This is an opinion column.

The Olympic Games mean a lot of things to a lot of people, even to people interested more in their own favorite personal grievance than the extraordinary performance of elite athletes. Stripped of their pomp, circumstance and nonsense, distilled to their ancient essence, the Olympic Games, at heart, mean the 100-meter dash.

As proof of its preeminent status, see the Olympic motto itself, Citius Altius Fortius, the Latin for Faster Higher Stronger. Speed comes first, and nowhere does it come more suddenly and end more abruptly, with more shock and awe, than in the men’s 100-meter dash.