Usain Bolt Sets World Records
At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, the Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt won the 100 meters and the 200 meters in world-record times, then anchored Jamaica's 4x100 meter relay team to a third gold medal and another world record. The performances made him the dominant figure of the Games and transformed him from a promising young talent into a global sporting celebrity. They also reshaped ideas about how fast a human being could run.
Bolt had been a prodigy as a teenager, winning the world junior 200 meters title in 2002 at age 15. For several years, injuries and doubts about his build slowed his progress; at roughly 1.95 meters tall, he was far taller than most elite sprinters, who were thought to benefit from a shorter frame for quick acceleration. He had also focused mainly on the 200 meters. In May 2008, shortly before the Olympics, he set a 100 meters world record of 9.72 seconds in New York, breaking the mark held by his countryman Asafa Powell.
In Beijing, Bolt won the 100 meters final in 9.69 seconds, a new world record. He visibly slowed and celebrated in the final strides, leading many observers to wonder what he might have run had he kept going to the line. A few days later he won the 200 meters in 19.30 seconds, lowering the record that Michael Johnson had set at the 1996 Atlanta Games and which many had considered nearly untouchable. The Jamaican men's relay team later finished in 37.10 seconds, though that gold medal was stripped in 2017 after teammate Nesta Carter's earlier sample was retested and found to contain a banned substance. Bolt's tally was then adjusted accordingly.
The Beijing performances launched one of the most successful careers in the sport's history. At the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, Bolt lowered his records to 9.58 in the 100 meters and 19.19 in the 200 meters, marks that still stand. He repeated his sprint doubles at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics, and he retired in 2017.
His success brought attention to Jamaica's remarkable record in sprinting, which is often attributed to a mix of strong club and school competition, such as the national high school championships, and a deep local talent pool. His relaxed, showman's manner, including his signature lightning-bolt pose, also helped draw new audiences to track and field at a time when the sport was grappling with doping scandals.