Is the 100m Sprint overrated??

The men's 100m Sprint is the pinnacle of the games. People pay hundreds of pounds to watch the likes of Bolt, Blake and Gay battle it out to become the worlds fastest man. A title that carries such weight in the world of athletics. A mere 10 seconds and the race is over, 9.63 seconds if your Usain Bolt. The crowd go wild, Bolt pulls his normal pose and enjoys the camera's. Is it deserved?

Today the Brownlee brothers showed what the Olympics really is all about. Athletes sweating blood and tears for their country and personal achievement. While Usain Bolt has just taken Gold he was more bothered about working the crowd than feeling the strain of a race. While there is undeniable talent in Bolt's speed, I believe to deserve a medal you should have to hurt for it. Bolt barely looked tired after his event. When the Brownlee boys crossed the line they could barely stand, let alone run again!

Sprint arrogance is preceeded by sportsmanship, determination and a will to succeed in the triathlon. There is no bad bantering between the athletes and a lot more respect in other events. While the 100m sprint may be the more glamourous, I am a believer that the gulf in 'celebrity status' is undeserved. While I do enjoy the sprint I have been far more enthralled by the likes of the cycling road race, triathlon, velodrome drama, Mo Farah taking gold and Jess Ennis. 

Bolt's arrogance and self confidence is at times admirable but there are far greater athletes who handle themselves in a truly great way.... Michael Phelps when he lost to Chad Le Clos, now there is a true champion! 

Alistair Brownlee's post race actions say it all really:

The crazy performances involving Badminton match fixing

Seasoned professional, highly skilled in their sport, must have been watching their colleagues with despair in the last of the Badminton group games. Women's doubles in the sport normally offers up an experience that is both fast-paced and intense. However South Korea, China and Indonesia set about putting up a display that could only be described as astounding, and not the good kind! In a bid to manipulate the draw for the knockout stages four sets of doubles teams made it obvious to the watching nation they they did not want to win, oblivious of the fact that in doing so in a way that was so patently clear they ultimately cost themselves a place in the knockouts all together. With performances of sheer stupidity, going as far as deliberately serving into the net and hitting standard shots out, they have cost their places in the further round of London 2012 Women's Doubles Badminton. How Indonesia and South Korea can try and appeal is beyond me and beyond the expectant crowd who had gathered to watch some of the finest women's badminton players in the world. The longest rally in the first game between China's Yu Yang/Wang Xiaoli and South Korea's Jung Kyung-eun/Kim Ha-na actually managed the impressive feat of only 4 shots. The aim of the game was to avoid winning in a bid to miss playing the Chinese number 1 seeds. While they thought it was a tactical move the Badminton World Federation had the last laugh and gave them the boot from the competition!