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Bolt vs. Bekele at 700m?

BRUSSELS: Sprinter Usain Bolt and long-distance runner Kenenisa Bekele are both unbeatable — over their distance. So, why not have them race against each other somewhere in between?

“If Usain agrees, if someone wants to organize this, I am ready,” Bekele said on Thursday, a day before the Memorial Van Damme Golden League meet.

The idea would be to find a middle ground, somewhere between 600 and 800 meters.

“I think I am pretty good at 600 meters,” Bolt said last week. Above 800 meters, he said, “I have no chance.”

Bekele also thinks the two could meet around that distance.

“Six-hundred meters is a good chance for him,” said Bekele, considering he would lose too much over the first lap. “I need some 800 meters, maybe 700 meters.”

Any Bolt-Bekele showdown would be the biggest such match race since 200 and 400 Olympic champion Michael Johnson raced 100 champion Donovan Bailey over 150 meters in Toronto after the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Pulling up lame

Johnson pulled up lame halfway through that race and the legacy of the event is more of a joke than anything else.

Bekele’s manager, Jos Hermens, realizes that Bolt dominates the sport to such an extent that even a superlative performance like Bekele’s 5,000-10,000 double at the Olympics and worlds became merely a footnote.

“I will have to think about it this winter,” said Hermens of a potential matchup. “I will have to take it up with Ricky Simms,” the manager of Bolt. — AP

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