I was browsing channels yesterday (just as I finished my marathon…DVD-marathon, that is) when I chanced upon the Men’s 100m semi-finals at the Beijing Olympics. Shortly after, when the finals was about to begin, I hollered for my son who complained last week that he hadn’t watched a single event of the Olympics. This was the perfect opportunity—almost like hitting two birds with one stone—as it would give him his first glimpse of the Olympics and secondly, it could possibly inspire him into becoming a future Olympic track star (a running mommy’s wish!).
“Who’s your pick?” I asked him. “Mine is USA.” I confidently exclaimed. My little boy pointed to a guy in green, “That guy” he said. I informed him he chose Jamaica and he replied “What’s that?”
And so they were off. In a blink of an eye—9.69 seconds to be exact—my son’s choice, Usain Bolt of Jamaica, doesn’t only win the Men’s 100m, but he sets a new world record! Usain was insanely fast, but even more astounding was his seemingly effortless and calm stride. He even looked at the audience and relaxed his arms before he reached the finish line! In slowmo, he looked almost at peace, quite the opposite of Tyson Gay’s semi-finals slowmo wherein my son exclaimed “He looks scary!”
– Usain Bolt after setting his new world record in Men’s 100m (Photo credit: Xinhua) –
It was a delight to watch Usain celebrate his victory by running around the track, hugging people from the audience (I wish I was there to be hugged by him too!), showing off his gold spikes, and doing his little happy dance. He’s quite the performer, really.
I was in complete awe. I told my son, who by that time had gone back to fiddling around with his toys, “Your pick is now the fastest man in the world! Can you believe that?!” He nonchalantly replies, “Uh huh” and then excitedly asks “When can we see that scary guy again?!”
