the world record for the 200 meters and along with his teammates, the 4X100 meters relay record. He is also the first person to win all three events at the Olympics since Carl Lewis in 1984.
Ironically, even though Bolt was the fastest runner in school by the time he was 12, his primary sport was cricket. It was not until he entered high school, that his cricket coach noticing his speed on the pitch, encouraged him to explore track - and the rest as they say is history.
Bolt's next challenge? To run the 100 meters in 9.50 seconds! We have no doubt he will be able to do that or better!
sources:bbc.co.uk,wikipedia.org,cnninternational.org
Cite Article
Geography
Learn Keywords in this Article
48 Comments
- otterover 10 yearsusain bolt is awesome. Last year (2012) he did it even faster.
- kidkarati123over 10 yearsWow fittest man in the world
- gman123about 11 yearshe was has been beaten in a race before
- chargerover 11 yearsI can beat a lot of boys in my class in a race, but I will step aside for Usain Bolt. His last name fits him well!
- braydenover 11 yearscool
- hunteralmost 12 yearscool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Meg Waldenalmost 12 yearsThis was really helpful!
- maxiover 12 yearswow wasn't that like the fastest guy in the world or still maybe is idk but hes amazing and hes one of my idols
- nickyover 13 years100 meters in 9.5 seconds? my turtle would beat him!
- otterover 10 yearsThat is actually crazily fast. You try and beat that!
- ha ha ha is wierdalmost 14 yearscccccccccccccooooooooooooooollllllllllllllllllllllllllll