Former Olympic champion Maurice Greene blasted current sprinters for getting nowhere near Usain Bolt’s 100m world records.
Greene won 100m gold in Sydney in 2000 and is a former 100m world record holder with a time of 9.79 seconds.
That was the exact same time that was good enough for Noah Lyles to win Olympic gold this summer in Paris, more than 20 years on from when Greene hit that mark.
It was still well off Usain Bolt’s world and Olympic records of 9.58 and 9.63 seconds.
American Greene hit out at sprinters today for their lack of progress despite the better equipment and technology to them.
Speaking with sprint legends Asafa Powell, Linford Christie and Justin Gatlin on Powell’s YouTube channel, he said: “It’s easier now [to build a profile] because of social media, but a lot of them are getting caught up in it and not putting enough into their training.
“I’ve always said as time progresses, man progresses, technology progresses and people get faster.
“With the technology and the shoes that they have now and the tracks they are running on, there’s no way in the world you can’t tell me they shouldn’t be running faster.
“I probably would have run 9.5 on this track.
“They are so caught up in getting this click and that click and not setting their focus on the progression of the race and trying to perfect your race.
“That’s why we haven’t seen a progression since Bolt. Bolt put it out there, but now nobody is getting close to that.
“Why isn’t anyone getting close to that? The shoes are better than his, the tracks are faster. Things should be coming faster.
“But they’re worried about ‘give me this click, doing this and this’.”
Linford Christie added: “One of the things, I think, against progression is video coaching. There’s too many people on social media calling themselves coaches.
“There’s guys I coach and as soon as I see them run I can tell they’ve been watching a video. I tell them to get off it.
“These guys on social media aren’t coaching anybody.”
Bolt’s 100m record has stood since 2009 and the man himself told talkSPORT earlier this year that he doesn’t see it being threatened anytime soon.
“Not now,” he said. “I’ve not seen the talent yet to get there.”
Tyson Gay and Yohan Blake have come the closest to breaking Bolt’s record with a time of 9.69 seconds in 2009 and 2012 respectively.
