Did 'legend' talk lead to false start?

THE EDITOR, Sir:

Why did Usain Bolt false-start? Neither Bolt nor his outstanding coach Glen Mills are saying. Perhaps they haven't figured it out yet or are too embarrassed to say.

One of two theories can be discounted. With Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay out, and even below his world-record form, both Bolt and Mills are experienced enough to have seen from Bolt's form in the prelims that all he needed to decimate this field was to show up healthy, on time, and get a legal start.

Besides, this was not the false start of a nervous athlete trying to steal a march on opponents of his equal. It was gross, blatant, obvious, and Bolt knew it. To me it smacked of an athlete rolling the dice by trying to perfect his new and improved start in a World Championships final and getting it horribly wrong.

talking up a storm

Which leads to my theory. Bolt has been talking up a storm, almost obsessively one might say, about wanting to become a 'legend'. To achieve this he feels he needs to work on the weakest part of his race (his start) and, commendably, he and his coach have been reported to be doing so. But this is a work in progress, looking to the future. Had he been totally focused on the here and now, he would have realised he did not need a perfect start to win gold, only a legal one.

A batsman walking to the crease cannot think of the future (reaching his century). He must focus then and there on the next ball and the one after that. If he does so successfully, the century will come. Better still, legends like our George Headley or four-time Olympic discus champion Al Oerter (USA) visualise every possible delivery or throw the night before and plot their responses.

Bolt must focus on the now. Let the historians worry about the 'legend' script. Ironically, Bolt may now realise, belatedly, that part of that script is repeatedly winning the big ones. I believe in failing to focus totally on winning that race and beating that field, both Bolt and his coach missed a trick in pre-race mental conditioning.

ERROL W.A. TOWNSHEND

ewat@rogers.com

Ontario, Canada