World Athletics Championships 2007 in Osaka - Jamaican 200 metres runner Usain Bolt. Author: Eckhard Pecher (Arcimboldo)

In the wake of the Usain Bolt’s amazing race earlier this week in which he smashed the world 100m sprint record with an incredible 9.58 dash, we thought it would be interesting to crunch some numbers on the fastest men in history.

Who, we wondered, has run the most of the top 50 100m sprint times in history, and how do the rest compare. The first graphic shows you that a handful of runners dominate this top 50 list.

The next graphic is worth having a look at as it groups the athletes who have run the top 50 times and you can see how Bolt is in a completely different league to rest. It is also interesting to note that the much touted Tyson Gay seems to be a bit of an also ran. It is incredible to see the performance of Asafa Powell in these graphs. Not being much of a sports fan, I wonder if his achievements in history have been properly recognised?

It makes you wonder. Should we recognise people for a single great achievement or for the sum of their achievements?

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