Usain Bolt has opened up on the moment he first broke the 100m world record in New York back 2008, largely motivated by American rival Tyson Gay.
Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt has shared details about the night he first broke the 100m world record back in 2008, the year he really started cementing his status as a sprinting king.
On a stormy evening in May of that year at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York, Bolt shattered the 100m world record, setting the tone for what would become an illustrious career in track and field.
The race, billed as a showdown between Bolt and then-reigning world champion Tyson Gay, proved to be the perfect stage for Bolt to announce his arrival as a force to be reckoned with.
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Competing on the rain-soaked track of Randall’s Island’s Icahn Stadium, Bolt clocked an astonishing 9.72 seconds, surpassing the previous record of 9.74 seconds held by compatriot Asafa Powell.
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Despite the difficult conditions, which forced athletes to warm up in cramped spaces and delayed the race, Bolt’s performance was nothing short of extraordinary. His effortless acceleration and powerful strides left Gay trailing in second place with 9.85 seconds.
Bolt later revealed that breaking the world record was never his primary goal that night. Speaking on Justin Gatlin’s Ready Set Go podcast, the sprinter admitted, “I was just happy to beat Tyson, that was my main goal that day. It was a tough race because they false started three times.”
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For Bolt, the focus was always on competing against the best.
“I was never a ‘I want to break this record’ type of guy. I just want to win. I am a competitor. I do not really care about the records. I want to compete against the best of all times.”
Surprisingly, Bolt didn’t even realize he had set a new world record until after the race. As he recalled, “I never even looked at the clock. If you watched the race, when I got to the 200 meters while doing the lap, that is when I heard the announcer say ‘it is official, this is a world record,’ and that is when I knew.”
The race, however, was not without its challenges. Two false starts added to the tension, but Bolt admitted that the second false start gave him a much-needed reprieve, considering his shaky start.
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“If the gun would have been clean the second time, I would have had it tough because I had a bad start the second time,” he revealed.
Reflecting on that memorable season, Bolt admitted that 2008 was the fittest year of his career.
“I was ready that year. That was the fittest I had ever been. I was going through training, and coach was shocked with the times I was running,” Bolt shared.
This landmark race not only marked the beginning of Bolt’s reign as the fastest man alive but also highlighted the competitive fire that defined his career.
For Bolt, it was about proving himself against the best, and in doing so, he inadvertently set the benchmark for greatness, including going on to lower the record two more times, first at the Olympics, clocking 9.68 seconds, and then in 2009, when he ran 9.58 seconds.
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