04/23/24
September 17, 2008
Physicists Measure Time Cost of Usian Bolt's Celebration: Four physicists have submitted a new research paper, "Velocity dispersions in a cluster of stars: How fast could Usain Bolt have run?", that attempts to determine how much faster he would have finished his world-record 100 meter sprint at the Olympics if he didn't showboat at the end. Their conclusion: 0.14 seconds.
I hope that isn't true, holden. It is hard to believe that running a 9.55 at the Olympics would have cost him money. I was pretty disappointed that he didn't run as fast as he could. Won't people always wonder what could have been if he doesn't improve his time significantly?
posted by bperk at 03:49 PM on September 17, 2008
Yeah, utterly demolishing the world record by an additional .14 would have been far more profitable than breaking it periodically over the next months or years of far, far less publicized events than the Olympics. If he breaks his own record down the road, which seems likely as his starts improve, he'll merit a little blurb on the evening news that day, and no more.
It's a shame he didn't go all out, but I don't think he slowed up intentionally, except in the sense he glanced over and realized he was going to win by a huge amount and started celebrating prematurely. He only broke the world record by a few hundredths of a second; he couldn't have the ability to know exactly how much he was slowing up and edge in just under the WR as an intentional act, since he would be as likely to not even break the WR doing that.
posted by hincandenza at 06:39 PM on September 17, 2008
Sergei Bubka used to break his pole vaulting record incrementally, though it was clear to anyone watching that he was well over the bar (and had cleared higher heights in practice). It was all about breaking the record multiple times for more paydays.
posted by sbacharach at 08:21 PM on September 17, 2008
As I understand it, both event organizers (see, for example, this story about a post-Olympics competition) and athletes' specific sponsors offer bonuses for breaking world records. So if Bolt's maximum ability is to run, say, somewhere in the 9.5s, hitting a 9.55 or so in the Olympics does not really give him much room to improve and thus get more paydays. So I'm not sure how demolishing the world record by more than he did would make Bolt more money. In terms of the ancillary money he is going to make from endorsements and the like, I have a hard time believing he could have gotten more PR and endorsements coming out of these games than he already did.
On the topic of breaking world records incrementally, see also this article about the Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva:Isinbayeva has broken world indoor and outdoor records on 24 separate occasions. Sergey Bubka, the great Ukrainian vaulter who set 35 world records himself, was in the stadium to watch. He would have approved of the manner in which Isinbayeva has raised the mark one centimetre at a time, just as he did, making himself rich in reward money as he did so. "I will do it," she replied when asked whether she could surpass Bubka's tally, "I just have 12 more to go. Life would be boring without records to break, so I want to continue on forever."
posted by holden at 12:19 AM on September 18, 2008
I hope someone comes along and teaches the showboating sack of shit a lesson by beating his record by 0.13.
I notice since the site redesign that the content is going down the "Rah Rah USA!" route more and more often. Depressing:(
posted by Drood at 02:32 AM on September 18, 2008
Drood: stop being a tool. Big up Jamaica.
holden: it's apples and oranges. You can't choose to run a 9.63 versus a 9.62 -- or throw the javelin or discus 20cm less far -- in the same way you can raise the bar on the high jump or pole vault a centimetre at a time. And while Grand Prix meets reward world records, they give their biggest rewards to multiple winners.
Bolt's rationale after the 100m was simple enough: the chance to break a world record happens every time he runs that distance. The chance to win a gold medal at a particular Olympic Games happens once. His explanation after the 200m was different: Michael Johnson was in the house, and Bolt didn't think he could challenge that mark in another setting.
Unlike most people in the US, I watched that 100m as it happened, thanks to Means Not Approved By NBC. It was electrifying: the burst that put him ahead of the field in about two seconds was hard to believe, and no-one in that stadium -- I had a friend in there who sent me a txt soon after -- was complaining. And I'm with Hal I in thinking that that acceleration surprised Bolt too.
posted by etagloh at 03:36 AM on September 18, 2008
Finally, someone's found a practical use for Physics.
Signed
A Physics graduate.
posted by owlhouse at 07:59 AM on September 18, 2008
etalgoh -- agreed on the point regarding not being able to break sprint records in such a piecemeal fashion as pole vault or high jumping records or the like. But the difference between 9.69 and 9.55 is big enough that he could feasibly control bringing that record down 1-2 more times, perhaps. And for the record, I'm not saying he let up purposefully with financial incentives in mind. I'm just saying that from a results-oriented perspective (in terms of potential payouts for world records), doing so was not bad for his future. From a purely competitive standpoint as well, this is not bad for him -- it gives him something to compete against other than the field (which does not appear to posing much of a threat for the time being).
posted by holden at 09:05 AM on September 18, 2008
You'd have to ask a sprinter whether they can predict within a tenth of second what their time in the 100 was after the've run it. I suppose I wouldn't be suprised either way.
As for Bolt I agree with the notion that the man was joyful for having won the gold and began his celebration a couple steps early. Everyone watching the race started their celebration earlier than expected too.
posted by DudeDykstra at 04:27 PM on September 18, 2008
The medal don't get any golder than the one he's sportin'! That's why he traveled to China, I believe, and if he wants to revel in his phenominal accomplishment, that's his business. On that note...
I'm no one to tell physicists how to spend their hard-earned time but, damn fellas...
posted by tahoemoj at 01:25 AM on September 19, 2008
Those crazy physicists!
I believe it may have been mentioned here, but I've certainly seen it elsewhere -- it was not in Usain Bolt's interest to smash the record, as he likely has financial incentives from his sponsors for each time he breaks the world record. So doing it incrementally is the way to go (from a financial perspective).