Statisticians had predicted that no athlete would run faster than Bolt’s 9.69 time until 2030.  The scary part is, Bolt believes he can eventually run the 100 meter sprint in 9.4 seconds. Clearly Usain Bolt is of another planet. Let’s be honest, this man isn’t human.  At the ripe age of 22 he has already compiled an impressive resume. Let’s check it out.

1986: Born August 21 in Trelawny, Jamaica.

2002: At the age of 15, Bolt wins gold in the 200m and silver in both the 4×100m and 4×400m relays at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Kingston

2003: Wins gold in the 200m at World Youth Championships in Sherbrooke.

2004: Becomes first junior to break the 20-second mark in the 200m, clocking 19.93 seconds.  This is when his potential for greatness became evident.

2005: Claims gold medal in the 200m at the Central American and Caribbean Championships with a time of 20.03secs.

2007: Wins 200m silver at World Championships in Osaka, and also wins silver as a member of the 4×100m relay.

2008: May 3 – Posts the second-fastest 100m time in history at the Jamaica Invitational, clocking 9.76secs.

May 31 – Breaks the world record in the 100m at the Reebok Grand Prix, posting a time of 9.72secs in only his fifth race over the distance.

July 13 - Beats his personal best in the 200m, finishing in 19.67 seconds in Athens to register the fastest time over the distance in 2008 and the fifth-fastest 200m time ever.

Aug 16 – Wins 100m gold at the Beijing Olympics, lowering his previous world record to 9.69secs. Watch it below.

Aug 20 – Completes Olympic sprint double, winning the 200m in a new world record time of 19.30secs.

Aug 22 – Runs third leg as Jamaica score Olympic 4×100m relay victory in world record time of 37.10secs.

Nov 23 – Voted IAAF World Male Athlete of the Year.

2009: April 29 – Escapes serious injury when his BMW M3 car skids off road outside of Kingston and overturns. Requires minor foot surgery.

May 17 - Wins Manchester Great City Games 150m in world best time of 14.35secs.

Covered first 100m in 9.91sec and last 100m with flying start in 8.70secs.

June 10 – Wins 2009 Laureus World Sportsman of the Year.

August 16 – Wins gold medal in 100m at World Championships in Berlin, with new world record time of 9.58 seconds. Check out the video below.

Aug 20 – Claims second gold medal at World Championships in Berlin, with new world record time of 19.19 seconds over 200 metres. Check out the video below.

So what makes Bolt so unique and dominant? For starters, Bolt has an unusual body for a sprinter.  He’s very tall, 6′5″ to be exact.  When Bolt reaches top speed, his grace and athleticism are unparalleled. He kinda looks like a rich man’s Forrest Gump because of his upright posture.  It’s hard to imagine another sprinter being faster than Bolt in our lifetime.  He dominates races like Tiger dominates golf and Jordan dominated basketball.  It may be many decades before Bolt’s time of 9.58 is broken by another sprinter.

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Jack Brimberg and Bill Hurley of The Royal Military College set out to model the odds of winning in hockey or soccer after scoring first. They calculated the probability of the “first-goal team” winning the match after the first goal is scored based on the number of minutes remaining in the game. Their big break came when they discovered that hockey and soccer follow the Poisson distribution.

After adjusting for external factors, such as league position and seasonal performance, they came up with some interesting findings. Let’s assume team X is playing team Y. From the first whistle, team X has a 50:50 chance of winning. However, if the team scores 5 minutes into the match, with 55 minutes remaining in the game, then the team’s chances of winning rise to 70%. And, if they score the first goal much later in the game, with say, 25 minutes remaining, then their chance of winning the match rises to 80%.

It may not be earth-shattering to say that the team that scores first is more likely to win the game – but these numbers do shake things up a bit when you start to think about who the best players are. The player who scores the first goal in a game may be more valuable than the player who makes front-page-grabbing or “game-winning” plays that occur after the first goal.

Do Crosby and Ronaldo increase their teams’ chances of winning by getting that all-important first goal? Or do they merely swoop in after the first goal is scored with a flashy play or two to claim glory in the highlights tape? They’ve certainly had their share of flashy plays, but who knows -maybe they score the first goal, too.

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