When sprinters around the globe hit the track at a big event like the Olympics, they know it's not going to be easy. They have to beat not only Usain Bolt but also his 'confidence'. And that makes things doubly tough.
The 25-year-old Jamaican seems to go by the idiom, "Well begun is half done", as he assures win in the first few meters of the race by taking huge powerful strides. Once he runs ahead of the rest, he is unstoppable. He crosses the line like a 'bolt from the blue'.
Usain Bolt is also confidence personified. The gestures he make before the trigger is pulled, the naughty smile on his face and his body language make the spectators come to the conclusion even before the race begins that he is unbeatable. And he is unbeatable indeed.
He seems to love attention and limelight. In fact, audience loves him, the roar one hears when he enters the stadium is deafening, and the strides that he take a few minutes later substantiate the roar. On crossing the line, he shoots the spectators with his fingers in celebration, which has turned into his 'victory trademark'.
He came to London after facing twin defeats to his teammate Yohan Blake in the Jamaican trials, but he was a different person at the Olympics.
On Thursday night, the fastest man on the planet won the men's 200m event in style, placing his finger on his lips before crossing the finishing line as if to tell the world "see I told you...no one can beat me". He then did push-ups on the track before taking the pictures of his teammates and the audience with the camera of a journalist. By winning the event with a time of 19.32 seconds, he became the only man in the Olympic history to win both the 100m and 200m at two successive Olympics. He defended 100m title on Sunday with a time of 9.63 seconds.
Bolt set a world record time of 9.69 seconds in the 100 meters and 19.30 seconds in the 200 meters at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He then broke his own record in the following year by lowering the time to 9.58 seconds and 19.19 seconds in the two sprint events.
After defending his titles, he claimed that he wanted to break his own records again but couldn't as he was not fully fit. Now, this will make many think - what if he is fully fit?
