Monday, April 8, 2013

What if the worlds fastest human played table tennis?








http://tabletennisnation.com/sports/usain-bolt-to-play-table-tennis-for-jamaica-in-2016-olympics/


USAIN BOLT TO PLAY TABLE TENNIS FOR JAMAICA IN 2016 OLYMPICS
Posted on April 1, 2013 by TableTennisNation
Six-time gold medalist Usain Bolt will play table tennis in the 2016 Rio Olympics, the sprinter announced Monday morning. The accomplished runner from Jamaica had been looking for a new challenge after his unprecedented second straight sprinting threepeat (Bolt won gold in the 100 meter, 200 meter, and 4×100 meter at both the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Games).

Immediately after completing his sprinting trifecta this past summer, Bolt said he would talk to his advisers and establish “new goals“.



“I looked at the international competitive landscape and found that the competition in table tennis is probably fiercer than any sport in the world. As a competitor I want a challenge and sprinting was no longer a challenge,” said Bolt.

According to numerous reports, Bolt has always been an excellent recreational table tennis player but has never trained for competitive table tennis. Nonetheless Bolt and the Jamaican Table Tennis Association–which recently announced an initiative to make table tennis one of the country’s “premier sporting disciplines“–expect Bolt to represent the country in Rio and medal.

Bolt had also considered sports where he could make up for any lack of experience with incredible speed including rugby and soccer and even received an open invitation to play for Manchester United.



Bolt began practicing for the Olympics with a team of coaches and plans to spend two of the next four years in China prepping and training with the world’s best. In the meantime, Bolt has been using his speed to practice by playing against himself.

“It’s one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen,” said Glen Mills, Bolt’s former sprinting coach. “At first I thought Usain was being a fool by leaving sprinting and track and field. Then I watched him play against himself at table tennis and I get it. The guy’s going to be great. He really kept up with himself as he played and it was definitely an evenly matched game.”



Bolt’s foray into table tennis can only raise the profile of table tennis–already the world’s most played sport.

While Bolt has a long road ahead of him before the 2016 Rio Olynpics, his announcement makes April 1, 2013 a day that will go down in table tennis history.

Note: I didn't create this article. Details of our secret training was leaked out early in the press and created a local firestorm here in Jamaica.
Here are some responses I got from other members of the table tennis fraternity regarding our work with the world fastest human.