The Outlier: Usain Bolt
The analysis of what makes him different
Usain Bolt has been undefeated since he started his career as an athlete. The Jamaican Sprinter, is the most successful athlete in the World Championships. He is the world record holder for the 100m (9.58s in 2009), which used to be a U.S.-dominated event. (The U.S. has won four times more medals than all other countries combined.) and 200m (19.19s in 2009) sprint times and has won gold medals in both these events in the previous 3 Olympics (2008, 2012,2016) — better known as “ The Triple Double”.
He was mostly known for his Olympic game change but he also participated in other events like the IAAF World Championships where he was also non defeating. Taking a look at some of the things that might have made him unique.
HIS PHYSIQUE
According to BBC, A typical world-class male sprinter is 1.83 metres tall and 75–80kg, looking at the previous world champions like Tyson Gay and Yohan Blake who fall into this height and weight, they are clearly world class. Only 86.33% of all the 100m male sprinters have that height or below over the history of olympics. At 6 feet 5 inches (1.96m) and 94kg, which is 0.41% of the sprinters height, Bolt defied the conventional wisdom that very tall sprinters are disadvantaged as fast starters.
He might just be an outlier because even though there are only two sprinters recorded to be taller than him, he has the highest recorded weight of 94kg. This might prove the research from Duke University that showed sprinters and swimmers who are taller, heavier but more slender are the ones breaking world records.
He is a person not only of talent but with interesting personality. During the 100m race in Beijing in 2008 as his fellow sprinters were focused, stern and unflinching, Bolt preened like a peacock; he effectively roared ‘Look! I’ve arrived! This is how we do things now’. No athlete had ever celebrated victory prior to a race so convincingly before. In spite of being carefree, there is still hard work he puts in to maintain this position.
HIS TRAINING TECHNIQUE
Forget the medals and world records. If Bolt’s legacy is anything, it’s that he transformed a sport from stony-faced stares to cheeky grins — bringing the fans closer than ever.
He spends 90 minutes in the gym every day doing workouts that are geared toward improving his speed and agility while maintaining an athletic body. He maintains good and healthy eating habit and avoids fast foods. These techniques seem not unique which also shows that outlier in him. The key thing to take out here is his consistency of training every day.
Jamaican men and women won 11 of the 18 available medals in the 100 at the past three Olympics, though the Caribbean island has a population of only 2.8 million. Theories about Jamaican sprinting success have ranged from their proportion of fast-twitch muscle fibers to a renowned youth development system which again we might say puts him at an advantage.
HIS PERFORMANCE PROGRESSION
At the 2008 Olympic games, Bolt became the first man since American Carl Lewis in 1984 to win the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100-metre relay in a single Olympics and the first ever to set world records (9.69 sec, 19.30 sec, and 37.10 sec, respectively) in all three events. Below shows the All-time top 25 men in 100m sprint, with a huge gap record from Usian bolt.
Taking a closer look at his performance over time compared with the second world champion, Tyson Gay.
These race comprises of all their race not just at the Olympics. From the time he started, he was steadily breaking his own record, his highest record was at the 12th IAAF World Championships at Olympiastadion, Berlin (GER) in 2009 at 9.58. You can also observe that for both of them, their sprint record starts reducing over time which might be attributed to their getting older.
Usain Bolt retired in 2017 at the age of 31. He has been an interesting outlier in the world of athletics. Question now is can anyone defeat him?
