bobsanchez, I think most people would agree with you that hard work goes a long way (and what Bolt considers “slacking” in his training is relative to whatever his training situation is and what his high-achieving peers do).
Most would probably also agree there are people whose talent is not realized because of poor training situations or ill-placed skepticism or artificial barriers.
But you have to remember that certain benchmarks have meaning BECAUSE they are so rare.
Most people on this planet not only cannot run sub10, they cannot run sub11, sub12, sub13, or sub14.
As you go do down in time, it takes a rarer set of talents to achieve the benchmarks.
If EVERYONE could run 9.58 with a lot of hard work, that time would not have as much value; it’s not worth as much because it’s no longer a remarkable achievement.
I was an 11.1-11.3 guy in HS; if I get down to 10.7-10.8 in the next 2-3 years, I will be very happy.
If Bolt (or Powell, Gay, Lemaitre, Guliyev, Burns, etc.) ran 10.7, it would be a huge cause for alarm.
They were alloted elite talent. I was alloted “better than most folks I meet” talent. How far I can get with that talent is a product of my hard work.
I am quite happy with that. If I somehow get to 10.00, it’d be surprising to me because that is a rare benchmark. I’m not saying I won’t - I’m saying that it’s a very rare achievement and the overwhelming majority (99.99999%) of sprinters in history have not reached it.