There’s great mystique in the 100-meter dash. The winner gets to call himself “The World’s Fastest Man.” The 2024 Olympic champion is Noah Lyles of the US, and I’m excited. But which is more accurate: “World’s Fastest Man” or “Winner of the 100-meter dash in the 2024 Olympics”?

Here’s what I mean:

Noah Lyles beat the Jamaican by 0.005 seconds, the #3 guy was 0.02 seconds behind. That’s his red shoe across the line – the shoe, not his torso. All the runners in this picture finished in a span of 0.12 seconds.

You can watch the photo-finish race here.

Only one receives the gold medal, but they’re all extraordinarily fast. Here are the times: all under 10 seconds:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. (1 Corinthians 9.24, ESV)