One of the dumbest fun debates on the track internet this year has been whether or not Usain Bolt could break 5:00 in the mile.

Among FloTrack staffers, only Adam Oestreich thinks that he couldn't, though I'm not certain. Taylor Dutch and Meg Bellino said definitely yes, and Gordon Mack refused to answer because he's sick of this debate and also because he's afraid to give good, strong takes. 

The ​New Yorker ​wrote an entire article exploring the topic before the Olympics, and quoted Letsrun's (it's fine) Robert Johnson, who said, "If [5:00] was the over/under, I'd mortgage my nonexistent house to try to bet up to six figures he was over that. He's a total fast-twitch-muscle-fibre guy. To expect Bolt to be good at the mile simply because he is the world's greatest sprinter would be like expecting a great three-hundred-and-twenty-pound NFL offensive lineman to be good at playing running back simply because he's a great football player. It's ludicrous."​

Usain Bolt disagrees. He told ​Sports Illustrated​ today that he's run 2:07 in the 800m--presumably in training--and said "of course" he could go sub-5:00 in the mile.​ It's fittingly 5:07 into the video below:



That semi-settles it. This will be the last post on FloTrack about Bolt's potential as a distance runner until he commits to running a race longer than 400m. In fact, in the interview, he said he won't even run the 200m at the world championships next year.