I rarely write about sports in this space but this week I felt compelled to because I feel that a travesty has been committed with regards to the world's greatest sprinter Usain Bolt.

Life has been good to Usain. What hasn't he won this year? I mean, the young man stands to make money hand over fist than should be considered legal and he could conceivably retire after the World Championships in August next year should he manage to take the double once more.

But on Sunday at the World Athletics Gala held in Monaco, with all due respect to Daryon Robles of Cuba, Bolt should have taken home two trophies - Athlete of the Year and Performance of the Year.

Robles is an amazing hurdler. His execution is pretty close to perfection but there is no way that a 12.8-second world record over the 110-metre hurdles in a non-Olympic meet can top a 9.69-second 100-metre world record or a 19.30-second 200-metre world record that were performed under the pressure and spectacle of the Olympic Games.

Jaws on the floor

There are people like former Olympic 100-metre champion and World and Olympic record holder Donovan Bailey whose jaws are still on the floor over how Usain destroyed the best sprinters in the world in the 100-metre final to become the first man to legally run under 9.70 seconds.

I watch that race almost every day. My friend Anthea posted a 19-minute version of that race on my Facebook and I hope it never goes away because I watch it every chance I get.

The 200-metre race and record was equally spectacular. The man ran so fast he dragged his good friend Wallace Spearmon out of his lane and almost managed to get Churandy Martina to do the same. I say almost because I do not feel Martina should have been disqualified. He also made Walter Dix, one very bitter American.

It would be better if the IAAF rewrote the rule book to say that the performances of Athlete of the Year candidates will not be considered for Performance of the Year, than to have them there and not give credit where it's due.

Overall picture

If you look at the overall picture, Bolt had two of the final three performances that were up for consideration. That alone should have made him the winner.

Robles had a phenomenal year. If I remember correctly, he only lost once all season and he broke the world record twice so he had an amazing year, but relative to Usain's world record runs this year, three of them at the Olympics, Robles still falls short.

So great were Usain's performances this year, the only way he can top them is to break all his own records again. That is how high he has set the bar. The bar has been set so high Tyson Gay, Richard Thompson and the rest must clearly now resign themselves to the reality that come August in Berlin they are all running for silver.

When you consider all this, Usain lost because of nothing else but bad judgement, but it is such a rare loss this season that he might not have even noticed it. The US$100,000 he picked up with winning the major award definitely will have softened the blow somewhat.

And having taken up an opportunity to actually drive a Ferrari and getting his very own BMW M3 by Christmas, the world, for all its troubles right now, is still a pretty cool place to be if you're Usain Bolt.

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