God of Sprint, Usain Bolt

Our next stop is the North America continent. For decades US held the hegemony in this sport particularly these events with an occasional burst of genius challenging its hold. On top of it this sport was maligned by doping scandals. Even the champions were not immune to this bug. This sport was considered the pinnacle of human speed and was slowly losing its appeal and it desperately needed someone who could bring back its glamour and establish the trust it had lost.

You may have guessed by now I am talking about the shortest sprint race categories and the sprinter who revived the respect of the whole athletic fraternity is none other than the 6 feet 5 inches tall, Jamaican God of sprint Usain St Leo Bolt.

Just to start off, the Sprinting God had entered the Olympics scene in 2004 and lost in the first round in his pet event 200 mts! Even by then he was an athlete of repute, 18-year-old newly minted professional. Looking back, we understand that he was rush in and his injury adding to the trouble. Good that happened, the next four years forged the greatest of all sprinters including winning a challenge with his coach that led to his entry into the 100 meters event. That is another story of legendary proportion!

Though Bolt was favourite for the 2008 Olympics no one was prepared for the display of craftsmanship, supreme confidence, great showmanship and lovable irreverence all in one package. He was one of the slowest off the block in the 100 meter event yet went to win the race with a world record time while having time to look back, celebrate and may be even sit down have his leisurely tea!! And you should have seen his confidence just before the start of the race. Every athlete was serious as they approached their blocks. Not Bolt, he had time to play around with the kid standing behind his starting block.

This was good enough to kindle the world’s attention toward, Bolt, sprints and the Olympic games. He then went on to break the decade old, nearly untouchable 200-meter record of Michael Johnson. That was a treat to watch with Johnson commenting live. What followed was the formality of the completing the triple medal by winning the 4*100 relay gold. 2008 showed the quintessential Bolt. He held the baton for the third leg but nearly ran till the finish line. Such was his enthusiasm, infectious.

By the end of 2008 Olympics a new start was born, the fruition of a longing for a pure genius, entertainer who is loved by millions, a kind and gentle person who will not only win but break records without breaking anybody’s heart (except for the competitors, may be). The world could not have enough of Bolt and he kept obliging. The next was the Berlin World Championships. World wanted more action, greater destruction of his own records and magic. Bolt simply got up, conjured and mesmerized. There was no stopping Bolt from there on. He was the favourite even on days when he was not at his best injured. He did lose races but that is beside the point. It only shows the respect, resolve the great man had.

He always delivered on the world championship and never slipped on the Olympic stage. His position as the legend of the sporting world was reaffirmed in London and cemented in Rio Olympics. In his own word – was a legend in 2012 and immortal in the 2016.  This was how he said he will be described after winning the races, before the respective Olympic games started.  He was sublime, beauty to watch and crowd always rooted for him. The 2016 Rio Olympic 100 meters final had me in knots and first 50 meters was as good as lost for the Bolt, then comes the kicker, I personally went through a range of emotions within those few minutes. Posting the race link for your pleasure!

I will sign off with a beautiful compilation of all of Usain Bolt’s Olympic finals with a bonus video of his first Olympic race.

End of Part 2

- to be continued, I promise we will move to a different part of the world and to a totally different sport to conclude the series. It will be my tribute to a very humble, quiet and a gentle superstar who is loved well beyond his national borders. Keep guessing, will come back to reveal the name!

Senna

I am starting a 3-part series dedicated to my favourite sport stars. Starting off with a South American Superstar!

There was boy born with a silver spoon during the 60s, started to drive the jeep in his father’s farm at a very young age, entered his first kart competition by 13 that too on pole position! He did not finish the race as he collided with a fellow driver. He was very devout Christian, loved live to the fullest, never gave an inch, stood up to powerful people when he was wronged, never shy of a fight but always there to help a human being.

I am talking about the Brazilian F1 legend Ayrton Senna da Silva or more popularly known as Senna. My fascination towards him started exactly 26 years ago. The first time ever I heard of his name was when I was leaving to either Tirupur or Coimbatore from Trichy. Early in the morning, with my dad, we boarded a bus and I bought a newspaper to read during the journey. What caught my eye was an article about a formula 1 driver who had lost his life! My love for Ayrton Senna started with the news of his death. This was also incidentally my first brush with F1 and I started following it only a few years later. I hope to pay him a small tribute on his death anniversary.

It is my humble opinion that there was never a racing driver who made you believe that he can win if he was given a steering wheel and four wheels! His mere presence was enough to rattle his opponents. He is a three-time F1 championship winner, held record for most pole starts for a very long time before Schumacher with his blazing Ferrari overtook him in the mid-2000s. The one record he will be proud of and the envy of every other F1 driver is the most wins at the Monaco Grand Prix (GP). It is standing till date. The increase in the number of races in a season, the total change in technology, design of the cars somehow in my opinion is making the races more about the cars and less about its drivers. Nowadays we do not get the raw talent of the driver displayed in F1. Senna was the last of the classical drivers relying more on themselves and less on their machine. Seems enticing? I will leave you with a few nuggets of his racing life.

In his debut year,1984, Senna got his first podium finish in his F1 career at the Monaco GP chasing Alain Prost (his arch rival) in rain! This is as romantic as it can get for any Senna Fan. Senna ruled the Monaco GP, was the rain master and always showed he owned the car and not the other way! In this race he started 13^th and was catching up Alain Prost at more than 4 seconds per lap when at the 31^st lap the race was unfairly stopped. If it had continued for a few laps Senna’s first podium finish may have been a win!

Two other races that I can recall for their sheer drama are the 1986 Spanish GP where Nigel Mansell pitted about 10 laps to go and nearly made up the lost time by driving couple of seconds faster than the race leader Senna. But this was a testament to Senna’s raw driving skills. It may be easy to catch up with him by throwing a superior strategy/vehicle/ fresh tyres/ kitchen sink at him but overtaking him is totally different deal. Senna won the race by 0.014s !

The other race is the 1991 Brazilian GP. This was his first and only home win and to add to that he won the race with a gear box problem. He drove his car without the 3^rd, 4^th and the 5^th gears. This is why I repeated say Senna was more than just the car he was driving. Look at the pain in his face as he tries to lift his winner’s trophy. He was exhausted, had cramps and had to be driven to the podium in a medical car.

In 1994 Senna switched to Williams and wanted to regain his world title. During the qualifiers at San Marino Roland Ratzenberger lost his life and Rubens Barrichello was very seriously injured. He went to the hospital to meet Rubens, talked with his arch rival Prost to set up a drivers’ association with a focus on drivers’ safety. Finally, when Senna’s body was removed from his car, he had two flags which he wanted to wave when he won, one was Brazilian and the other was an Austrian flag in Roland’s honour. Such was his love for the sport and confidence in himself. That was the last death on the F1 racing track and it set off a very serious rework to increase driver safety. The worst accident in the recent years I remember is of another Brazilian Filipe Massa. But I believe Senna gave his life to make sure no one else suffers his fate.

There is an amazing movie about him with haunting music on him titled Senna. Even if you are hardened Schumi fan like one of my friends’ you will still love it and admire Senna ! enjoy the trailer and is also available on Netflix.

Genius – Maverick – Superstar – Legend – Senna !! Beautifully described.