Saturday, August 16, 2008
16th August Fastest man on earth
Well - 10.69!
Sorry - most people won't know what I am talking about or why I am excited by it.
It has been a good day for Olympics watching.
There have been gold medals for Great Britain - in the water, on the water and on those bikes.
And there have been world records for a couple of them, which I hope are not forgotten as these less media exploited sports fade back into some sort of obscurity.
And there has been the event considered to be the premier one amongst track and field athletes, to discover the fastest man on earth.
I look back down the years to a time when no man could run 100 metres in under 10 seconds.
There was such excitement when, with electric timing a runner could be credited with 9.99.
I think maybe the first time I saw a sub 10 second 100 metres would have been at Crystal palace and would have been Calvin Smith of Carl Lewis. That would have been early 1970's.
There are still actually very few who can achieve it - but numbers are growing and the times are coming down.
We actually heard the commentary of today's race on the radio in the car.
Over in a flash of course - Usain Bolt of Jamaica was the winner. I gasped in disbelief when I heard 9.69.
Later I saw the recording of the race and gasped again at the ease and margin of his win.
Twenty years ago I remember watching the Olympic 100 metres in a house in York with Jamie. We turned to each other and asked ourselves "What's he on?" It didn't take long for the news to come through about just what Ben Johnson was on. There have been others since then of course - seemingly nice people led astray by the lure of success and money.
But we are led to believe that Usain Bolt runs purely on talent and training. He says he has had so many blood tests recently that he feared he would be short of blood in his veins.
Today these athletes have reached important pinnacles in their lives as we have plodded on with our normal routines.
Two car boot sales today and not very much to show for it.
We have bought clothes again. I must eject unworn items from my wardrobe which is too full of things right now.
Bill has some more model soldiers.
I have, amongst other things a Diamond Jubilee plate for Queen Victoria.
Thankfully it hasn't rained at all today.
I wonder how it will be in the morning.
We won't go far for we have to be back to change into glad rags for a family party to celebrate Bill's cousin Celia's recent wedding.
Right time for a drink and to watch the results of the choir competition. It is getting hard to choose a favourite now - but sorry men of Bath - I think your time is up.
Goodnight.
Sorry - most people won't know what I am talking about or why I am excited by it.
It has been a good day for Olympics watching.
There have been gold medals for Great Britain - in the water, on the water and on those bikes.
And there have been world records for a couple of them, which I hope are not forgotten as these less media exploited sports fade back into some sort of obscurity.
And there has been the event considered to be the premier one amongst track and field athletes, to discover the fastest man on earth.
I look back down the years to a time when no man could run 100 metres in under 10 seconds.
There was such excitement when, with electric timing a runner could be credited with 9.99.
I think maybe the first time I saw a sub 10 second 100 metres would have been at Crystal palace and would have been Calvin Smith of Carl Lewis. That would have been early 1970's.
There are still actually very few who can achieve it - but numbers are growing and the times are coming down.
We actually heard the commentary of today's race on the radio in the car.
Over in a flash of course - Usain Bolt of Jamaica was the winner. I gasped in disbelief when I heard 9.69.
Later I saw the recording of the race and gasped again at the ease and margin of his win.
Twenty years ago I remember watching the Olympic 100 metres in a house in York with Jamie. We turned to each other and asked ourselves "What's he on?" It didn't take long for the news to come through about just what Ben Johnson was on. There have been others since then of course - seemingly nice people led astray by the lure of success and money.
But we are led to believe that Usain Bolt runs purely on talent and training. He says he has had so many blood tests recently that he feared he would be short of blood in his veins.
Today these athletes have reached important pinnacles in their lives as we have plodded on with our normal routines.
Two car boot sales today and not very much to show for it.
We have bought clothes again. I must eject unworn items from my wardrobe which is too full of things right now.
Bill has some more model soldiers.
I have, amongst other things a Diamond Jubilee plate for Queen Victoria.
Thankfully it hasn't rained at all today.
I wonder how it will be in the morning.
We won't go far for we have to be back to change into glad rags for a family party to celebrate Bill's cousin Celia's recent wedding.
Right time for a drink and to watch the results of the choir competition. It is getting hard to choose a favourite now - but sorry men of Bath - I think your time is up.
Goodnight.
