ESPN anoint BOLT as #1 Athlete of 21st Century if he been American not Jamaican?

[gengiskhan]

USAINT BOLT invented a category called "Triple Triple." 9 Golds!!!!!

He literally DOMINATED Track and Field for a Decade aka 9 years. 2008 - 2016.

3 consecutive Olympics. Setting world records. olympic records. He was literally a face of 3 Summer Olympics along with PHELPS.

We remember Beijing, London and Rio because of BOLT.

PHELPS was upsetted and underperformed in 2012 London olympics winning only 2 individual golds. upsetted by 17 YO Filipino kid.

The bigger upset was PHELPS vs LA CLOS. South African beat PHELPS for 2012 London Gold. Hence, PHELPS Gold stuck at 23 instead of 25

BOLT Decade of Spring Dominance. One exception of false start and disqualification from Final race led to Blake win. and one non-olympics Gold lost to Gay as BOLT was still coming off injury and not in his peak form.

Had BOLT been 'american', he would have been ranked Athlete of 21st Century! probably above PHELPS.

[RachlNicholsazz]

23 golds vs 8. Going to be an uphill battle to argue that but let me grab my popcorn

[gengiskhan]

23 golds vs 8. Going to be an uphill battle to argue that but let me grab my popcorn

9 really.

it is a "triple triple."

All that 9th Gold disqualification crap. And is after the fact. nothing to do with Bolt.

Swimming is a MARGINAL sport. Track and Field is a MAJOR sport. Sprinting is MAJOR of a MAJOR sport btw. Its a Heart and Soul of Track and Field sport.

PHELPS did drop the ball on 2012 London with Marijuana controversy and depression episodes. Did not even trained as hard according to him. Hence, losing 2 Golds. 2012 PHELPS was favorites to win atleast 6 Golds. Instead only won 4 and those individual gold loses are literally on him. not training hard.

None of this happened with BOLT. He popularized Sprinting to a level, West Indies, not just Jamaica.

West Indies Cricket team is struggling to find Fast Bowlers for Cricket because all the youth is going towards Track and Field and particularly Sprinting.

Such is the situation. WI, once most dominant cricketing side, won 2 World Cups did not even qualify for 2023 Cricket World Cup because of the lack of Talent in Fast Bowling.

This is a USAIN BOLT effect. Completely destroyed a rival team sport. As all the individual WI athletes wants to become next LIGHTENING BOLT.