Bolt beaten by Gatlin…but not to worry

When Usain Bolt lined up to run the 100m

When Usain Bolt lined up to run the 100m

on Thursday June 6th 2013, a lot of Jamaicans were a little bit anxious and some even a little bit worried. Bolt hadn’t been in his usually awesome shape, in fact, he had been recently injured and his only outing in the 100m so far this season had been far from impressive.

So when the gun sounded, and the Olympic champion got what was arguably his best ever start in a 100m, to leave Gatlin and the rest of the field in his wake, all Jamaica and Usain Bolt fans the world over, were very happy.

But then, Gatlin started to close and the usually explosive’ Bolt finish’ was absent. Both me crossed the tape in almost in a dead heat. Fans watched the television screens for the replay to see just who had taken the race. Replays showed- Gatlin first: 9.94 – Bolt second:9.95.

Disappointment. Bolt had been beaten.

There are two very important facts to note, why Jamaicans should not worry, Bolt is just coming back from injury, isn’t fully fit and isn’t totally race ready. Gatlin is in the best shape of his life, is race ready and ran the perfect race. Armed with those two facts, when we look back at the times both men ran, we see that Bolt was beaten by only 0.01s, with Gatlin at his best.

What this suggests is that when ‘The Legend’, is back to full fitness, his adoring fans need not worry and they can take heart from his post race comments. : “It was a good run, can’t complain I got a perfect start, stumbled a little bit but just one of those things, need to work on the end of my race for some reason, I don’t feel like myself but I’ll get over it, I’ll move passed it.

“It’s a part of life, you win some you lose some, I’ve said that over the years that you won’t win every race but the key thing is going to the championship and showing that you are number one so I’m just looking forward to that.”

After those post race comments, Bolt posted a message on his Facebook page to reassure the world that there was no reason to worry: “Fret not myself Bolt world or be worried. Thanks for all the support and believe me when I say #iwillbeback”

We are two months away from when it truly matters and when that time comes we know, ‘The Big Man’ will explode like a ‘lightening Bolt’ away from the chasing pack and bring back the smiles to millions of faces.