Should They Test Usain Bolt To Find Out If He’s Really Human?

Poor Caster Semenya has to go through the humilating ordeal of a gender test after her runaway victory in the World Championships Women’s 800m.  Maybe the IAAF should test Usain Bolt to confirm he is human?  His performances in the World Championships have been staggering.  9.58 for the 100m!  In the space of a year and a half the ‘Lightning Bolt’ has lowered the 100m world record by nearly two tenths of a second.  Previously it was lowered by the same amount in 20 years.  His 200m world records are even more sensational.  When I watched Michael Johnson breast the tape in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics at a time of 19.30 I thought I would never see the likes of that performance in my lifetime again.  Bolt has done it twice in a year.  He is now the first man ever to hold the Olympic and World titles of 100m and 200m and world record holder in both events.

It’s difficult to consider that while Bolt was lowering the 200m world record to 19.19, he was running against world class athletes with four of them getting under 20 seconds.  Very fast.  But they were 7, 8, 9, 10 metres away from Bolt.  It was like watching a thoroughbred race against ponies who have just recovered from swine flu, or a BMW pulling away from a clapped out Ford Fiesta on the autobahn.

Watching Bolt perform in major finals is truly memorable.  For 9 seconds or so, or 19, you can forget about the wars, the recession, the bills, your wife leaving you for a woman, the attractive girl who went out with your best mate, your bet on that greyhound going horribly wrong, your belly straining over your belt, reading another story about Jordan and Peter Andre.  For those few seconds life is good.

Those moments appear rare in life.  For me they include Pele scoring the opening goal in the 1970 World Cup Final.  Viv Richards hitting a masterful 292 for the West Indies against England at the Oval in 1976.  Liverpool winning the European Cup for the first time in Rome, 1977.  I’ll never forget Muhammad Ali knocking out George Foreman in the ‘Rumble In The Jungle’ fight in Zaire 1974.  Daley Thompson winning a second Decathlon gold in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.  Maradona waltzing through the English defence in the 1986 Mexico World Cup Finals.  Michael Owen scoring his wonder goal against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup Finals.

So Sir Usain, thanks very much for those moments.  They will stay with me forever.  Man!  It feels good to be the son of Jamaican parents this morning.