name	Management
director	Stephen Belber
producer	Sidney KimmelWyck GodfreyMarty Bowen
writer	Stephen Belber
starring	Jennifer AnistonSteve ZahnWoody HarrelsonFred Ward
studio	Image EntertainmentSKETemple Hill Entertainment
distributor	Samuel Goldwyn Films
released	May 15, 2009 (limited)
runtime	94 minutes
country
language	English
gross	$2,401,743 $3,776,723(US DVD Sales) }}

''Management'' is a 2009 romantic comedy-drama directed by Stephen Belber and starring Jennifer Aniston and Steve Zahn. It premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival and received a limited theatrical release on May 15, 2009.

Plot

First Act and Introduction of Characters

Mike Flux (Steve Zahn) works at his parents' motel as the night manager. One day he sees Sue (Jennifer Aniston), who is staying at the motel for the weekend. He develops a crush on her and surprises her at her door with a bottle of wine. She's initially flabbergasted by his advances, and rushes to get him out of her room. He returns the next day, trying the same trick with champagne, and this time she allows him to touch her butt momentarily. As she heads back home the next day she decides to go back and have sex with Mike in the laundry room.

Second Act

Mike realizes his feelings for Sue and flies to her home in Baltimore. She's shocked to see him there, but out of courtesy allows him to stay with her until morning when he can go back home. After spending some time together they get to know each other better as friends, and soon after Mike returns home, Sue stays at the motel again. They decide to go out and have fun. Mike's mother (Margo Martindale) is very sick, and the two stop by her home to see her. She approves of Sue, and tells Mike that he needs to find happiness in his life. Soon after Sue leaves, Mike's mother passes away. Mike decides to make a change in his life and go after Sue once again.

Mike learns that Sue has gotten back together with her old boyfriend, Jango (Woody Harrelson), a former punk rocker turned successful businessman in Aberdeen, WA. Mike settles into the new town by taking a job at a Chinese restaurant. The son of the owners, Al (James Hiroyuki Liao), befriends him and allows Mike to stay in the restaurant's basement. Mike skydives into Sue and Jango's pool to surprise her, but Jango responds by attacking him with an airsoft gun. Feeling bad about what he did, Jango invites Mike and Al over for dinner. Jango knows Mike has feelings towards Sue and threatens him. Regardless of the threat, Mike, with help from Al, sings a song for Sue outside her window later that night. Sue meets up with Mike the next day, informing him, that she and Jango are getting married. Sue is pregnant, and she wants to be with someone that's in control of his life. In anger, Mike tells Sue to leave.

Third Act and Ending

After spending four months in a Buddhist monastery, Mike returns to the motel, now being run solely by his father (Fred Ward). After talking about moving on with their lives, Mike's father hands him the deed to the motel. Mike decides to turn the motel into a homeless shelter, something Sue had mentioned always wanting to do. Mike calls her at home to tell her, but Jango answers the phone. He reveals that Sue has left him and is living with her mother. Mike makes his way to Sue's home to ask her for help with the shelter. She's happy to see him and tells him that she had messed up their relationship. Mike tells her he loves her and only wants to take care of her and her baby. The story ends as they embrace.

Cast

Jennifer Aniston as Sue Claussen Steve Zahn as Mike Flux

Woody Harrelson as Jango

Fred Ward as Jerry Flux

Margo Martindale as Trish Flux

James Hiroyuki Liao as Al

Josh Lucas as Barry

Reception

''Management'' received mixed reviews from critics, garnering only 46% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, which summarized critics' conclusion that "[c]lever and often beguiling performances by Steve Zahn and Jennifer Aniston can't revive this sweetly misguided stalker romance." The film earned a 50/100 "metascore" on Metacritic.

Home media

The DVD was released on September 29, 2009. It has grossed 3,753,546 in US DVD sales.

