Usain Bolt’s latest Olympic triumph rekindles memories of his Bristol visit

Working at ESPN presents some enviable extras, this week ranging from live Olympics on my in-house TV via ESPN Brazil to Thursday’s “Newsmaker Luncheon” for employees with Boston Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino.

My personal favorite had to be the September day in 2009 when Usain Bolt came to town for a This is SportsCenter shoot and offered to race employees. I was chosen not for my athleticism, but for my lightning quickness on the Blackberry as one of the first employees to respond to a Saturday morning email with a once-in-a-lifetime offer.

Bolt, always the showman, staged a false start that basically exhausted me on the spot.

Then he let us all get out of the blocks first so we can claim to friends each Olympiad to have once led the world’s fastest man in a race. All Bolt had to do to win was accelerate for about 25 meters of the approximately 60-meter sprint.

As for me, I finished no worse than Trinidad and Tobago’s Richard Thompson did against Bolt in the 100 meters this past weekend in the London Olympic Games.

In the YouTube video above, which is humorously approaching 2.5 million views, I’m the guy busting through the finisher. . . long after they had finished.

Bolt also punches the clock — for less than 10 seconds a day — for ESPN’s “This Is SportsCenter” ad series as you can see below.