Written by Taking place in April 2021 is Athletics Australia’s Australian Track and Field Championships. The event will be held in Sydney and is the largest annual athletics event in Australia and the Oceania region, traditionally attracting more than 3,500 athletes from across Australia and the Pacific.
When I think of athletics, I can’t help but remember watching that race in the World Championships in Daegu in 2011, where Usain Bolt blotted his copybook and was disqualified.
Bolt is credited with having saved Olympic athletics from the drug-ravaged games in Athens which saw the proposed Olympic flame lighter, Konstantinos Kenteris, missing a doping test on the eve of the opening ceremony.
Bolt arrived literally like a lightning bolt, the racing prowess eclipsed by his undeniable swagger and cool affable personality. He posed for selfies and smiled his broad gregarious smile and changed athletics forever with that pivotal race in Beijing in 2008.
When Bolt lined up with the other athletes in the 100m race, he stood out, not just because of his stature but he appeared to be celebrating before he’d even run. While all around him were focussed and serious, he was “preening like a peacock” … essentially announcing behold I am here!
“I’ve never seen anybody compete with such a carefree attitude and a sense of enjoyment, a celebration of his talent,” said triple jump world-record holder Jonathan Edwards “For me that makes him stand out as much as his talent in itself and what he’s achieved.”
Bolt says of his demeanour “It is just showing my personality,”… “I did it a few times and the crowd liked it so I kept doing it. I love when a stadium has a lot of energy, it inspires me to perform better.”
But when Bolt false started in that fateful 2011 race, there was a palpable feeling of despair; a collective held breath, this rule of disqualification after only one false start had only just been made, how could they use it against this particular man; this redeemer of athletics. Silver medalist, American Walter Dix, who lost first to Yohan Blake by the narrowest of margins, said of Bolt’s disqualification: “I couldn’t believe it, it’s kind of surreal”.
Nobody expected that the officials would go through with it because of who Bolt was, and in fact the furore over this action completely upstaged Blake’s victory which was achieved with the best time of the season.
But it shows an honest and fair culture that Bolt was penalized, had he not been, officials would have been showing preferential treatment to the ‘biggest shiniest star’ and that is something that has occurred in many other incidences in many other sports. It is important to show the next generations that rules are there for a reason and even if it feels so unfair, it is necessary to uphold them and uphold them fairly and evenly for everyone.
Usain Bolt: The secrets of the man who changed sport forever – Eurosport