References

External links

Category:2009 films Category:2000s comedy films Category:Films shot in Oregon Category:Films shot in Washington (state) Category:American comedy films Category:English-language films

de:Management (Film) es:Management (película) fr:Management (film) it:Management - Un amore in fuga pl:Hotelowa miłość pt:Management ru:Любовный менеджмент

name	Random Hand
background	group_or_band
origin	Keighley, West Yorkshire, England
genre	Third wave skaSka metalSka-core
years active	2002–present
label	Riot Music Rebel Alliance Recordings
associated acts	The Human Project,Out From AnimalsThe WayridersSounds Of Swami
current members	Robin Leitch: Trombone, VocalsJoe Tilston: Bass, VocalsSean Howe: Drums, samplesMatthew Crosher: Guitar, Vocals
past members	Joe Dimuantes: Drums, samples
notable instruments	}}

Random Hand is a British ska band, formed in Keighley in 2002. Their sound fuses influences from many genres, including ska, reggae, punk rock, metal, hip hop and dub. The band is typically associated with the punk subculture, due to its ethics and lyrical content. Their lyrical themes are mostly of a sociopolitical nature, however their second recent album 'Inhale/Exhale' features more personal lyrics and subject matter.

Early career

Random Hand formed in late 2002, and consist of Joe Tilston (bass and vocals), Robin Leitch (vocals and trombone), Matt Crosher (guitar and vocals) and Joe Dimuantes (percussion and samples). They played their first show on December 31, 2002 at a house party hosted by local socialite and philanthropist Graham Bacon. The first official gig was on Valentine's Day 2003 at the Vic Hotel in Keighley. The gig was followed with other shows around the West Yorkshire, namely in Huddersfield, Leeds and Halifax.

In summer 2003, the band recorded a demo, which was given as a free release for download. In late 2004, the band spent time with producer TimG to record the ''On The March'' EP.The band set off on their first tour in January 2004 with Catch-it Kebabs and Zen Baseball Bat. This tour was soon followed by a self-booked UK tour in March to coincide with the release of their debut EP, ''On The March''. The band then performed at events like Morcambe's Wasted Festival and shows with The Planet Smashers, Adequate Seven, Sonic Boom Six, Bad Manners, The Beat, Skindred and Babar Luck. The latter teamed up with the band in the studio to record two tracks.

'Change Of Plan'

The band began to be represented by Hidden Talent Booking in 2006. This saw Random Hand playing shows on Adequate Seven's final tour, Lightyear's reunion tour and the ''Three Way Dance'' with Sonic Boom Six, Failsafe and Crazy Arm, before heading to the studio to record their debut album ''Change of Plan''. The record was released on Riot Music on May 7, 2007.

Following the release, the band toured with Voodoo Glow Skulls, Grown at Home, The JB Conspiracy and Left Alone, and played at the festivals City Invasion, Rebellion and Leeds Festival. Songs from the album received regular play on the ''Mike Davies Show'' and were played on the ''Steve Lamacq Show'', and the band recorded a session at Maida Vale Studios for the BBC Radio 1 ''Punk Show'' in late 2007. Their songs also appeared on several cover CDs for ''Big Cheese Magazine''. In September 2007 Random Hand signed to independent music publisher Bomber Music

2008 started with the bands first headline tour of the UK, with 20 dates across the UK. The band then joined Voodoo Glow Skulls on their 2008 west coast United States tour. 2008 also saw performances at several festivals in the UK, in April at City Invasion in Bolton and London, and at the end of May as part of their tour with Sonic Boom Six and Big D and the Kids Table, and at Dunk Fest, Strummercamp and in August at Rebellion. The band appeared at the 2008 Reading and Leeds Festival on the Lock-Up stage. Random Hand also embarked on a 28 date tour with Mike TV through October and November 2008.

'Inhale/Exhale'

In early September 2008, Random Hand announced the upcoming January 2009 release of their second album, ''Inhale/Exhale'' on Rebel Alliance Records.

The band again worked with ''Change Of Plan'''s producer Peter Miles. Random Hand recorded the album in November 2008 and it was released in February. Touring with ska punk legends Reel Big Fish followed a 21 date January headline tour in support of the new album. Separate tours with Canadian punks Propagandhi and Manchester peers Sonic Boom Six took place in April and May 2009.

