I didn't get a chance to write this when the event occurred, but Ussain Bolt went on to win 2 more gold and set 2 more world records after the 100m sprint so, in a way, it is even more obvious now. What is? Namely, that we are the beginning of a paradigm shift in men's sprinting. Until now, the paradigm had been that tall athletes did not make good sprinters. Their long legs would mean poor starts, an inability to accelerate as a shorter athlete could. Well, Bolt has demonstrated, convincingly, that a tall athlete can be a world-class sprinter. True, he has a slow start, but his powerful legs and long stride mean that in the middle of the race, he simply blows past the other sprinters. He set a world record of 9.69 in the 100m without trying his fullest. Jamaica, with Bolt running the 3rd leg, destroyed the US world record in the men's 4x100 relay with incredibly cautious handovers--meaning they should be able to beat that record in the future.
So, it should be obvious that Ussain Bolt's performance will mean a paradigm shift in the thinking of world-class sprinting. You've heard it hear...expect 100m sprinters to be getting taller from now on.
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