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Is The Fastest Human Ever Already Alive?
Breaking down Usain Bolt's 100 meter world record and his lasting financial impact on the sport.
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Friends,
Today’s article, written by Chuck Klosterman, examines the science behind breaking Usain Bolt’s 100 meter world record. Klosterman does an excellent job foreshadowing the physical limitations of speed that athletes would endure for the next decade.
Spoiler alert! Bolt’s 2009 world record of 9.58 in Berlin still stands today.
Mindset Of A Sprinter
Beyond the scientific research, one of the biggest takeaways from this article was the completely unrealistic but confident mindset sprinters must have. For instance, when asked about the possibility of a human running the 100 meter dash in 8.99 seconds, Ato Bolden (4 time olympic medalist) said:
“In order to answer this question, you have to think like a sprinter. And sprinters believe that — someday — somebody will run the 100 meters and the clock will read 0.00.” Bolden continued “And when a sprinter thinks like that, he’s not trying to trick himself. It’s how you have to think. This idea of human limitation is exactly what we’re competing against. It’s thinking about running a 8.99 that gets you down to 9.58. That’s how it works.”
The Science Behind 100 Meters
With the typical 100 meter race being 10 seconds or less, the greatest olympic race also happens to be the shortest. To understand the science behind breaking the world record, we must first realize how high Usain Bolt has set the bar.
At the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, Bolt set a world record time of 9.58 in the 100 meter event. Typically, if a sprinter is able to shave off .02 seconds, they would be ecstatic. Bolt bested the current WR by .11 seconds.
What Makes Bolt The Greatest?
Usain Bolt has a freakish combination of stride length, stride power, and acceleration.
Stride Length
While most elite sprinters are short, Bolt’s 6-foot-5 frame gives him a competitive advantage with an average stride length of over 8 feet. When Bolt ran 9.58 in Berlin, he needed only 41 strides to cover those 100 meters; the man who placed second, 5-foot-11-inch Tyson Gay (who still managed an incredible 9.71), needed 44½ strides.
Stride Power
Rather than attempting to move their legs faster, the more force a sprinter can create through stride power, the faster they will go. Bolt has the unique ability to strike the ground with his foot extremely fast (usually 3x the speed of an eye blink) but also with extreme force - he typically is hitting the ground with over 1,000 pounds of force, which scientist can’t explain.
Acceleration
What's often misunderstood about Bolt’s ability is that the separation between himself and other elite sprinters is from his acceleration, not top speed. Generally, the smaller you are, the stronger you are in relation to your weight which gives smaller sprinters an advantage in the initial acceleration phase of the race. Given his 6’5” frame, Bolt should be slow out of the blocks, but he’s not - Which is unique given once they get going, Bolt and Tyson Gay have essentially the same top speed of ~27mph.
Bolt’s Lasting Financial Impact
From an earnings perspective, Bolt changed the game of sprinting forever. Usually thought of as a less financially rewarding sport than others, Bolt has amassed a net worth of over $90 million (Source).
The most amazing part? Bolt earns an astonishing 30-to-1 endorsement to salary ratio. From June 2017 to June 2018, Bolt earned $31 million, with only $1 million coming from on-track earnings. The rest came from endorsement deals with Visa, Gatorade, Hublot, Virgin Media and his largest endorsement partner, Puma, where he reportedly earns $10 million per year.
On Forbes 2018 highest earning athletes list, Bolt ranked 45th, earning more than athletes like Justin Verlander, Paul George, Kirk Cousins, and Eli Manning.
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Extra Credit
For those looking for additional Bolt content, I recently watched the Netflix documentary “I Am Bolt” which had some great footage of his childhood in Jamaica and a behind the scenes look at his fourth and final Olympic Games in Rio 2016. I highly recommend it.
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