Visibility and awareness of the second album in comparison to Change Of Plan increased with more investment from the band and new label. A video was released for debut single 'Anger Management', which was released on CD and download in September 2009. Prior to the release, the band embarked on a 14 date UK headline tour with UK reggae band The Skints.

2010 and third album, Line up Changes and restarts

In late 2009 the band started writing material for a third album. During January and February 2010 the band took part in the Rebel Alliance Tour with The Skints, Mouthwash & Chris Murray, with all the bands having releases on Rebel Alliance Recordings. Before the tour the band's van broke down which meant they could not play the first couple of dates for the tour. During this tour, drummer and founding member Joe Dimuantes decided to leave the band. Soon after Joe Dimuates announced he had joined The Human Project (formerly Nanas Revenge) on bass.

The band took a few months out to practice with new drummer Sean Howe (formerly of The Wayriders and Out From Animals) and finish writing their third album. In the meantime, singer/trombonist Robin Leitch and bassist Joe Tilston played solo shows whilst the band took a break from touring.

To make up for the shows missed due to van problems Random Hand played a clutch of "pay what you want" shows to repay fans for cancelled shows.

In June 2010 the band self re-released their first album, "Change of Plan" via Bomber Music with added tracks from the "On The March" EP as ''Another Change Of Plan'' and in July the band will tour to promote the release. The cover was designed by Simon Mitchell, who has provided the artwork for t-shirts, posters, album and ep covers for many underground bands such as MikeTV.

On December 12, 2010, The band played a triple headline show along with The Creepshow and The Skints. The Hydropaths and ACiD DROP also performed as part of the Slam Dunk punk/ska all dayer at The Cockpit (Leeds).

The third album "Seething Is Believing" was released on Bomber Music in March 2011.

Discography

EPs

!Year	!Album	!Label
2003	Buy This, Copy it and Give it To Your Friends (Demo #1)	self-released
2005	On The March	self-released

Albums

!Year	!Album	!Label
2007	Change of Plan	Riot Music
2009		Rebel Alliance
2010	Another Change Of Plan	Bomber Music Our Records
2010	Inhale/Exhale	Bomber Music Our Records
2011	Seething Is Believing	Bomber Music Our Records

Singles

!Year	!Album	!Label
2009	Anger Management	Rebel Alliance
2011	Find What's Out There	Bomber Music
2011	Bones	Bomber Music

References

External links

Category:Underground punk scene in the United Kingdom Category:People from Keighley

honorific-prefix	The Honourable, C.D.
name	Usain Bolt
nickname	Lightning Bolt
honorific-suffix	OJ
nationality	Jamaican
sport	Track and field
event	100m, 200m, 400m, 4×100m
club	Racers Track Club
birth date	August 21, 1986
birth place	Trelawny, Jamaica
residence	Kingston, Jamaica
height
weight
pb	100m: 9.58 s (WR, Berlin 2009) 150m: 14.35 s (WB, Manchester 2009) 200m: 19.19 s (WR, Berlin 2009) 400m: 45.28 s (Kingston 2007)
medaltemplates	}}

}} The Honourable Usain St. Leo Bolt, OJ, C.D. (; born 21 August 1986), is a Jamaican sprinter and a three-time World and Olympic gold medalist. He is the world record and Olympic record holder in the 100 metres, the 200 metres and (along with his teammates) the 4×100 metres relay. He is the reigning Olympic champion in these three events.

Bolt distinguished himself with a 200 m gold medal at the 2002 World Junior Championships, making him the competition's youngest-ever gold medalist. In 2004, at the CARIFTA Games, he became the first junior sprinter to run the 200 m in under 20 seconds with a time of 19.93 s, breaking the previous world junior record held by Roy Martin by two-tenths of a second. He turned professional in 2004, and although he competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics, he missed most of the next two seasons due to injuries. In 2007, he surpassed Don Quarrie's 200 m Jamaican record with a run of 19.75 s.

