A Texas man took on Usain Bolt in the 100m dash and won — with his Rubik's Cube
You may not believe this. But we're here to tell you that there is someone faster than Jamaican track star Usain Bolt. And his name is Anthony Brooks.
On Sunday night, when eight of the world's fastest runners were getting into position for the 100-metre race, so was Brooks. But you didn't see him on the track.
Instead of sweating it out in Rio, Brooks — who lives in Dallas, Texas — was competing from the comfort of his girlfriend's living room in Vancouver. And he wasn't running the race with his legs. Brooks was using his Rubik's Cube. And, as you'll see below, he won — handily — against Bolt's run of 9.81 seconds.
"I didn't actually time it, but I think it was about 8.5 seconds. I beat [Bolt] with just enough time to catch him run through the finish line," he tells As It Happens guest host Laura Lynch.
Brooks is a competitive Rubik's Cube solver. His fastest time is 6.40 seconds. He's not the world record holder, though. That title goes to American Lucas Etter at a speedy 4.90 seconds.
Brooks is, however, the world record holder in a very specific event: he's solved the most amount of Rubik's Cubes underwater in a single breath.
Apart from Brooks wanting to compete against Bolt for fun, it was partly done out of a sense of national pride.
"My mom is actually Jamaican. And she was going nuts and gave me a call right after [Bolt] ran. I uploaded the video online and sent it to her and she was the first one to see it."
Brooks insists he has never used performance-enhancing drugs to improve his cube-solving time. He even avoids coffee.
"I don't personally load up on a lot of caffeine the day of Rubik's Cube competitions, but Mountain Dew seems to be quite popular, so maybe that's the secret."
He says his family has always wondered why he's so obsessed with solving Rubik's Cubes.
"I picked it up when I was in high school. And I really liked that there was a mental and a physical aspect to solving the cube. There's a lot of dexterity involved. And in general, I've always liked fast things. I ran track. I played chess."
Brooks was contemplating taking on Bolt again Thursday night in the 200-metre dash, but now he says he wants to actually concentrate on watching the race. But if he did decide to go up against the Jamaican track star, he'd probably race him single-handedly.
"I think I would probably do it one-handed. But I think I would beat him by too much."
For the record, Brooks can solve a cube with one hand in 15 seconds. Good luck to Bolt — or any sprinter — for running the 200-metre dash with that kind of time.
To hear about Anthony Brooks' Rubik's Cube racing strategy and the pressure of being up against Usain Bolt, listen to our full interview.