The tortoise and the hare are both heroes

THE FASTEST man in the world will tomorrow romp home to victory.

The winner will then join a fabled group of people who stand out from the multitudes of inhabitants of earth. Who will it be? The current holder of the title, Usain Bolt, or the pretender breathing down his neck, Yohan Blake? An outsider may well steal in to take the crown, but such an upset would represent a major shock.

Either way, it will all be over in less than 10 seconds. Upwards of two billion people are expected to tune into a race that has a mythic standing, which has increased exponentially in the digital era. They will tune in everywhere, from the boreens of Knocknagoshel to the slums of Kinshasa, from the Antrim highlands to the dusty plains of Western Australia, from the slums of Mexico city, to the villages of inner Mongolia. These men, will, for those few seconds, have the world focused on their feet.