His 2008 season began with his first world record performance—a 100 m world record of 9.72 s—and culminated in world and Olympic records in both the 100 m and 200 m events at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. He ran 9.69 s for the 100 m and 19.30 s in the 200 m, and also set a 4×100 m relay record of 37.10 s with the Jamaican team. This made him the first man to win three sprinting events at a single Olympics since Carl Lewis in 1984, and the first man to set world records in all three at a single Olympics. The following year he further lowered his own 100 m and 200 m world records to 9.58 s and 19.19 s respectively at the 2009 World Championships. This made him the first man to hold both the 100 and 200 m world and Olympic titles at the same time.

His 2009 record breaking margin over 100 m is the highest since the start of digital time measurements. His achievements in sprinting have earned him the media nickname "Lightning Bolt", and awards including the ''IAAF World Athlete of the Year'', ''Track & Field Athlete of the Year'', and ''Laureus Sportsman of the Year''.

Early years

Bolt was born on 21 August 1986 in Sherwood Content, a small town in Trelawny, Jamaica, and grew up with his parents, Wellesley and Jennifer Bolt, his brother Sadeeki, and his sister Sherine. His parents ran the local grocery store in the rural area, and Bolt spent his time playing cricket and football in the street with his brother, later saying, "When I was young, I didn’t really think about anything other than sports".

As a child, he attended Waldensia Primary and All-age School, and it was here that he first began to show his sprinting potential, running in the annual national primary-schools' meeting for his parish. By the age of twelve, Bolt had become the school's fastest runner over the 100 metres distance.

Upon his entry to William Knibb Memorial High School, Bolt continued to focus on other sports, but his cricket coach noticed Bolt's speed on the pitch and urged him to try track and field events. Pablo McNeil, a former Olympic sprint athlete, and Dwayne Barrett coached Bolt, encouraging him to focus his energy on improving his athletic abilities. The school had a history of success in athletics with past students, including sprinter Michael Green. Bolt won his first annual high school championships medal in 2001, taking the silver medal in the 200 metres with a time of 22.04 seconds. McNeil soon became his primary coach, and the two enjoyed a positive partnership, although McNeil was occasionally frustrated by Bolt's lack of dedication to his training and his predisposition to practical jokes.

Early competitions

Performing for Jamaica in his first Caribbean regional event, Bolt clocked a personal best of 48.28 s in the 400 metres in the 2001 CARIFTA Games, winning a silver medal. The 200 m also yielded a silver as Bolt finished in 21.81 s.

He made his first appearance on the world stage at the 2001 IAAF World Youth Championships in Debrecen, Hungary. Running in the 200 m event, he failed to qualify for the finals, but he still set a new personal best of 21.73 s. Bolt still did not take athletics or himself too seriously, however, and he took his mischievousness to new heights by hiding in the back of a van when he was supposed to be preparing for the 200 m finals at the CARIFTA Trials. He was detained by the police for his practical joke, and there was an outcry from the local community, which blamed coach McNeil for the incident. However, the controversy subsided, and both McNeil and Bolt went to the CARIFTA Games, where Bolt set championship records in the 200 m and 400 m with times of 21.12 s and 47.33 s, respectively. He continued to set records with 20.61 s and 47.12 s finishes at the Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships.

Former Prime Minister P. J. Patterson recognised Bolt's talent and arranged for him to move to Kingston, along with Jermaine Gonzales, so he could train with the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA) at the University of Technology, Jamaica.

Rise to prominence

The 2002 World Junior Championships before a home crowd in Kingston, Jamaica, gave Bolt a chance to prove his credentials on the world stage. By the age of 15, he had grown to tall, and he physically stood out amongst his peers. He won the 200 m, in a time of 20.61 s, 0.03 seconds slower than his personal best of 20.58 s set in the 1st round. Bolt's 200 m win made him the youngest world-junior gold medalist ever. The expectation from the home crowd had made him so nervous that he had put his shoes on the wrong feet. However, it turned out to be a revelatory experience for Bolt as he vowed never again to let himself be affected by pre-race nerves. As a member of the Jamaican sprint relay team, he also took two silver medals and set national junior records in the 4×100 metres and 4×400 metres relay, running times of 39.15 s and 3:04.06 minutes respectively.

