I'm working on Jaipur part II, but I wanted to take a brief minute to point something out about what happened in the Olympics today.

People say that there is no doubt: Phelps is the greatest Olympian of these games. However, allow me to introduce a track star by the name of Usain Bolt:

* Only 9 men have ever won gold medals in two sprinting events during the same Olympics. The last time the 100 and 200 were won in the same year was 1984. Bolt just did it.

* Nobody has ever broken the 100 and 200 world records in the same Olympics before. Bolt made it look easy.

* Since 1996, when Michael Johnson set the old world record in the 200, nobody had even come CLOSE to matching him. Other than Johnson, the fastest other time ever recorded in the event is three tenths of a second slower than Bolt, meaning that for years, all the best runners in the discipline could only run at around 19.65 seconds. Bolt and Johnson are the only two people to ever break 19.6, and they both did it in 19.3.

* Not only did Bolt break the world record in the 200, but during his world record breaking time in the 100, he SLOWED DOWN TO CELEBRATE. That would be like Phelps swimming breaststroke during a freestyle race and still winning. Umm...no.

* While most of the swimming world records are being broken on a yearly basis anymore, Johnson's 12-year old record was still fairly new in terms of track records when Bolt ducked under it. Some records have been in existence for over 25 years. What I mean to say is this: in swimming, the world record means that the athlete was competing in a really fast pool with a brand new, top of the line Speedo. In track, the world record means that the athlete ran faster than anybody has ever run before.

* Had you ever heard Bolt's name before he came to these Olympics? Didn't think so. He apparently was completely a no-name as of a year ago.

* If you took Bolt's time in the 200 as the sum of two 100s, both of the 100 splits would have beaten his record in the 100.



Now, I'm not arguing that Phelps isn't a great athlete, or isn't the greatest Olympian at these games - but I do think the argument exists to say that Usain Bolt has equaled him - not just by beating everybody else (by over half a second in the 200), but by beating, through skill and not technology, everyone who has ever come before him.

Ok...object as you like.