Social distancing: Bolt leaves other legends behind
dubai — That’s the way to do it.
Usain Bolt, the fastest man on the planet, sent out a witty yet serious message in these tough times of the global coronavirus pandemic, on social distancing.
The eight-time Olympic champion, who holds the world record in the 100 metres, 200 metres and the 4x100 metres relay, posted images on his social media handles on Monday, of him winning the 100 metres race at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
And the iconic Jamaican, now 33, captioned it “Social Distancing” before hashtagging Happy Easter.
Easter Sunday was celebrated all around the world, although muted, because of the pandemic.
In the picture, Bolt, who still holds the 100m world record (9.58 seconds) he set at the 2009 Berlin World Championships, is seen at the finish line with the rest of the field well behind. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Bolt had stunned the world by winning the 100m final in 9.69 seconds, which was then a new world and Olympic record.
He had finished 0.20 seconds ahead of second-placed American Richard Thompson at the Bird’s Nest Stadium.
Such was his dominance that he famously began celebrating before reaching the finish line.
Now, almost 12 years later, the greatest sprinter the world has ever known used that iconic image to illustrate and reinforce the point on social distancing. Bolt’s message stood out for its uniqueness and was quite different from the ones sent out by other icons across the sporting sphere.
Former world No.1 and record 20 Grand Slam winner Roger Federer had taken to his social media handles last month to speak out on the importance of social distancing.
“I’m also staying home and I haven’t been shaking anybody’s hands for quite some time now. Obviously, I wash my hands very frequently as we’re supposed to,” Federer had said.
“It’s really important to take these rules seriously,” the Swiss maestro had added.
Meanwhile, current world No.1 Novak Djokovic, who has a pretty good sense of humour and is nicknamed the ‘Djoker’ for some of his pranks on court and off it, had said: “Please stay at home in quarantine and help frontline medical people to help all the people infected and in need. Let’s not burden them in these critical times more than they already are. But he couldn’t keep his humorous self in for long though as Djokovic posted a picture of himself with a racquet in hand and in a statue position, near the front door, with the caption: “Checking in. How’s everyone doing at home?”
Meanwhile, Australian Open winner and World No.4 Sofia Kenin indulged in a barbecue at home, and the caption read: “Wow I can cook haha.”
But Bolt has had the last word, or rather image, on it.