At the Seminole Twilight Track Meet in Florida the weekend of May 8, American Walter Dix, the 2008 Olympic 100m bronze medalist ran 9.98 secs in the 100m. In 2010, this is a quick(ish) but not super fast time. The 24-year-old Dix has a lifetime best of 9.91 and ran 9.93 in June 2007. But why didn’t we fall over Dix’s recent performance? Why was it not front page news in all track and field media? More recently, Jamaica’s Asafa Powell and Usain Bolt clocked 9.86 and 9.87 (+2.6w), respectively, and those didn’t even create waves; they drew only comments, yes, such as “…sends early warning” and “…looks good already”.
For a long time, people were used to being blown away by any sub-10 100m performances. But things have changed; haven’t they? Has the sub-10 100m lost its magic?
Over 40 years ago, at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics Games, Jim Hines of the US became the first man to run the 100m under 10 secs, completing the course in 9.95 secs and setting an Olympic record. This remarkable feat was accomplished one year before another incredible first, when man walked on the moon in July 1969. Hines record stood for 15 years until his fellow countryman, Calvin Smith, lowered it to 9.93 secs. That was in 1983.
Between 1987 and 1999, Carl Lewis, Leroy Burrell and Maurice Green, all Americans, and Canada’s Jamaican-born Donovan Bailey waged an outright assault on the 100m world record, lowering it from 9.93 to 9.79 secs. During the 1990s, sub-10-secs 100m clockings were reserved for a selected few. In between those world record years, there was the emergence of the sub-10 Caribbean athletes: At 26 years old, Jamaican Raymond Stewart did his lifetime best 9.96 secs at the 1991 Tokyo World Championships. Trinidad & Tobago’s Ato Boldon also came to the scene with numerous sub-10s, a lifetime best of 9.86 in 1996 and an NCAA record of 9.92 that still stands. Maurice Green (“The GOAT: Greatest of All Time”), ran over 50 sub-10s during his career.
Between 2004 and 2009, Powell ran sub-10s in nearly every race he did. Now at age 28, he has registered more of them than anyone in the world. He also brought down Green’s world record to 9.74 in July 2007. However, the mystique was still somewhat present whenever he lined up to complete.
Enter Usain ‘Lightning’ Bolt in May 2008 with 9.72 and subsequently his sheer dominance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games (9.69) and the 2009 Berlin World Championship (9.58), and the sub-10 100m then lost its mystique. Bolt has set the bar so high — or low (whichever way you want to look at it) that running under 10 secs in the 100m these days is simply not enough for professionals. It has become a matter of course for many.
Gone are days when the under-10-seconds category was a club reserved for a few sprinters. Now sub-10s come dime a dozen once the conditions are right. In the Caribbean alone, others who have gone under 10 secs (even if only once) include Darrel Brown, Marc Burns and Richard Thompsom (Trinidad); Daniel Bailey (Antigua); Yohan Blake, Nesta Carter, Michael Frater and Lerone Clarke (Jamaica), and God knows who will be next from anywhere on Earth. Fans have come to expect more from 100m athletes. To put things into perspective, in 100m final at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, all eight men clocked below 10 seconds, with the winner way out front at 9.69.
For track and field aficionados, sub-10 performances are always exciting to watch, but the pure excitement fades when Bolt is on the track and ESPN is willing to bring live coverage not just to see a sub-10 performance, but in anticipation of Bolt’s lowering the world record.
The Sub-10 100m is just not what it used to be. The way things are looking, sprinters might soon have to get closer to the old world record of 9.72 to be noticed.