100m and 200m sprint in the olympics?

Question

I've been watching the 100m and 200m meter sprint

i noticed they slow down over the last 3m or so

why do they do that?

do they not care about records or something?!

Answer 1

Yeah, it is weird.  I don't get that either.  Maybe some of them are saving themselves for the next race or something.  Especially the Jamaican guy that won the 100.  You could have set an even better record.

Answer 2

Usain Bolt is a 21 year man from Jamaica who was un heard of.  Jamaica is a small island and to win against big countries like the US means alot.  Let him have his celebration he is not hurting anyone.  

Answer 3

They will in the final... Come on the Irish! Also the times they break the record the more money they get so their aim is to break it by a tiny bit every time.

Answer 4

As the other guy said, in the heats and qualifications they usually slow down as they try to save energy and they only need to qualify to get to the final.

As for Usain Bolt, no he didn't really care about the record he cared more about being the winner of the Gold for the first time for his country. Plus he was dominating and did not need to go 100% all the way, he has these 200m races to compete in. But even then he simply jogged thru the 200m heats and qualified.

@breakerm, I have actually been tracking Bolt since he was 16 or so and he was running longer distances and was a great prospect, but no one knew he would dominate 100m like this until this year.

Answer 5

usually it's on the prelims that they slow down. Their goal there is just to qualify for the final.

As for Usain Bolt....well he's only 21 and just didn't finish the race. He probably could have shaved another tenth of a second off his time if he ran through the line. But that was his choice, I was mad at him just based on the principle of it, especially at the olympic level he should know better