National Geographic

Bolt is in his 21st-century lane, a smooth, slip-resistant rubber surface spread out for 100meters, designed to quickly return energy tohis legs as he races across it.Then there’s Owens in his pre-World War IIlane, an uneven bed of cinders, a soft surfacethat actually steals energy from his legs ashe runs.Bolt, the Jamaican sprinting legend who haseight Olympic gold medals and has held theworld records in the men’s 100- and 200-metersprints for nearly a decade, is wearing light-weight shoes made specifically for running onhigh-tech surfaces. For his entire competitivelife, he has received the finest training the worldhas ever seen. He jets to competitions and hashis own cook, who makes him lean, nutritiousmeals. Bolt also has been at his peak during theheight of the steroids era in sports. He has nevertested positive, but suspicion follows many topOlympic athletes of his time. Bolt had to forfeit agold medal he won as part of a relay in the 2008Olympics after a teammate tested positive.Owens, who won the 100 meters with a time of10.3 seconds in the 1936 Olympics—one of fourgold medals he claimed in Berlin—is wearingleather running shoes. Bolt is able to get a quicklaunch from state-of-the-art starting blocks, butOwens must dig his own “starting blocks” out ofthe cinders with a gardening trowel.Owens grew up in a segregated America, withTHE RACE FORTHE AGES CAN BERUN ONLY IN OURIMAGINATION:USAIN BOLT VS.JESSE OWENS.RIGHTA lightweight shoe likethe one that Usain Boltwore to set the worldrecord in the 100-meter sprint in 2009is shown on a piece ofMondotrack, similar towhat he ran on that dayin Berlin. The surfaceis designed to returnenergy to runners,making them faster.MARK THIESSEN``````BELOWJesse Owens won the100-meter race at the1936 Olympics in 10.3seconds. Usain Bolt,shown in 2016, holdsthe record, 9.58 sec-onds. With a betterrunning surface andlightweight shoes,Owens could havebeen significantlycloser to Bolt’s times.ULLSTEIN BILD VIA GETTY IMAGES(OWENS); KAI PFAFFENBACH, REUTERS``````World Cup 2018National Geographic will part-ner with Fox Sports for the FIFAWorld Cup. Beginning June 14,our reporter Sergey Gordeevwill cover Russian cultureduring match-day broadcasts.``````50 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC