When Usain Bolt ran in Philadelphia at the Penn Relays
Watching Usain Bolt cement his legacy at the Olympics on Thursday night reminded me of the one time he brought his superstardom to Philadelphia.
by Jonathan Tannenwald
Published
Watching Usain Bolt cement his legacy at the Olympics on Thursday night reminded me of the one time he brought his superstardom to Philadelphia.
It's amazing to think that it's already been six years since Bolt ran into the Penn Relays history books. Although the 2010 Carnival wasn't his first visit to Franklin Field, it was by far his most memorable.
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We didn't know in 2002 and 2003 that one of the sprinters for William Knibb High School would go on to be the greatest of all time.
He was the world junior champion at 200 meters in that second year, but at the time, his only mention in the Inquirer was a quote he gave for a story on volunteers who help with food and travel arrangements for Jamaican competitors:
Like any good hostess, Patricia Saunders likes to cook familiar food for people when they visit from her home country of Jamaica.
It's just that this party is a little bigger than usual. Try 350 hungry Jamaican high school athletes and officials eating three meals a day for four days.
"We want to make them feel comfortable, to have a nice warm place to come and a nice warm meal to eat," said Saunders, a professional chef who came to the United States in 1984.
Saunders, of West Philadelphia, is one of about 60 volunteers who feed, care for, and transport the athletes around every year for the Penn Relays, where the teens compete against U.S. high school students at one of the country's largest track meets. Races started yesterday at the University of Pennsylvania's Franklin Field and will end tomorrow.
And soon after the students go home, the volunteers, who hail from both Philadelphia and New York and are known as Team Jamaica Bickle, get busy raising money and finding sponsorships for next year. (Bickle means food in Jamaica.)
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Her food is welcomed by Usain Bolt, 16, the world junior champion for 200 meters.
"Jamaicans love their own," said Bolt, whose favorite dish is rice, peas and chicken. "They do whatever they can to get their food. Jamaican is the best."
When Bolt ran for Jamaica in the 2004 and 2005 USA vs. the World competitions, neither the Inquirer nor the Daily News said a word about him.
But when he showed up in 2010, it was unlike anything that even the most diehard Penn Relays fan had ever seen. A record crowd of 54,310 jammed into every open square inch within Franklin Field's century-old (and then some) brick walls. It was impossible to move around the building from over an hour before Bolt ran until an hour afterward.
Whatever sacrifices of time and personal space that anyone made were worth it.
The stands at Franklin Field were completely filled ahead of Usain Bolt's race at the 2010 Penn Relays. (Jonathan Tannenwald/Staff)
We didn't even have to wait for the race itself to see Bolt bring the house down. His arrival on the infield to warm up for the 4x100-meter sprint produced so much noise from the crowd that the high school runners on the track had to stand up in their starting blocks and wait for the frenzy to pass.
Just before 3 p.m., the big moment finally arrived. Bolt took his place on the track, right in front of Franklin Field's sweeping east stand. Jamaican flags flew all over the horeshoe-shaped seating bowl, interrupted only occasionally by patches of American red, white and blue.
The moment passed in a grand total of 37.90 seconds, a Penn Relays record which still stands to this day.
(Though to be fair, that doesn't count the time it took for the public address announcers to quiet the crowd so the runners could hear the starters' gun.)
Bolt's anchor leg was unofficially clocked at 8.79 seconds.
It is a speck of time in most people's lives - heck, in most people's days. But for everyone who was there, that speck will be seared forever in our memories.
Here's video of Bolt's anchor leg, and Joe Juliano's Inquirer story on the race.
When historians celebrating the next Penn Relays milestone for longevity start compiling highlights of the previous 100-plus years, the anchor leg run Saturday by Usain Bolt at Franklin Field will be at or near the top of the list.
Bolt, the world's fastest man, thrilled the chanting and cheering crowd of 54,310 that packed every corner of the ancient stadium with a magnificent performance that carried the Jamaica Gold team to victory in the "USA vs. the World" 4x100-meter relay.
"Well, the crowd always has been wonderful," Bolt said after his first race at Penn since 2005. "I haven't been here in a while, so I was really looking forward to it.
"It was just awesome. It was a wonderful feeling. There's nothing like a home crowd for me. So the experience was wonderful. I love running here."
The three-time Olympic gold medalist and world record-holder in the 100 and 200 meters took the baton maybe a stride behind Team USA Blue, but immediately powered into the final straightaway, his long strides gobbling up huge sections of the track.
Bolt won going away, getting his team the win in a carnival-record time of 37.9 seconds, only the second win in 11 tries for Jamaica in the USA vs. the World 4x100. While there are no official splits in a 4x100 race, some watches had Bolt running 8.8 seconds or better for his leg.
Certainly, he gave the people what they came to see. He followed it with an extended victory lap, waving to the crowd and even performing his trademark lightning bolt pose in the southeast corner.
Bolt credited his teammates - Mario Forsythe, Yohan Blake, and Marvin Anderson - for making his job easy.
"I got the baton pretty much in front, so I wasn't really worried about anything else," he said.
Bolt praised his team's work in getting the baton around the track safely and securely.
Conversely, the USA Blue team, which took second in 38.33 seconds, left the track in a sour mood because of poor baton passes.
"We didn't have perfect sticks," veteran Shawn Crawford said. "I wish we had perfect sticks so we could show what we could do."
Ivory Williams, the USA Blue anchor, said he used cheers from the crowd to spur him on.
"They were cheering for Usain Bolt, but I'm thinking they're cheering for me," he said. "I knew I wasn't going to be able to pass him, but I was trying. I think we can beat them. If I get in front of Usain Bolt, I don't think he's going to go by me."
Bolt, who has run record times of 9.58 for the 100 and 19.19 for the 200, knew it was his show from the outset. More than one hour before his race, he emerged from the infield and jogged about 40 yards, attracting screams and applause from thousands.
As the noise increased, officials stopped the start of a high school race until things settled down.
"Over the past two years, I've been surprised by the amount of people that know me, the welcome I get when I go to track meets," Bolt said. "For me, I'm still trying to get used to it, and it's getting bigger. I'm really enjoying it. I just come to work and stay focused."
The noise accompanying Bolt was special even to athletes accustomed to noisy crowds at Olympic Games and world championships.
"I think everyone was excited to see Bolt run, and they got to see us run, too," said Allyson Felix, who ran on two victorious U.S. relay teams. Whether it happens again is anyone's guess.
Early in his news conference, Bolt said he was "looking forward to next season" and a return to the carnival. But when asked later if he was definitely coming back, he responded, "Ask my coach."