For a hot minute earlier this year, it looked as if Usain Bolt might be done. Not done as in he’d never run again, but done as in he’d never dominate like he once did. There were just too many things working against him—age, injury, ennui. But then this happened:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRV2jNesMTc
That’s Bolt at the World Championships in Beijing, capturing the gold in the 200m and in doing so, reminding the world that the fastest man to ever live is still the fastest man alive. Bolt’s gold in the 200m follows his gold in the 100m but it came in much more convincing fashion. While he needed American Justin Gatlin to stumble like a drunken teenager to edge him out on Monday, Bolt blew past Gatlin on Wednesday. He even slowed at the end to pound his chest as he crossed the finish line. His time: 19.55 seconds, or .36 seconds slower than the world record he set in 2009.
Bolt is officially back, but his ascension to his rightful throne was almost derailed after the race. As Bolt was circling the stadium on his victory lap, a photographer on a Segway ran him over. It was a scary moment that could have ended a lot worse than it did. Like, with a torn Achilles, a missed Olympics and a cameraman’s picture on the face of every Jamaican’s dart board.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRJApgrlUCc
But it didn’t. Bolt got right up after this and joked later that, “He tried to kill me.” Not really. The cameraman was just a klutz. The only one doing any killing in Beijing was Bolt, murdering the dreams of every other sprinter who lines up next to him.
Photos by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images for IAAF