Posted on 05/12/2006 11:09:49 AM PDT by ol painless
DOHA, Qatar — Olympic champion Justin Gatlin broke the 100-meter world record Friday with a time of 9.76 seconds at the Qatar Grand Prix. The American sprinter lowered the mark of 9.77 seconds set by Jamaica's Asafa Powell on June 14, 2005, in Athens, Greece. Gatlin won the 100- and 200-meter titles at the world championships in Helsinki, Finland, last August. He said Monday he intended to break the record in Doha. Olusoji Fasuban of Nigeria finished second Friday in 9.84 seconds, with Shawn Crawford of the United States third in 10.08. Gatlin and Powell ran 9.95s in separate races last weekend and will face each other at the Gateshead meet in England on June 11.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Can he catch a football?
Lovely.
Bet he can't beat a illegal in the SW Desert..........
Amazing. People really don't understand how fast these men are, or how hard they have to train to be that fast. Many of them have freakish power-weight ratios as well, bech pressing and squatting twice their weight. Football players are fast, but for the apex of human velocity you have to look to track.
These guys train and peak for a few races per year. Frankly, I've never heard of a WR being set this early in the season. Generally they come at big meets in July or August.
I bet not too many of you guys remember when Roger Bannister broke the 4-minute mile for the first time. Those were the days ... John Landy, Bannister ...
Bet he can't hijack a thread faster than Red Badger.
Ever read any of the personal history about Justin? Don't imply racism!
Does anyone have any doubt at all he's not juiced on some designer steroid? All of these guys are.
Ok, but can he launch a 500 ft. homerun and double the size of his head?
Congrats to the new "Fastest Man in the World".
BTW, did anyone else notice the LOCATION of the track meet???
Doha, Qatar. Home, if I'm not mistaken of the anti-Western al Jazeera network.
Wonder if ol' alJaz had some footage of the Stars and Stripes being carried aloft....
When you see world records being set in 0.01-second increments like this, it's pretty clear that we're getting close to the absolute physical limits of human performance. At some point in the not-too-distant future I expect the short sprints in track & field to be timed to the nearest thousandth of a second (as of now, I believe luge and bobsled events are the only competitive sports timed to this level of precision) simply to reflect this narrowing of the gaps among top competitors.
(I paraphrase):
"Eric Liddell is a great runner, but he needs to run longer distances (ironically, Liddell had just beaten Abrahams soundly in the 100-meter dash) Runners win on determination, while sprinters win on nerves. Sprints are perfect for neurotics."
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