Bolt looks to defend titles in Beijing
Bolt, who celebrates his 29th birthday today, broke the world record for the first time in May 2008 when he ran 9.72 seconds in New York, but it was at the Beijing Olympics that he really made his iconic mark by not only lowering the 100m to 9.69 seconds, but then exactly 7 years ago yesterday, Bolt became the first man to hold both the 100m and 200m world records and Olympic titles simultaneously with a 19.30 despite easing off in the final run in.
This year it hasn't been a smooth run up to the Beijing Championships, and the man at the sharp end of the sprint has been Justin Gatlin who has the top four times of the year with Bolt only just getting into form with a 9.87 seconds set at the London Olympic Stadium on 24 July, for the sixth best time of 2015.
Countryman Asafa Powell is ranked second, and certainly Bolt is going to have to find his Big Game Temperament to defend his titles, but an on form Bolt has a world best 9.58 to his name, while Gatlin with a best of 9.74 has yet to match Bolt's 9.69 Beijing world record.
Gatlin will also lack the crowd support.
Bolt is not only the Beijing darling, but Gatlin has twice been tested and suspended for doping offences in 2001 and 2006 which, although having served his time, has left questions and a sour taste for many athletics supporters and officials, particularly since he is running faster than before his doping charges.
A gold medal pays US$60 000, and were the tall long striding Jamaican able to reduce his 9.58 record he would add a further US$100 000 (R1.3 Million) to his bank account. Beijing titles could be a great belated birthday present for the Jamaican.
The 100m commences Saturday morning and for South Africa the statistics suggest that both Akani Simbine and Henricho Bruintjies can make South African athletics history.
The duo share 20th position on this year's rankings, but their joint 9.97 national record times would be sufficient to get them into all the finals since the Helsinki World Championships in 2005.
Amazingly from a situation where South African's have rarely been seen in the final of the blue ribbon event, the duo could not only find lanes in the final, but also put their shoes on the podium.
Over the past five World Championships the slowest bronze medal time was 10.09 in Daegu, while the fastest was in Bolt's current world record winning race in Berlin in 2009 where he pulled the bronze medalist to a 9.84 seconds, which has only been beaten by Gatlin, Powell and Trayvon Bromell this year.
Simbine and Bruintjies biggest challenge comes from the massive difference in attitude, atmosphere and progression of a major championships.
Not only do they physically have to get through heats, quarter and semi-finals to get the opportunity to contend, they also have to mentally overcome the tensions, apprehensions and gamesmanship of a multi-race championship.
That can be the bigger hurdle and is one that has seen the most fierce competitor reduced to a shadow of himself.
Teammate Anaso Jobodwana had an ideal competition progression in the 200m in Moscow 2013, to run in the adjacent lane to Bolt and he will no doubt be able to provide advice to the short sprinters, while also preparing himself to improve on his own specialist distance in the second half of the championships and then combine with Simbine and Bruintjies for the 4 x 100m relay, where they also have a possibility of finishing in the top half of the final.
The Beijing World Championships commence at 01h30 (SA Time) Saturday morning and this could see South Africa have their most successful World Championships ever.
(File Photo - AFP)
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