Bolt rewrites the 100

Usain Bolt is 6-foot-5, which sprinters are not supposed to be. In the Beijing 100 meters he is clear by 60 meters and looks left, arms out, before the line. The time is 9.69 with a slowdown. The next year he runs 9.58. The 200 is a demolition as well.

Sprint culture had been tight, clenched, American and Canadian and sometimes British. Bolt makes it Jamaican, tall, and almost playful, which infuriates purists and delights everyone else. The world record stops being a rumor and becomes a man in a pose.

Beijing is the night the 100 meters gets a new shape. Every sprinter after him is asked if they can be that tall, that fast, and that loose. Almost none of them can.