Why Does Usain Bolt Run in the 400 Meters?
19.02.2010 World
In March 2004, Tokai University professor Chiaki Miyakawa, Japan’s famous short sprinter, was teaching promising Korean short-distance runners.
He made a surprising move by telling them to sprint 300 meters 20 times.
Most of them could cover 200 meters at most, so 300 meters was considered a long distance and none of them finished it.
Fast forward to Feb. 22 last year. Usain Bolt, the world record holder in the 100 and 200 meters and three-time Beijing Olympics gold medalist, won the 400 meters with a time of 45.54 seconds in Kingston, Jamaica. Bolt said he trains for the event to prepare for races.
The wunderkind will compete in the 400 meters again at Jamaica’s National Stadium in Kingston Feb. 14. The event is not one of his specialties, but it will be his first race since the IAAF World Athletic Final in September last year.
His personal best in the 400 meters of 45.28 set in 2007 is far short of the world record of 43.18, but Bolt says he wants to compete in the event as a means of training for the 100 and 200 meters.
READ MORE
|
