Usain Bolt’s 100m ‘shocks’ Michael Johnson
By Tom Knight
Last Updated: 1:40am BST 06/05/2008
Michael Johnson advised Usain Bolt not to get too carried away with the astonishing 100 metres performance that saw the Jamaican clock 9.76 secs, the second fastest time in history.
Johnson admitted he was “shocked” by Bolt’s time at the Jamaica Invitational meeting in Kingston, which was only 0.02sec outside the world record set last summer by Asafa Powell.
Bolt’s performance was a large improvement on his previous best and will have raised a few eyebrows within the sport.
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But the 6ft 5in youngster, who was a promising fast bowler before he was sprinting, has been a superstar in the Caribbean since 2004, when he set the world junior 200m record of 19.93sec, a time that world record holder Johnson did not run until he was 20.
Last year, Bolt also took the 200m silver medal behind Tyson Gay at the world championships in Osaka.
Johnson said: “Usain said he was shocked. I’m shocked too. I never would have predicted he could run that fast over 100m.”