Fancy your chances against the fastest man in the world?
Ever watched the Olympic Games and thought to yourself ‘pfft, I could do that’ – well, you wouldn’t be the only one.
However I hate to break it to you but unless you’re already a professional athlete then it’s very unlikely that you’d be able to do a better job at competing in the Olympics. Unless it’s representing Australia in breakdancing maybe.
However if you’ve ever wondered what it would look like to watch a star Olympic athlete compete against us regular folk than look no further, as Usain Bolt has shown exactly what would happen.
Ever wondered how you’d compare to Usain Bolt? (Salih Zeki Fazlioglu/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
During an appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden back in 2016, eight-time gold medalist and ‘fastest man in the world’ Bolt accepted the challenge of running a 100m sprint against James Corden and his television crew, and for some reason also Owen Wilson. With the results going exactly how you would expect them to.
Watch a clip from the race below:
Now when you watch the 100m sprint at the Olympics all the participants are bunched up in one spot on the track and competing for the win with mere milliseconds in difference – remember the finishing times of Noah Lyles and Kishane Thompson at Paris 2024?
Well, this race wasn’t too different, with the exception of Bolt.
The Jamaican sprinter doesn’t appear to going faster than a light jogging pace and yet he’s already cleared Corden and his crew within a couple of seconds and sailing comfortably into first place. This stark difference didn’t go unnoticed by viewers either, with one person commenting under the full YouTube video: “The fact that Bolt is jogging here and he’s still faster than people running their hardest… Hahaha,” while a second added: “it was nice of Usain Bolt to restrain himself to make the staff feel better, instead of running he just walked briskly.”
The competition wasn’t even close (YouTube/The Late Late Show with James Corden)
Meanwhile other viewers were left impressed by the handful of runners who were putting in a serious shift in so they could finish second to Bolt. “I’m kind of impressed by the 2 or 3 staff members who kept up with Bolt at his light jogging pace,” another viewer noted.
“When Usain Bolt joins a race, people compete for second place,” a fourth person added.
So there you have it, competing in an Olympic sport is a lot harder than it looks on TV.
Now that you’ve seen how Bolt runs alongside non-athletes you can also see how he’d fare running a 100m sprint against a cheetah, thanks to this bizarre simulation.
Featured Image Credit: CBS
