Usain Bolt is the fastest man alive. The Jamaican impressed as he broke the 100m and 200m sprint world records this week in Beijing. But many people are not convinced.
A crowd of 91,000 people rose to their feet at the Birds Nest as the “lightning bolt” broke Michael Johnson’s 1996 record 19.32s time in the 200m sprint.
Johnson himself predicted Bolt would break his twelve-year-record, but some American media reports fail to recognise Bolt’s record-breaking performance.
“Records break, but suspicions of doping linger,” reads the title of an article in the New York Times.
Another American-based blogging website, Steroid Nation, questions the 22-year-old’s impressive performance.
“You must be joking … the majority of these guys running under 10 seconds for the 100 are juiced, if not all of them. Jamaica is not different from America, actually it might even be worse.”
However, the same view was not expressed by all the bloggers.
“It’s quite sad that when a non-American athlete wins, they have to be on steroids. Before you cast doubt, research Bolts times from his early teens, then make an educated comment,” one blogger said.
A number of world champions and former record holders have been found guilty of doping, including Ben Johnson and Marion Jones.
That’s not to say that records can’t be broken.
We may never know the real truth, but I wonder why Michael Phelps, with his eight gold, doesn’t attract the same scrutiny as Bolt has?
What ever happened to the saying “innocent until proven guilty?”
Bolt’s times by age
15 years old: 200m in 20.61
16 years old: 200m in 20.40
16 years old: 400m in 45.35
18 years old: 200m in 19.93
20 years old: 200m in 19.86
21 years old: 200m in 19.75Source: Steroid Nation
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