Soccer superstar Neymar Jr. gets to meet a lot of people — and very, very few of them are faster than he is. But the Brazilian star, currently working the pitch for Paris Saint-Germain, just met up with a guy who makes him look positively poky. Of course Neymar shouldn’t feel bad — Jamaican track legend Usain Bolt makes everybody in the world look slow. He could outrun a panther.
Neymar shared a photo of his meet with Bolt (not a track meet fortunately) and the difference in the two superstar physiques was striking. Soccer is renowned for being a sport, unlike basketball and American football, where bigger players don’t necessarily have an advantage. (Considered by many to be the world’s greatest player, Leo Messi is just 5’7″ and the G.O.A.T. Pele stands just 5’8″. Argentine legend Maradona is just 5’5″.)
Neymar is 5’9″ — hardly a height-challenged athlete. But he looks tiny next to Bolt, who unlike most sprinters is extremely tall. Indeed it is said that one of the 6’5″ Bolt’s greatest advantages in the 100 meters, where he has dominated, is that his length allows him to take fewer strides than his competitors to finish the race. That means they must move their legs even faster than he does, an impossibility so far. Bolt is known as the fastest man on earth.
