On this day: May 31, 2008 - Bolt breaks world record in New York

Sport360 staff 11:40 31/05/2016
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  • Bolt smashes the world record in New York

    We all know how fast Usain Bolt is given that he’s a two-time Olympic and three-time world champion, and when he does call it quits, rightly so, he will go down as one of the all-time sporting greats.

    And it was on this day eight years ago that he sent out a strong warning to his rivals of his potential and made everyone sit up and take notice. Running in his fifth 100m, Bolt clocked 9.72 seconds in New York to set a new world record, beating the previous best set by Asafa Powell.

    He repeated the feat again at the sport’s greatest showpiece, the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, in 9.69 seconds, before going even faster in 9.58 seconds at the 2009 World Championships.

    Here’s what other memorable sporting events happened on this day:

    1943: St. Louis Cardinals’ Mort Cooper pitches first of back-to-back one-hitters.

    1972: Johan Cruyff nets twice as Ajax beat Internazionale to lift the European Cup.

    1984: Viv Richards hits 189 runs from 170 balls as the West Indies beat England by 104 runs in an ODI.

    2002: Senegal beat world champions France 1-0 in their group opener at the FIFA World Cup.

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