The flow of medals continued as he won another gold at the 2003 World Youth Championships. He set a new championship record in the 200 m with a time of 20.40 s, despite a 1.1 m/s head wind. Michael Johnson, the 200 m world-record holder, took note of Bolt's potential but worried that the young sprinter might be over-pressured, stating, "It's all about what he does three, four, five years down the line". Bolt had also impressed the athletics hierarchy, and he received the IAAF Rising Star Award for 2002.

Bolt turned his main focus to the 200 m and equalled Roy Martin's world junior record of 20.13 s at the Pan-American Junior Championships. This performance attracted interest from the press, and his times in the 200 m and 400 m led to him being touted as a possible successor to Johnson. Indeed, at sixteen years old, Bolt had reached times that Johnson did not register until he was twenty, and Bolt's 200 m time was superior to Maurice Greene's season's best that year.

In his final Jamaican High School Championships in 2003, he broke both the 200 m and 400 m records with times of 20.25 s and 45.30 s, respectively. Bolt's runs were a significant improvement upon the previous records, beating the 200 m best by more than half a second and the 400 m record by almost a second.

Bolt was growing more popular in his homeland. Howard Hamilton, who was given the task of Public Defender by the government, urged the JAAA to nurture him and prevent burnout, calling Bolt "the most phenomenal sprinter ever produced by this island". His popularity and the attractions of the capital city were beginning to be a burden to the young sprinter. Bolt was increasingly unfocused on his athletic career and preferred to eat fast food, play basketball, and party in Kingston's club scene. In the absence of a disciplined lifestyle, he became ever-more reliant on his natural ability to beat his competitors on the track.

As the reigning 200 m champion at both the World Youth and World Junior championships, Bolt hoped to take a clean sweep of the world 200 m championships in the Senior World Championships in Paris. Bolt beat all comers at the 200 m in the World Championship trials, but he was pragmatic about his chances and noted that, even if he did not make the final, he would consider setting a personal best a success. However, he suffered a bout of conjunctivitis before the event, and it ruined his training schedule. Realising he would not be in peak condition, the JAAA refused to let him participate in the finals on the grounds that he was too young and inexperienced. Bolt was dismayed at missing out on the opportunity, but focused on getting himself in shape to gain a place on the Jamaican Olympic team instead. Even though he missed the World Championships, Bolt was awarded the IAAF Rising Star Award for the 2003 season on the strength of his junior record-equalling run.

Professional athletics career

Under the guidance of new coach Fitz Coleman, Bolt turned professional in 2004, beginning with the CARIFTA Games in Bermuda. He became the first junior sprinter to run the 200 m in under twenty seconds, taking the world junior record outright with a time of 19.93 s. A hamstring injury in May ruined Bolt's chances of competing in the 2004 World Junior Championships, but he was still chosen for the Jamaican Olympic squad. Bolt headed to the 2004 Athens Olympics with confidence and a new record on his side. However, he was hampered by a leg injury and was eliminated in the first round of the 200 metres with a disappointing time of 21.05 s. American colleges offered Bolt track scholarships on the strength of his performances, but the teenager from Trelawny refused them all, stating that he was content to stay in his homeland of Jamaica. Bolt instead chose the surroundings of the University of Technology, Jamaica, as his professional training ground, staying with the university's primitive track and weight room that had served him well in his amateur years.

