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Usain Bolt's 100m World Record Trivia Questions

How much do you really know about Usain Bolt's 100m World Record? Below are 8 true or false statements. Click each one to reveal the answer and explanation.

1.

Bolt's 9.58 record is faster than the average speed of a cheetah over 100 meters.

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Easy
✗ FALSE

Cheetahs average about 30 mph over 100m, while Bolt averaged 23.35 mph. The cat wins easily.

2.

Bolt's top speed during his 9.58 race was over 27 miles per hour.

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Easy
✓ TRUE

He hit 27.33 mph (12.2 m/s) between 60-70 meters, the fastest ever recorded for a human.

3.

Usain Bolt never broke the 100-meter world record at the Olympic Games.

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Medium
✗ FALSE

He set the Olympic record of 9.63 in London 2012, but his world record 9.58 was set at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.

4.

Bolt's 9.58 was run into a slight headwind, not with a tailwind.

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Medium
✗ FALSE

The wind was +0.9 m/s, a legal tailwind. A headwind would have slowed him significantly, likely preventing the record.

5.

Usain Bolt's 9.58 world record time was hand-timed, not electronic.

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Medium
✗ FALSE

It was officially recorded with fully automatic timing (FAT), accurate to 0.01 seconds. Hand-timing would add about 0.24 seconds, making 9.58 impossible.

6.

Bolt celebrated by beating his chest before crossing the finish line in his 9.58 race.

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Hard
✗ FALSE

He leaned at the line and threw his arms up after. The chest-beating myth comes from his 2008 Olympic win, not the world record race.

7.

Usain Bolt took 41 steps to cover the 100 meters in his world record run.

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Hard
✓ TRUE

Most sprinters take 45-50 steps. Bolt's long stride length (about 2.44 meters) meant fewer steps, a key to his speed.

8.

Bolt's reaction time in his 9.58 race was slower than the average of the other finalists.

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Hard
✓ TRUE

He reacted in 0.146 seconds, while the field average was 0.143. His raw speed, not quick start, made the record possible.

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