by Larry EderUsain Bolt won the 2012 World Athlete of the Year award on Saturday, November 24, 2012. This is his fourth World Athlete title, and it may have been his toughest. The other finalists were David Rudisha, who ran the world record for 800 meters with no pacer in an Olympic final, and Aries Merritt, who destroyed the 110m hurdle record, running 12.80, after he won golds in London 2012 and the 2012 World Indoor.
To win the 2012 World Athlete of the Year award, Usain Bolt won the 100 meters in a new Olympic record. He then won the 200 meters, and came back to anchor his team to a new world record of 36.84 in the 4 x 100 meter relays.
Is Usain Bolt a Legend? Heck, he may be the greatest sprinter that we have ever seen. In the media’s mind, perhaps, Bolt is a Legend, but Usain Bolt knows better than anyone, that, in this sport, where victory is measured by hundredths of a second or, centimeters, victory is fleeting. You are only as good as your last race. As he trains each day, Bolt has a twenty-two year old who reminds him, day by day, that this sport of track and field is about the competition.
My observations of Usain Bolt this year? He came to run in London, and he had to use all he had to defend his titles. Usain Bolt is no longer that fast guy from Jamaica, he is the best male athlete in the world, period.
