It's Usain Bolt and Then Everybody Else

Published on August 18th, 2016 2:21 pm EST
Can Usain Bolt add to his staggering collection of gold medals on Thursday when he runs the Men's 200 Meter race at the Olympics?

There were questions about Bolt's health coming into this year's Olympics, though those questions have been answered with vigor by the world's fastest man. Bolt has easily dominated all of the events that he has raced in so far, and Thursday looks to be no different in the Men's 200 meter event in Rio.

According to the oddsmakers, Bolt is as close to a sure thing as you can possibly get. Take a look at these odds:

Usain Bolt, 1/50
Andre De Grasse, 16/1
LaShawn Merritt, 40/1
Christophe Lemaitre, 200/1
Chruandy Martina, 500/1
Alonso Edward, 200/1
Adam Gemill, 250/1
Ramil Guliyev, 500/1

According to these odds, Bolt would win the race 98 out of 100 times.

Andre De Grasse, who has become Bolt's buddy during this year's Olympics, is seen as having the best shot of winning. De Grasse and Bolt ran together in the semi-finals - despite the fact that Bolt started to slow with nearly 30 meters left in the race, he still managed to edge out his Canadian counterpart.

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It seems as though the only way that someone like De Grasse will have a chance is if Bolt gets off to a really bad start in the race. Even so, with 200 meters of track, Bolt can start slow and still easily win, as he did in the 100 meter finals.

In short, barring some sort of injury, this race is certainly Bolt's to lose on Thursday. Can a new star emerge, or will Bolt put the exclamation mark on his career by taking down yet another gold medal?