Ozan / Bu da 100 metre kosusu sonrasi, Simon Barnes on Bolt “don’t fail us now.”
Written on August 22, 2008 by orhanomay
Bolt has the world in thrall. The extraordinary run in the 100 metres, in which he started celebrating his victory 20 metres from the line and still set a world record, is something that will stay imprinted on the memory of all who saw it. It may just be the finest bit of sport that I have ever seen, and I have seen a few, here and there.
However, we have reached a stage of cynicism in athletics when there is not a name that would surprise you if it were linked with a failed test. Then the romantic hears that suggestion and immediately shouts: “No!”
It’s not merely that I don’t believe Bolt is a drugs cheat: even more, it’s that I don’t want to believe it. I want Bolt to be real. It’s more fun that way: more meaningful.
And I think much of the world is in the same position: the imagination utterly caught by the impossibly languid nature of the fastest man in the world, revelling in the sight, the memory, the story. A failed test would rob us of all that: and more. Trust in athletics might be terminally affected if Bolt failed a test. He has lifted us so high, it’s far too far to fall.”
