Darryle Pollack: The World's Fastest Man Meets the World's Slowest Woman

In Beijing the focus has moved from the pool to the track, where Usain Bolt breezed through the 100-meter dash so easily he looked like an Olympian god running against mortals. No doubt he's now the world's fastest human. Another Olympian who held that title was "Bullet" Bob Hayes, who later played for the Dallas Cowboys. He was crowned world's fastest human at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo where he won gold medals in the 100-meter dash and as anchor of the 400-meter relay. Like Bolt, Hayes blazed through the dash leaving his competitors in the dust. Unlike Bolt, who started celebrating before he even finished the race, Hayes was amazingly humble. . Maybe that is partly due to the times in which they lived. In 1964, athletes had no entourage, no handlers, no crowds of photographers recording every move. No one even noticed the world's fastest man as he sat on a plane, in his coach-class seat, waiting to take off on the last leg of his journey from the Olympics home to Florida.  ... (link)