Will the 100 metres be run in under 9 seconds? Yes it will.

9.58 ....

hi i was just wondering if i could get some points on why the 100m won't be run under 9 seconds cause im doing an assignment on it and i have to argue both sides. does anyone haveany input for me. it would be much appreciated.

Hope nobody's confusing their Daves and Davids in here. That last mean spirited post did not come from me. It's not fair to say that Australia has no sprinters. In one of the most iconic Olympic photographs, that of Tommy Smith and John Carlos giving the Black Power salute from the podium at the Mexico games, the third man on the podium was an Australian who had won the silver medal in the games. Interestingly, I saw a TV program recently about the whole background to that protest and saw that there is now a statue on an American university campus of the two athletes giving the salute. Mind you, the silver position on the podium is blank. The white ozzie has been airbrushed out of the sculpture, even though he wore a badge in solidarity with the protest. There does seem to be some genetic advantage to being a sprinter if you come from, or your ancesters came from, the Western states of Africa. To be fair, there haven't been too many Olympic sprint medallists from the likes of Gabon, Angola or Congo just yet but Frankie Fredericks of Namibia was a top class sprinter not so long ago. Most top 100m runners are black Americans or Afro Carribeans. Regardless of the country they run for, their west African ancestry is too much of a common trait to be a coincidence. Carl Lewis, Donovan Bailiey, Linford Christie, Usain Bolt and all the great American sprinters back to Jesse Owens were all, presumably, the descendants of black Africans brought to the Americas from Western Africa. In fact, in recent decades, the only white winners of the 100m in the Olympics competed in events with extenuating circumstances. Alan Wells of Scotland (UK) won in 1980 when America boycotted the Moscow games, and Valeri Borzov of the Soviet Union won in 1972 after the American contestants slept in for their semifinal round races and were disqualified from the event. That's not to say that Borzov wouldn't have won anyway (he destroyed the Americans in the 200m when they set their alarm clocks properly) but he was a very rare white champion.

ROFL at some of the ocmments here just admit it you are jealous because Australia cant produce people for athletics even close to the likes of Jamaica and the USA.. sore losers

I'm sorry to be a naysayer but it will not UNLESS the race is run on a planet with minimum gravity. Like the reduction in most records involving TIME the biggest impact is in the early years. There after the reduction becomes asymptotic on the time axis of the graph. That’s where "time to run the distance" is now - a lot of sweet and tears for little improvement.

First drugs, then legal technological implants (I am rolling my eyes) and, finally, genetic engineering. It reminds me of the history of earth as described in "Red Dwarf". It followed exactly that path and got to the point where soccer goal keepers were genetically engineered to be exactly the same dimensions as the goal mouth. No thanks.

SPIRO - to break the 9 second barrier we'll need an improvement in equipment a la tennis. Running shoes could be made that would spring the runner out of the blocks as well as power him/her down the track. We already have springs built into sneakers, so I believe they'll come into track and field and be approved. Next, the track surface itself could and will be made faster. There may not be much room for improvement in shorts and vest, although Bolt's loose, free-flowing shirt may have fractionally slowed him in that record run. Last I heard, he's undecided about running the double at Beijing wanting to concentrate on the 200, but the 200 is all about running the bend properly which is why he took only the silver last time out. Even a good starter can be disadvantaged in the 200 if he/she loses time running the curve. Aussie Peter Norman medaled in '68 because, although he was a lousy starter, he ran a beautiful bend and came out of it like something shot from a cannon. Ultimately, what will improve homo sapiens physically - and, therefore, all athletes' times - will be legal technological implants. This is a gigantic subject and the scientists are in only the early stages, but it's already helping people medically. In time, implants will help athletes jump longer and higher and run faster. Brave new world? Sure. We've been heading toward it for years.

No benefit of the doubt is due. Athletics hasn't worked hard enough to clean up it's act and is completely lacks credibility. F-A-R-C-E.

Geez talk about cynical. It isn't entirely difficult to have an educated guess at who the drug cheats are. You can tell bvy build and improvement and even (sometimes) the stretch marks. Bolt, being tall and very lean, doesn't actusally fit the mould of a drug cheat. He's only young and burst on the scene a couple of years ago, running 200s, and running them fast. He's of course run more than five 100m races in his life, but not serious ones as a pro. In that regard, he's focused on the 200 which, as Spiro said, he's theoretically better suited to. Yeah aths has had its drug problems, but who ever doubted Marion Jones and Flojo were on drugs? Ditto Ben Johnson. Give the guy the benefit of the doubt. Sheesh.

Within the last decade, athletics, just like cycling, ceased to be deserving of any credibility. It is a pseudo-sport. I read that this was Bolt's 5th attempt at the 100m. And he breaks the world record? It was also a long time ago that I stopped worrying that such comments would be labelled as cynical. Athletics is really a bit of a farce.

Sorry Spiro but the question asked when l hear of such world records is not will it go lower but is the athlete a drugs cheat? Unforunately too often the verdict has eventually been yes they are. Whether Bolt is or not only time and improvements in testing, will tell.