On Wednesday night in Doha, Jason Smyth secured his place as one of the world’s most dominant ever athletes.
A blistering performance and a World Championship record was Smyth’s 8th World Title and 18th Major Championship.
That’s the same level of excellence in his sport as Usain Bolt who captured 23 World Titles across different distances from Youth level through to the Olympics.
Smyth has done it all while remaining unbeaten and Tokyo 2020 has yet to come.
“It’s another incredible world championships,” said Smyth after the race. “Things obviously have been going very well this year, but to come here and put up one of my fastest times of the season, it’s a testament to a lot of the people that are around me and supporting me and putting me in a position to get here and do so.”
Smyth was nominated for the RTÉ Sports Person of the Year in 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018. He has yet to win it and perhaps the level of recognition for Paralympic athletes is not quite at the level to help him do so now but if he were running in the Olympics as opposed to the Paralympics he would be long recognised as the greatest sporting star we have ever produced.
The RTÉ Sports Awards will take place and be broadcast live on RTÉ TV on Saturday, December 14th.
Image credits, Sportsfile
