"God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast and when I run, I feel his pleasure."
The fastest men on earth.
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The story of the men’s 100 metres Olympic champions, Neil Duncanson, London, Andre Deutsch, 2011
The structure is simple, a chapter on the story of the 100 metres men’s final at every Olympics 1904 to 2008 – the build-up, the event and the aftermath. It is gripping reading. The range is fascinating: “ these fast men are an extraordinary blend of success and disaster, as well as glory and tragedy; ranging from amazing wealth to grinding poverty, superstar adulation and national hero status to bankruptcy, shame, prison, even suicide”.
The chapter on Jesse Owens is excellent, telling me many things I did not know. The author treads balanced path through the hype and legend to show the reader the greatness of Jesse Owens’ achievement. At the same Owens’ own contribution to some of his problems is acknowledged. He explodes the myth of Hitler’s snub while acknowledging Owens’ difficulties with racism in his own country. The interaction with Lutz Long in Berlin 1936 is documented. It is a lovely story.
A number of recent champions have failed drugs tests. In writing about this, the author comes down hard on Ben Johnson, believes the evidence against Justin Gatlin but is much more sympathetic to Carl Lewis and Linford Christie. If failing a drugs test is the criteria, then I am not sure on what basis he makes this distinction.
The reaction of two champions to Johnson’s positive test is in stark contrast: “I cried that day I really cried… I never expected it to happen to Ben. Believe me, I had been in Ben’s company and I never thought he was on drugs – never, ever. He was such a nice guy.” Linford Christie.
“That bastard did it again.” Carl Lewis.
The chapter on Usain Bolt is excellent, including a question attributed to Dan Pfaff, who coached Donovan Bailey to Olympic 100 metres gold: “when he gets to 50 there’s not usually a lot of traffic around him, so it would be interesting to see if he got to 50, 70, even 80 metres and three guys were still with him. Would he run a crazy time or would he fold?”
Finally the book gives two statistics that will fascinate you :
When Jesse Owens broke the world record in the 1930s, he hit a top speed of21.7mph, whereas Bolt’s world record has him at close to 28mph. In an Olympics of all animal species, Usain Bolt would come in 28th, just ahead of the elephant. The cheetah would win the gold.
An excellent read in the Olympic year.
ISBN: 978-0-233-00336-8