For those that don't follow track and field it might be difficult to understand just how impressive Michael Johnson's 200m world record was. Set in 1996, there were many that suggested at the time that it would never be beat. That he had reached the peak performance possible by humans.
A couple years ago I was involved in a discussion on the Internet forum SportsJournalists.com on the topic of what was the most impressive athletic performance the posters had ever seen. Keep in mind that, although a public web page, SportsJournalists.com is a pretty exclusive club. Many of the biggest names in sports writing read and comment on the board. So, it was a group that had collectively seen a lot of big sports events. Although there were a lot of suggestions, one of the few that received widespread attention was 19.32 seconds, Johnson's time in Atlanta.
I guess they have a new performance to consider. By running 19.30 Usain Bolt has become the man of the Olympics. That doesn't discount what Phelps did. No, it simply glorifies what Bolt is doing (and the Jamaican 4X100m team is going to be something to watch).
What is the greatest individual sporting accomplishment you have ever seen?
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4 comments:
I'm happy that Bolt is getting recognition because the media's focus on Phelp's has caused them to gloss over equally dominating performances from He Chong and Elena Isinbaeva.
It's good that Bolt ran down Johnson's record. As we all know, whoever wins the 200 is the best sprinter in the world, it's been the case ever since 1996.
By the way, has anyone pointed out that Sports Illustrated referred to Donovan Bailey as a "Jamaican-born Canadian" and said he was the 1984 100-metre champion?
Also, Sports On My Mind did a great piss-take on Bob Costas and all the American media who didn't like Bolt's display during the 100 metres.
This comment about Bob Costas was, well, something to consider:
"He’s a white American, so-called middle American to the core, at least for public consumption. So his cultural paradigm is humility as a virtue and false humility in the face of outstanding achievement. Well fuck that. Bolt is Jamaican through and through and those folks don’t play that false humility shit and they don’t venerate humility one single bit. Like the typical, narrow-minded white American, Costas is trying to fit every muthafucka in the world into HIS view."
i think the 1996 4x100 victory, while not the greatest sporting accomplishment by any means, might have been the proudest for me as a Canadian...i don't think i've ever been prouder of any Olympians than i was of our boys that day...bruny surin, robert esmie, glenroy gilbert, and donovan bailey...man, what a race...
Funny to see that Michael Johnson was working with the BBC. All that Bob Costas/NBC B.S. in 1996 for him and I didn't even see a clip of him talking to NBC. ha ha.
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