The Fastest Men on Earth

The jewel in the Olympic crown has always been the athletics competitions, and at the very heart of any athletics meet comes the 100metre competition. If the sprints are good and exciting then the meet is usually deemed as being a success, on that kind of grounding Beijing’s athletics could be the finest ever.

The three fastest men of all time have all successfully negotiated their trials and will most likely line up against each other when it comes down to the final in Beijing. Asafa Powell, who was, until quite recently the world record holder finds himself looking at the bronze medal, after his compatriot Usain Bolt and American Tyson Gay have fought it out for the first two places.

Bolt is in electric form, though a 200 metre specialist he has such incredible speed over the shorter version that he is now the fastest man ever. Confusingly for some Tyson Gay has actually gone quicker over the distance, but his 9.68 at the American trials was so heavily wind assisted that he nearly took off. Nonetheless Gay is in supreme form and has run under 9.80 this season without the benefit of a following gale.

Gay is, as well, part of the fight back in athletics against doping. Some of the greatest athletes of recent years have spent time in jail, or are spending time in jail, in the wake of the Balco drugs scandal. Marion Jones, Justin Gatlin and Tim Montgomerie are all sprint world-record holders who have since revealed that
they cheated in order to do it, and athletics has taken one hell of a beating in the American public’s perception.

Athletes like Gay though are putting the record straight and proving that you can do it clean.  Gay has submitted himself to a barrage of tests of every possible type to prove that there are no substances in his body that shouldn’t be there. He will continue to do so through the coming Olympics and sure enough if there is the slightest change in the chemical make up of his body then the authorities will be putting the most advanced science in the world into working out what it is.

Bolt on the other hand is subject to a bit more cynicism. Jamaica has a relatively poor drug-testing system for a country that produces so many talented athletes and Bolt’s improvements over the past year have been astonishing. Still, he has never failed a drugs test and has taken seven in the past few months.

If Gay, Bolt and the forgotten man, Powell (who is still the second fastest man ever) can continue to put together the times that they have been running, and put it together in one brilliant race in Beijing, athletics credibility will increase greatly.

There are no odds as yet available from Blue Square for the Olympics 100m final, but I don’t think anyone will be able to pick between Gay and Bolt as the games draw closer, and that’s the way it should be.

Sports Betting Odds provided by Blue Square.