Usain Bolt and Hor

Part A) 

An Electric Finish

A powerful start to the 100-meter-race by Trinidad and Tobago’s star sprinter. Unlike anything seen before in the history of the Olympics, Richard Thompson kickstarted the race leaving a trail of dust behind him.

Thompson’s burst off the line left Jamaica’s Usain Bolt stumbling behind him, struggling to keep up. Though he had a shaky start, Usain Bolt recovered quickly and got up to speed. He began taking longer strides, and eventually it paid off as he overpassed Thompson. He was now in the lead.

Not far behind Bolt was everyone else, bunched in like a pod of dolphins. The United States’ Walter Dix and Darvis Patton, Jamaica's other star runner Michael Frater, and the rest of the crew. Bolt continued pushing forward, further and further.

Now, around 80 meters into the race, it seems almost as if Bolt had an epiphany. After briefly looking over his shoulder, he began going wild. Flailing his arms around, pounding his chest, and looking almost like a mad-man, Bolt had finally realized the results of the race.

Usain Bolt was now the Olympic champion. He had won the 100-meter-race. Starting off behind but making his way up, Bolt ended wonderfully.

Part B)

When compared to Usain Bolt’s autobiographical extract, my newspaper report can be seen as fairly similar in terms of structure. However, when it comes to language and form, some differences can be seen between the two. Additionally, the point of view of the article also has an impact on both articles.

In Usain Bolt’s autobiographical extract, the text is structured in a chronological narrative that takes readers through the events of the 100-meter-race. Bolt begins at the starting line of the race, where he tells readers that “a lot can go through a sprinter’s mind over 100 metres.” He then continued from the moment he let off the line up until he reached victory at the 100-meter mark. Additionally, Usain Bolt structured his sentences with a personal tone that allowed the reader to get a sense of what his thoughts were on certain aspects of the race, such as the start of the race and his first 20 meters.

In my newspaper article, I followed the same chronological narrative that Usain Bolt did in his autobiography. Following in this same structure, my newspaper article gives readers essentially a play-by-play recount on the events at the Olympic race. I chose to follow this structure because it is the easiest structure to follow along. The ideas that I expressed were organized clearly. However, one difference that can be mentioned is paragraph and sentence structure. Usain Bolt has more developed paragraphs and sentence structure when compared to my short paragraphs that are filled with short sentences. Looking at Usain Bolt’s first full-length paragraph and my first paragraph, an immediate difference can be noted. Being that my article is written for a newspaper, an effective two-sentence paragraph is all that was needed to hook the reader. In Usain Bolt’s autobiography, four well developed sentences are put together to form the paragraph. This aspect is what differentiates the autobiographical structure to that of a newspaper.

In terms of language, both texts differ tremendously. Usain Bolt’s autobiography features several sentences that provide imagery for the reader. One such example of this is when Bolt describes his shaky start. He states that he “made a bad step and rocked to [his] right - but [he] recovered quickly and maintained [his] cool.” This essentially places readers in Bolt’s place as he describes, in great detail, of his shaky start to the race. This can also be considered as an informal writing piece due to the lexical choices that Bolt uses throughout his autobiography.

In my newspaper article, I wrote with a more formal tone with the sole purpose of informing the reader of the events that took place during the Olympic 100-meter-race. Using phrases to describe certain aspects of the race, such as “not far behind” and “Bolt continued pushing forward,” I essentially gave readers a play-by-play of the race. My newspaper article followed an informative-style narrative that would provide readers with the facts, without including personal remarks like Bolt did in his autobiography.

Similarly, the form of both texts are vastly different. To start, Usain Bolt’s text is an autobiography, in which he shares with readers how he felt. Bolt used an emotive tone in his autobiography that conveyed to the reader his emotions. For example, he tells readers about his final strides in the race by saying he “pounded [his] chest” and that “all the work [he’d] suffered with Coach had paid off.” In saying this, he shares his emotions with the readers.

On the contrary, my newspaper article followed a different form than that of Bolt’s autobiography. Although ideas were presented similarly in both texts, the two differ because one is an autobiography that is written in a first person point of view, whereas my newspaper article is written in a third person point of view. In his autobiography, Bolt uses many ‘I’ statements to show viewers how he feels. In my newspaper article, I recalled the facts and addressed the runners by their name. I didn’t include my personal opinion in the article either.

Though both articles are written based on the same subject and follow a similar narrative, both differ in terms of form and language.