Former Olympic champion Maurice Greene claimed Usain Bolt’s 100m record can be beaten.
In 1999, Greene cemented himself as sprinting royalty, breaking the 100m world record with a time of 9.79 seconds.
He beat the previous record of 9.84 held by fellow American Donovan Bailey and became the first person ever to run under 9.8 seconds.
Greene is also a five-time World Champion, winning the 100m three times, the 200m and and 4x100m relay once each.
The American watched his teammate Tim Montgomery run a time of 9.78 three years later, but the record was expunged from the record books after he was found guilty of doping.
In 2005 his record was eventually bested when Jamaican Asafa Powell legitimately ran a new world record time of 9.77.
A time equalled by American Justin Gatlin 10 months later before Powell returned 30 days later and ran 9.74.
But Bolt ran a time of 9.72, then 9.69 and finally 9.58 at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.
Speaking on whether the 16-year standing record can be broken Greene said: “I never say anything is impossible, even when I was competing I was like it’s always about breaking barriers.
“They said we wouldn’t be able to run 9.7, and then I was able to run 9.7. It’s about believing that you can do something impossible or beliving in yourself that you are capable of doing something.”
Greene called Bolt an ‘anomaly’ because of his ability to accelerate despite his height of six foot five.
“He was able to do things at his height a lot of tall people can’t do,” he said.
“As time progresses man progresses and as man progresses technology progresses. We will have faster tracks, we will have better shoe quality. With all those things coming into play people will get faster.”
However, Greene previously doubted whether Bolt had the ability to claim gold at the London 2012 Olympics.
He commented: “The race in London is going to be a lot closer than a lot of people think. It’s going to be a really exciting race.”
A prediction that ended up being wrong as Bolt dominated with a new Olympic record of 9.63, 0.12 seconds ahead of second place Yohan Blake.
And depending how you look at it Greene was right when he said Bolt wouldn’t break any records in London.
Bolt did not set any world records in his individual races, but the 4x100m Jamaican team recorded the fastest time ever of 36.84.