Usain Bolt: Great Influence On The Track And Field Program

“Although I wasn’t invited to shake hands with Hitler, I wasn’t invited to the White House to shake hands with the President either.” - Jesse Owens. Jesse Owens was an African American athlete that won four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics at Berlin during the Nazi regime. The 1936 Olympics was quite controversial because of the Nazi’s and their policies for minority groups like the Jews. It was so controversial that the United states nearly pulled out of the international spectacle. Germany wanted to use the Olympics to showcase their country. But Jesse Owens took much of the attention away due to his athletic display. Even with his legendary performance in Berlin, it didn’t change much of his status in the US as a black man. In the

While Bannister and Prefontaine set the standards for the short and medium distance runners, a new group of long distance runners was beginning to emerge, along with a new running culture. In the early and mid-1970’s, long distance American runners Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers, joined forces with short and medium distance runners (Bannister and Prefontaine) to kick-start the running boom of running in America. It’s said that over 25 million people were active runners during this time.

Since high school, Jackson was perceived as a superstar. He never had to lift weights or practice he was just a freak of nature. In the NFL combine, Jackson ran the fastest 40 yard dash that still hasn’t been broken. His childhood has been made

From a young age Bo Jackson could do things other children could not. Growing up, he played football, baseball, and track and was

He carried that hard work and determination in high school where he became an All American in football at his school while breaking multiple records and maintaining an exceptionally good GPA of 3.5. He actually didn’t start running track until the age of 16 and also became an All American in track and holds the school record in the 400-meter dash. After high school, he was offered a chance to continue his track and football career at the Boise State University, where he received a full scholarship for track and football continued his outstanding athletic success and grades.

Jackie Robinson was born on January 31, 1919 in Cairo, Georgia. He was the youngest of his Family. He had three brothers and one sister. His brothers were Mack Robinson, Edgar Robinson, and Frank Robinson. His sister’s name was Willa Mae Robinson. His father’s name was Jerry Robinson and his mother’s name was Mallei Robinson. Jackie had no Father to look up to because his father left him after he was born. They were in poverty all their life because Jackie’s dad left right after he was born. Their family got along very well and rarely ever fought. Jackie Robinson got along better with Mack. Mack was involved in sports and was inspired to play sports from middle school through college.

Before I begin to talk about Arthur Ashe, I feel that it would be appropriate to talk about what was going on around the world at the time. One of the reasons why Arthur Ashe was famous was because he was African American and in that time period, americans found themselves question the ideals of the country. Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence "that all men are created equal", yet africans were segregated from everything; from schools to water fountains. Africans were treated like second class citizens even though many of them have brought fame and honor to the country. Many black athletes would go on to shock the world, including Jesse Owens who would win four gold medals in the 1936 in Nazi Germany Olympics, and Jackie Robinson who became the first major league african american baseball player. Among these famous players was Arthur Robert Ashe Jr.

When he entered Inglewood High School, he was, by all appearances, an average basketball player. His skills were evident, but he lacked

It was not very surprising that the Cavaliers were jumping at the bit and selected LeBron (Hill 25).However, “Observers wondered how (the Cleveland Cavaliers) would handle the Heralded Rookie” (“LeBron James” 3). Playing with the Cavaliers was not bare of exhilaration events. He became the youngest person to score more than forty points and later broke his own record by scoring fifty-six (“LeBron James” 5). Yet again, a period of time passes where the Cavaliers had a multitude of decisive victories and a few defeats, and LeBron once more found himself participating in a very prestigious event. He was in the 2008 Olympics. He and his team were able to deliver a victory for the U.S. by winning the gold medal for basketball (“LeBron James” 4). Next was a staggering moment for the everybody involved with the Cavaliers. Lebron decided to leave the Cavaliers and become a free agent after the 2009-2010 season. He eventually chose to join the Miami Heat (“LeBron James” 5). Things still weren’t slowing down for LeBron, he had his first son, LeBron James Jr., on June 4, 2004 (Hill 34). Roughly 3 years later on June 11, 2007, LeBron’s second son, Bryce Maximus James, was born (Hill 42). The road that LeBron, along with the Miami Heat, took led them to competing in the NBA championship. LeBron and the Miami Heat achieved champion status by winning the event (Hill 100-101). In 2014, after a few years with the Heat, LeBron signed back on with the Cavaliers and is currently still there. Now age 29, LeBron still has a lot of life left in him which could mean many more riveting moments for the fans of LeBron, or the Basketball community in

Senior Caitlyn Faulhaber was the top Centenary finisher in 1:11:56.7 to place 22nd. Sophomore Tori Boyle finished 29th with a time of 1:15:15.6. Sophomore Jessi Jordan rounded out the Ladies contingent, finishing 32nd with a time of

He was drafted out of high school and paid 90 million dollars for a Nike shoe contract. He was one of the last great players to be drafted straight from High School since the created the 19 year old/one year in college rule.

Usain Bolt has changed track and field forever. This is because he set new world records for the 100 meter and 200 meter sprints. In his autobiography he says, “I looked up at the clock. Usain Bolt: first place. 9.63 seconds- the fastest Olympic 100 ever.”

An experience in my life that changed me was entering high school track and not being as good as I thought, and was actually bullied by my teammates who were better than me. I spent most of my time chasing the other athletes, understanding that they were older and thus had more training and experience. One of my teammates who felt like I was possibly a competitor often said rude things to me and even pushed me out of group pictures. Instead of being a bully, or being awful to other young athletes, I tried to change the way I interacted with others and to minimize my time with the bully. I worked harder on my events to show I was good enough to be on the team. With younger athletes I treated them as equals and even tried to push them to be better

There are many great record holding Olympians but two of the best are Usain Bolt and Hicham el Guerrouj. Usain Bolt has the 100 meter records and he also has the 200 meter record. Hicham el Guerrouj has the olympic mile records. These two are from different places to Usain is from Jamaica and Hicham is from morocco.

As a child he attended Wolderisa Primary, where he began to shown his sprint potential when he ran in his parish’s annual national primary school meat. By the age of 12, Bolt had become the second fastest runner over the 100 meter distance. When Usain reached high school at William Knibb Memorial he focus on other sports, but his cricket coach noticed his speed and told him to pursue track. He took is coach advice and decided to pursue tack a little more, he began training with Pablo McNeil, a former Olympic sprint athlete,and Dwayne Jarrett. Bolt won his first annual high school championships medal in 2001; he took the silver medal in the 200 metres with a time of 22.04 seconds. Performing for Jamaica in his first Caribbean regional event, Bolt clocked a personal best time of 48.28 s in the 400 metres in the 2001 CARIFTA Games, winning a silver medal. The 200 meter also yielded a silver, as Bolt finished in 21.81 seconds. In 2001 he made his first apprencence on the world stage at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Debrecen, Hungary. He failed to qualified for the finals but still set a personal best at 21.73 seconds. Bolt didn’t take athletic or even themselves