Not about basketball but to me it's a unusual sports story. Back in the day we thought 9.5 in the 100 yd dash was really smokin. And there would be talk about how fast the human could eventually run.What would be the absolute limit? I would never have believed a man could run what is equivalent to a 8.6 100 yd dash. It just seems impossible. Yet, this guy has done it and hardly breaking a sweat. The skeptic that I am, I'm thinking steroid or some type of enhancement. Tyson Gay runs a 9.7 100 Meters and finishes 2nd. Unbelievable.

(08-17-2009 05:37 PM)DollarBill Wrote:  Not about basketball but to me it's a unusual sports story. Back in the day we thought 9.5 in the 100 yd dash was really smokin. And there would be talk about how fast the human could eventually run.What would be the absolute limit? I would never have believed a man could run what is equivalent to a 8.6 100 yd dash. It just seems impossible. Yet, this guy has done it and hardly breaking a sweat. The skeptic that I am, I'm thinking steroid or some type of enhancement. Tyson Gay runs a 9.7 100 Meters and finishes 2nd. Unbelievable.

I thought I was really moving when I could run a 10.5 or 10.6 in high school. And that wouldn't even get me a leg on the 440 or 880 relay team.

(08-17-2009 05:37 PM)DollarBill Wrote:  Not about basketball but to me it's a unusual sports story. Back in the day we thought 9.5 in the 100 yd dash was really smokin. And there would be talk about how fast the human could eventually run.What would be the absolute limit? I would never have believed a man could run what is equivalent to a 8.6 100 yd dash. It just seems impossible. Yet, this guy has done it and hardly breaking a sweat. The skeptic that I am, I'm thinking steroid or some type of enhancement. Tyson Gay runs a 9.7 100 Meters and finishes 2nd. Unbelievable.

Unbelievable. And apparently Tyson Gay ran the third fastest race in the history of mankind, and he got smoked. Unbelievable.

It's not drugs, it's the shoes.

If you want to see what Guiness Book of World Records still calls the fastest a man has ever run, look on Youtube for Bob Hayes' anchor leg in the 400 relay at the Tokyo Olympics. It is just unbelievable. He absolutely blew past the fastest runners in the world.

(08-18-2009 07:02 AM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  If you want to see what Guiness Book of World Records still calls the fastest a man has ever run, look on Youtube for Bob Hayes' anchor leg in the 400 relay at the Tokyo Olympics. It is just unbelievable. He absolutely blew past the fastest runners in the world.

I remember at the time commentators saying, that was the fastest they had ever seen a human run. IMO, not even Bullet Bob could run past Usain Bolt. Not to discount Bob Hayes at all but since his time, Track and Field is no lomger an amateur sport. It is year round professional in every way.

Hayes was a pretty good receiver too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZn_Zzqse6s&feature=fvw

(08-18-2009 09:19 AM)DollarBill Wrote:  Not to discount Bob Hayes at all but since his time, Track and Field is no lomger an amateur sport. It is year round professional in every way.

Yes, but I think Hayes' sprint was scientifically supported. I'm telling you, if you watch it, it is amazing. Hayes may not have been a fast starter, but on that occasion when he got to top speed, he was blazing.

"Since Usain Bolt became the 100m WR holder with a 9.68, I don't know if this figure still stands but in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Donovan Bailey in a WR time of 9.84 secs, covered a 10m portion at 12.1 meters per second. That would translate to about 27 MPH or about 43 Km/h. Both he and Maurice Greene hit a 10m section of the 100m final of the 1997 World Championships at 11.91 m/s... Greene ran a 9.86 and Bailey ran a 9.91. That would mean both reached a speed of roughly 26.5 MPH. Considering that, even the reductions the WR has taken in the last 12 years, it would be okay to assume 27-28 MPH is the fastest speed ever attained by a person running. Though Bob Hayes, in 1964, ran his leg of the 4x100m relay in 8.50 seconds."

Track was my sport. What little claim to "fame" I have was there. I used to keep up with the international scene pretty closely, back in the 70's.

I remember attending the NAIA national finals at Henderson back then. A guy named James Gilkes, who I think later won the bronze in the Olympics, won the 100 in that meet. He accelerated in the last 20 yards of that race faster than I have ever seen anyone run in person. Just blew away from the competition.

Is that you in the photo above, just to Hayes' left..?

(08-18-2009 12:33 PM)Scotto Wrote:  Is that you in the photo above, just to Hayes' left..?

Well . . . no. My accomplishments were more modest. I was the high point man on the Booneville track team in 1971. Finished 2nd in district in the 880 and mile to the guy from Charleston who a week later won the 880 at state. I was competitive on a local basis; not much more.

I have an older cousin, though, from Paris, who back in the mid-60's was pretty fair. He had been a sprinter, and set the district junior high record in the 440 the first time he ever ran it, at the district meet his 9th grade year. A week later he set the state record at the state meet. 53.0. Not for sure, but I think that may have still stood when the state switched over to metric.

(08-18-2009 12:12 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  "Since Usain Bolt became the 100m WR holder with a 9.68, I don't know if this figure still stands but in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Donovan Bailey in a WR time of 9.84 secs, covered a 10m portion at 12.1 meters per second. That would translate to about 27 MPH or about 43 Km/h. Both he and Maurice Greene hit a 10m section of the 100m final of the 1997 World Championships at 11.91 m/s... Greene ran a 9.86 and Bailey ran a 9.91. That would mean both reached a speed of roughly 26.5 MPH. Considering that, even the reductions the WR has taken in the last 12 years, it would be okay to assume 27-28 MPH is the fastest speed ever attained by a person running. Though Bob Hayes, in 1964, ran his leg of the 4x100m relay in 8.50 seconds."

I watched the video, and that guy was fast! But in fairness, it looks like he had a running start going into the 100. He was already in stride when he took the corner.

I heard on the radio yesterday that Bolt reached speeds slightly past 30 miles per hour.

And here's the slow-mo video of the Olympic WR performance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzSpPaCIG0g

Looked like Lance Armstrong when he won 7. Always wondered where they kept the champagne.

Loved the part about the call to the girl friend - went straight to voice mail. Classic.

The late-60's and early 70's were a golden age in Ark HS track. My freshman year (1968) our mile relay team won district and went to state. That was the year Henry Basey and Carl Lowe had battled all yea in the sprints. At the state meet they had both run 9.6. At the Meet of Champs Basey nudged it down to 9.5, which was the state record at the time. Lowe set the state record in the 220. That year the Central mile relay team was nationally ranked, and they had an excellent hurdler/sprinter named Philip Herndon. Somewhere along that time Crossett (I think) had a shot putter that was nationally ranked named Karl Salb. Along that time Pine Bluff had a nationally-ranked 440 relay team. Good times. Brings back a lot of memories.

Trivia fact: Win "Skinny" Whipple (I think from Arkadelphia) held the Arkansas long jump record for several decades, dating back to the 1930's. I saw in an old record book that his senior year he was second in the nation in the long jump. Who was first - a kid named Jesse Owens.