Bolt leaves mark like no other Olympian

Opinion by WILLIAM WILCZEWSKI

 

What he does is not amazing by any stretch of the imagination.

How he does it, though, boggles the mind.

What he does, simply, is put one foot in front of the other.

No big deal, right?

It’s the third thing we learn to do.

Crawl.

Walk.

Run.

And, boy, can Usain Bolt RUN!

Step aside Forrest Gump, this guy’s no fairy tale.

In fact, Hollywood would have a hard time making people believe this guy’s prowess.

If I hadn’t seen it myself, I wouldn’t have believed it, either.

I still can’t—or at least am having a hard time wrapping my noggin around it.

You can’t blame me, though. This legend—aptly named Bolt—made world class caliber competition look like kids in a playground.

And when those kids decided to play, they learned one sad fact.

Their fifth gear was his third.

They never stood a chance.

On the biggest stage, against the best the world has to offer, Bolt played with them; teased them; laughed at the mere idea that anyone else even stood a chance.

They didn’t.

I mean, how many times did we see Bolt pull up before the finish line, as if to beg anyone choking on his dust to at least give him a little challenge?

They didn’t. They couldn’t. Period.

Bolt is a freak of nature. An alien? A cyborg? I don’t know, but he certainly can’t be our traditional definition of human — or at least not natural, right?

I can’t help but think there’s a real Dr. Evil out there somewhere who perfected an anti-drug-doping detection device, and used Bolt as his star pupil.

Albeit sad, that would make sense of what the world witnessed in Rio de Janeiro.

That would help me wrap my brain around how Bolt set a human foot speed record of 27.7-miles-per-hour—faster than I could probably ride a bicycle … downhill … … with gale-force winds at my back.

Amazing.

It’s something that still leaves me puzzled.

It also leaves me wondering if he were challenged, what it would have been like to see Bolt in overdrive.

What if he were forced to give his all?

What would we have seen then?

Likely a streak of yellow haze.

Sadly, though, he wasn’t challenged.

Our loss.

In the end, though, it leaves me with this …

As writers, we use words to describe what we see.

Running: moving or proceeding easily or smoothly

Stride: to achieve a regular or steady pace or course

These words, like what Bolt does, are not amazing by any stretch of the imagination.

How he does it, on the other hand, most certainly is … and leaves me in awe of one of—if not the—most brilliant performances on the undoubtedly most brilliant stage on Planet Sport.