Is Bolt a Better Athlete Than Carl?

[scratchman]

C'mon...
Does Bolt REALLY need to do the long jump before he's considered a better athlete than Carl Lewis. I mean granted, unless he does 4 gold medals, he wont be the Greatest Olympian of all time. Carl and Jesse are. And I still considered MJ the greatest SPRINTER ever because of his mastery of the 400m.
...Until Berlin.
Its not just the 9.58 and 19.19. Its the WAY he's dominated over the last 2 years. No one has made there competition look so out of his league like Bolt has. Breaking old wr's in rounds JOGGING. Remember the Beijing final???
He ran maybe 80m full blast. And then...yall know the rest.
He's 6'5 and he's got a start. Doesnt always come out like it did in Berlin. But he's got one. You know what made me give him the GOAT over MJ without yet breaking the 400?? The fact that at MJ's best, he wouldnt be able to drop down to the 100 and do 9.6, whereas Bolt could feasibly step up to the 400 and do 43.1 someday. Right???
So that settled it for me for sprinting.
But as for athlete, does he REALLY need to jump before he gets that title?
Please take into consideration Bolt's physical gifts and the potential to do it.
And the fact thats hes only 23, and has bested world records in both sprints at 2 major championships consecutively.
Thoughts???

[Daisy]

Re: Is Bolt a Better Athlete Than Carl?

Two pairs of sprint WR's, both in global competitions says it all.

[gm]

Yes.

[Frans Rutten]

Carl Lewis still has an edge on Usain Bolt considering their whole careers up to now. Everybody seem to have forgotten, that Usain Bolt lost 7 times barely 2 years ago. Even Issi (6 year reign) warns Usain for the risk of complacency.

[tracknut]

The only thing Carl has on bolt (other than the long jump) is longevity and number of titles. Bolt accomplished 7 world records in the span of little over a year. Let's just hope Bolt continues for at least half the lifetime of Carl'scareer!

[Barry Allen]

Re: Is Bolt a Better Athlete Than Carl?

Two pairs of sprint WR's, both in global competitions says it all.

I totally agree. What CL and MJ did was great but winning the sprints on the biggest stage (WC & OG) in that fashion is unprecedented. And something tells me that we haven't seen anything yet. I believe barring injuries come WC 2011 and OG 2012 it will be more of the same as Bolt will be at his prime then. Thankfully we all lived to have witnessed greatness!!!

[t_monk]

Yes.

[26mi235]

The accomplishments are not quite comparable. Bolt's is a better POY type of thing. CL is a better career type of thing. I doubt that Bolt will win his primary event at four straight OGs, plus winning a bunch of other awards. And, sans altitude marks, CL had some more WRs to his credit.

[tracknut]

Carl set 9 WR ( in 5 events) over a 11 year period. Bolt set 7 (in 4 events) in 1 year and one day and he's only 23! I believe it is what he does after London which will further himself into history.

[TrackDaddy]

Cart dominated everything...in the same meet.

Track is full of specialist these days who focus on a single event.

And thats fine.

Mo Greene, for example, more or less concentrated on the 100m.

Mike Powell...was a long jumper.

But King Carl was different.

He was like Jesse.

He would win both sprints.... and the long jump too.

Threatening world records in them all.

Who competing today would even attempt that?!?

No one.

Unless Bolt does.

And until he does (and wins them all)...the nod goes to King Carl.

Times are relative to eras. So that Bolt ran faster is not as much of an issue IMO as how much and how long he may have dominated and in what events.

No disrespect to Bolt is meant because he's obviously a tremendous talent.

[teunissa]

Bolt needs to show that he can remain on top for a long time. His reign has only lasted 2 years so far. Certainly he has the potential to out-achieve all former track athletes, but he hasn't done that yet.

Micheal Johnson stunned the world with his 200m and 400m world records (insane times compared to prior athletes). He also destroyed his 400m rivals with wide-margin victories. Usain is winning with similar ease, but MJ did it for longer.

[Daisy]

Times are relative to eras. So that Bolt ran faster is not as much of an issue IMO as how much and how long he may have dominated and in what events.

Did you happen to note by how far he beat the new american record holder in the 100?

[guruof track]

Carl Lewis still has an edge on Usain Bolt considering their whole careers up to now. Everybody seem to have forgotten, that Usain Bolt lost 7 times barely 2 years ago. Even Issi (6 year reign) warns Usain for the risk of complacency.

Carl lost too. He lost to Powell in the LJ.........he lost to Ben Johnson (contrary to what the stats say).

It wasn't like Carl was as dominant as people make him seem. What Carl did do was perform when the lights were on, though. Which I can respect.

[TrackDaddy]

Times are relative to eras. So that Bolt ran faster is not as much of an issue IMO as how much and how long he may have dominated and in what events.

Did you happen to note by how far he beat the new american record holder in the 100?

Noted.

But Bolt broke his OWN WR by .11 :shock: so there's plenty that we could do with the times he's run.

Lets not forget though that Carl and Jesse won 4 golds.

And one of them was in a field event (against people who specialized in it).

IMO, that goes further.

See...first they beat the people who may have ONLY ran the 100. Then they beat the people who may ONLY have run the 200. Then they beat the people who ONLY long jumped. Then they anchored a relay.

THAT'S how you dominate a track meet. :wink:

Bolt is missing winning the long jump.

He probably agrees with me and thats why he's changed his focus from the 400 to the LJ.

[TrackDaddy]

[quote=guruof track]

Carl Lewis still has an edge on Usain Bolt considering their whole careers up to now. Everybody seem to have forgotten, that Usain Bolt lost 7 times barely 2 years ago. Even Issi (6 year reign) warns Usain for the risk of complacency.

Carl lost too. He lost to Powell in the LJ.........he lost to Ben Johnson (contrary to what the stats say).

It wasn't like Carl was as dominant as people make him seem. What Carl did do was perform when the lights were on, though. Which I can respect.[/quote:1bfoksh9]

Yes Carl at times lost to specialist in single events.

His specialty?

All of them.

That he competed in them all and on occasion WON THEM ALL against specialist is a testament to his greatness.