Ten years ago: Usain Bolt posts 100-meter record that still stands

By Beau DureAug 16, 2019, 8:10 AM EDT

Eleven years ago today, Usain Bolt blasted across the track in Beijing to win Olympic 100-meter gold in an unfathomable time of 9.69 seconds.

Ten years ago today, Bolt stepped to the line for the world championship final in Berlin.

“I would not be surprised to see that clock say 9.5,” said the prescient commentator Ato Boldon.

When that clock stopped, the digits 9.5 were indeed there. The final time: 9.58 seconds.

I was made for speed – 9.58 – how do you like that – to the world

— Usain St. Leo Bolt (@usainbolt) August 18, 2009

To put it in perspective — Tyson Gay set an American record of 9.71 seconds in the same race, and he wasn’t all that close to Bolt at the finish.

Gay shaved another 0.02 seconds off his time a few weeks later in Shanghai to match Bolt’s 2008 time of 9.69, an American record that still stands. The only other sprinter to go faster than 9.7 is Jamaica’s Yohan Blake, who also ran the iconic distance in 9.69 a few weeks after the 2012 Olympics.

Bolt himself never again broke the 9.6 mark and only broke the 9.7 mark once more when he lowered his Olympic record to 9.63 in 2012.

From 2013 to today, only three men have broken the 9.8 mark. Justin Gatlin did in six times in 2014 and 2015, posting a best of 9.74. Bolt did it twice, including a 9.77 in 2013.

American Christian Coleman ran a 9.79 last year and has the world’s fastest time (9.81) so far this year with the Diamond League finals and world championships still to come.

While a time of 9.58 seems beyond the grasp of any other mortal, it’s so deeply embedded in Bolt’s identity that he chose the jersey number 9.58 in a charity soccer match earlier this year.

LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 16: Usain Bolt of Soccer Aid World XI wears the number 9.58 in reference to his 100 metres World Record time during the Soccer Aid for UNICEF 2019 match between England and the Soccer Aid World XI at Stamford Bridge on June 16, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

French Open: Iga Swiatek rolls toward possible Coco Gauff rematch

By OlympicTalkJun 1, 2023, 11:06 AM EDT

Getty

Iga Swiatek reached the French Open third round without dropping a set, eyeing a third Roland Garros title in four years. Not that she needed the help, but Swiatek’s immediate draw is wide open after the rest of the seeds in her section lost.

Swiatek dispatched 102nd-ranked American Claire Liu 6-4, 6-0 on Thursday, the same score as her first-round win. She gets 80th-ranked Wang Xinyu of China in the round of 32.

The other three seeds in Swiatek’s section all lost in the first round, so the earliest that the world No. 1 could play another seed is the quarterfinals. And that would be No. 6 Coco Gauff, who was runner-up to Swiatek last year.

Gauff plays her second-round match later Thursday against 61st-ranked Austrian Julia Grabher. Gauff also doesn’t have any seeds in her way before a possible Swiatek showdown.

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Swiatek, who turned 22 on Wednesday, came into this year’s French Open without the invincibility of a year ago, when she was 16-0 in the spring clay season during an overall 37-match win streak.

She retired from her last pre-French Open match with a right thigh injury, but said it wasn’t serious. That diagnosis appears to have been spot-on through two matches this week, though her serve was broken twice in the first set of each match.

While the men’s draw has been upended by 14-time champion Rafael Nadal‘s pre-event withdrawal and No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev‘s loss in the first round, the top women have taken care of business.

Nos. 2, 3 and 4 seeds Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, American Jessica Pegula and Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan also reached the third round without dropping a set.

Though all of them have beaten Swiatek in 2023, the Pole remains the favorite to lift the trophy a week from Saturday. She can join Serena Williams and Justine Henin as the lone women to win three or more French Opens since 2000.

She can also become the youngest woman to win three French Opens since Monica Seles in 1992 and the youngest woman to win four Slams overall since Williams in 2002.

Swiatek doesn’t dwell on it.

“I never even played Serena or Monica Seles,” she said. “I’m kind of living my own life and having my own journey.”

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

Penny Oleksiak to miss world swimming championships

By OlympicTalkJun 1, 2023, 10:11 AM EDT

Getty

Seven-time Olympic medalist Penny Oleksiak of Canada will miss July’s world swimming championships because she does not expect to be recovered enough from knee and shoulder injuries.

“The bar that we set was, can she be as good as she’s ever been at these world championships?” coach Ryan Mallette said in a press release. “We just don’t feel like we’re going to be ready to be 100 percent yet this summer. Our focus is to get her back to 100 percent as soon as possible to get ready for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.”

Oleksiak, who owns the Canadian record of seven Olympic medals (across all sports), missed Canada’s trials meet for worlds two months ago due to the injuries. She was still named to the team at the time in hope that she would be ready in time for worlds.

The 22-year-old returned to competition last month at a Mare Nostrum meet in Barcelona, after which she chose to focus on continued rehab rather than compete at worlds in Fukuoka, Japan.

“Swimming at Mare Nostrum was a checkpoint for worlds, and I gave it my best shot,” Oleksiak said in the release. “We reviewed my swims there, and it showed me the level I want to get back to. Now I need to focus on my rehab to get back to where I want to be and put myself in position to be at my best next season.”

Oleksiak had knee surgery last year to repair a meniscus. After that, she developed a left shoulder injury.

In 2016, Oleksiak tied for Olympic 100m freestyle gold with American Simone Manuel. She also earned 100m butterfly silver in Rio and 200m free bronze in Tokyo, along with four relay medals between those two Games.

At last year’s worlds, she earned four relay medals and placed fourth in the 100m free.

She anchored the Canadian 4x100m free relay to silver behind Australia at the most recent Olympics and worlds.

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

More: Olympics

More: Olympics