Bolt dominance was bad for athletics, says Edwin Moses

Jamaican
sprinter
Bolt
won
19
major
titles
–
eight
gold
medals
at
the
Olympics
and
11
at
the
World
Championships
–
before
bringing
an
end
to
his
career
in
2017.

The
34-year-old
won
the
men’s
100
metres
and
200m
at
three
successive
Olympics,
setting
a
record
time
in
both
events.

But
while
Bolt
changed
the
sporting
landscape
over
a
medal-laden
decade,
Moses
told
Stats
Perform
it
was
good
to
see
other
disciplines
take
centre
stage
at
Tokyo
2020.

“I
think
the
sports
somewhat
suffered
when
Usain
was
always
winning,”
he
said.
“A
lot
of
the
meets
wouldn’t
even
get
television
coverage
unless
he
was
coming
into
the
race.

“That
started
happening
back
in
the
80s
where
TV
kind
of
got
addicted.
They
wouldn’t
cover
the
sport
unless
they
had
someone
going
for
a
world
record.

“Track
and
field
is
like
a
three
ring
circus
–
it
takes
a
family
in
order
to
have
a
good
track
meet.
I
was
really
impressed
with
the
shot
put
this
year
and
the
women’s
triple
jump.

“You
have
to
have
all
these
things
going
on.
It’s
not
just
about
who’s
going
to
be
the
fastest
man
or
the
woman
fastest
woman.

“I
was
very
pleased
to
see
the
400
metres
hurdles
really
be
the
marquee
event
of
the
Olympic
Games,
the
men’s
and
the
women’s.
When
I
was
running,
it
was
a
marquee
event.

“There
was
a
lot
of
focus
on
the
100
metres
with
Ben
Johnson
and
Carl
Lewis
back
then,
but
finally
the
400
metres
hurdles
is
at
the
peak
of
its
history.”

All
because
of
my
Fans.
Infinite
love
for
my
peepspic.twitter.com/z97to0Fg1v

—
Usain
St.
Leo
Bolt
(@usainbolt)

August
7,
2021

Moses
added:
“I
just
think
you
have
to
have
about
15
good
stars,
well-known
stars
that
hopefully
become
household
names.

“When
I
was
running
we
had
Jackie
Joyner,
Willie
Bags.
We
had
just
a
tonne
of
athletes
from
all
over
the
world
that
were
doing
really,
really
great
they
won
all
the
time.

“The
field
events
are
just
as
important
as
the
running
events
that
men’s
shot
put
was
outstanding.
The
women’s
discus
was
outstanding,
as
was
the
women’s
triple
jump.

“We
need
to
have
all
these
athletes
getting
massive
backing
from
the
federation
in
order
to
have
a
really
good
sport
because
it’s
a
worldwide
sport.

“No
one
wants
to
just
watch
the
100
metres
and
the
200
metres
and
then
tune
out
on
everything
else
and
switch
the
channel
–
you
have
to
be
able
to
keep
people’s
attention.”

Italy’s
Marcell
Jacobs
became
the
first
100m
Olympic
champion
of
the
post-Bolt
era
with
a
time
of
9.80
seconds
in
Tokyo,
falling
short
of
the
Jamaican’s
record
of
9.58s.

All
six
finishers
in
the
100m
final
went
under
10s
and
Moses,
who
set
the
world
record
four
times
in
400m
hurdles,
believes
Bolt’s
record
can
one
day
be
broken.

“It’s
possible.
It’s
possible.
The
men’s
100
metres
this
year
didn’t
come
anywhere
close
to
what
we
expected,”
he
said.
“I
think
people
were
expecting
like
a
9.65
or
something.

“The
time
wasn’t
actually
that
great
but
then
you
have
the
heat
and
humidity
and
all
the
rounds
that
they
have
to
run
it’s
a
crapshoot
you
never
really
know.”

One
of
the
more
remarkable
moments
of
the
2020
Games
was
Karsten
Warholm’s
victory
in
the
men’s
400m
hurdles,
the
Norwegian
knocking
a
huge
0.76s
off
his
world
record.

Sydney
McLaughlin
took
0.44s
off
her
world
record
in
the
women’s
equivalent,
while
Athing
Mu
and
Keely
Hodgkinson
broke
the
American
and
British
records
in
the
800m
event.

That
has
prompted
concerns
over
the
design
of
the
Tokyo
track,
which
is
said
to
given
athletes
a
one
to
two
per
cent
performance
advantage
compared
to
previous
years.

“I’ve
seen
at
least
three
articles
on
that,”
Moses
said.
“I
think
that
at
some
point
they’re
going
to
have
to
deal
with
the
shift
in
paradigm
because
of
technology
issues.

“In
track
there’s
been
a
lot
of
debate
I
guess
over
the
last
two
to
three
years
about
that
so
I’m
not
in
tune
with
what
they
go
through.
I’m
sure
they’ll
revisit
it.”