The year 2005 signalled a fresh start for Bolt in the form of a new coach, Glen Mills, and a new attitude to athletics. Mills recognised Bolt's potential and aimed to cease the sprinter's unprofessional approach to the sport. Bolt began training with Mills in preparation for the upcoming athletics season, partnering with more-seasoned sprinters such as Kim Collins and Dwain Chambers. The year began well, and in July he knocked more than a third of a second off the 200 m CAC Championship record with a run of 20.03 s, then registered his 200 m season's best at London's Crystal Palace, running in 19.99 s. Misfortune awaited Bolt at the next major event, the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki. Bolt felt that both his work ethic and athleticism had much improved since the 2004 Olympics, and he saw the World Championships as a way to live up to expectations, stating, "I really want to make up for what happened in Athens. Hopefully, everything will fall into place". Bolt qualified with runs under 21 s, but he suffered an injury in the final, finishing in last place with a time of 26.27 s. Injuries were preventing him from completing a full professional athletics season, and the eighteen-year-old Bolt still had not proven his mettle in the major world-athletics competitions. Bolt was involved in a car accident in November, and although he suffered only minor facial lacerations, his training schedule was further upset. His manager, Norman Peart, made Bolt's training less intensive, and he had fully recuperated the following week. Bolt had continued to improve his performances, and he reached the world top-5 rankings in 2005 and 2006. Peart and Mills stated their intentions to push Bolt to do longer sprinting distances with the aim of making the 400 m event his primary event by 2007 or 2008. Bolt was less enthusiastic, and demanded that he feel comfortable in his sprinting. He suffered another hamstring injury in March 2006, forcing him to withdraw from the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, and he did not return to track events until May. After his recovery, Bolt was given new training exercises to improve flexibility, and the plans to move him up to the 400 m event were put on hold.

Upon his return to competition, the 200 m remained his primary event, and he beat Justin Gatlin's meet record in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Bolt had aspired to run under twenty seconds to claim a season's best but, despite the fact that bad weather had impaired his run, he was happy to end the meeting with just the victory. However, a sub-20-second finish was soon his, as he set a new personal best of 19.88 s at the 2006 Athletissima Grand Prix in Lausanne, Switzerland, finishing behind Xavier Carter and Tyson Gay to earn a bronze medal. Bolt had focused his athletics aims, stating that 2006 was a year to gain experience. Also, he was more keen on competing over longer distances, setting his sights on running regularly in both 200 m and 400 m events within the next two years. Bolt claimed his first major world medal two months later at the IAAF World Athletics Final in Stuttgart, Germany. He passed the finishing post with a time of 20.10 s, gaining a bronze medal in the process. The IAAF World Cup in Athens, Greece, yielded Bolt's first senior international silver medal. Wallace Spearmon from the United States won gold with a championship record time of 19.87 s, beating Bolt's respectable time of 19.96 s. Further 200 m honours on both the regional and international stages awaited Bolt in 2007. The young Jamaican yearned to run in the 100 metres, but coach Mills diverted his attention, stating that he could run the shorter distance if he broke the 200 m national record. In the Jamaican Championships, he ran 19.75 s in the 200 m, breaking the 36-year-old Jamaican record held by Don Quarrie by 0.11 s.

Mills complied with Bolt's demand to run in the 100 m, and he was entered to run the event at the 23rd Vardinoyiannia meeting in Rethymno, Crete. In his debut tournament run, he set a personal best of 10.03 s, winning the gold medal and feeding his enthusiasm for the event.

He built on this achievement at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan, winning a silver medal. Bolt recorded 19.91 s with a headwind of 0.8 m/s but this paled in comparison with Tyson Gay's time of 19.76 s, which set a new championship record.

The Jamaican national record fell when Bolt partnered with Asafa Powell, Marvin Anderson, and Nesta Carter in the 4×100 metres relay. However, their finish in 37.89 s was not enough to beat the Americans' time of 37.78 s. Bolt did not win any gold medals at the major tournaments in 2007, but Mills felt that Bolt's technique was much improved, pinpointing improvements in Bolt's balance at the turns over 200 m and an increase in his stride frequency, giving him more driving power on the track.

World-record breaker

The silver medals from the 2007 Osaka World Championships boosted Bolt's desire to run, and he took a more serious, more mature stance towards his career. Bolt continued to develop in the 100 m, and he entered to run in the event at the Jamaica Invitational in Kingston. On 3 May 2008, Bolt ran a time of 9.76 s, aided by a tail wind of 1.8 m/s, considerably improving upon his previous personal best of 10.03 s. This was the second-fastest legal performance in the history of the event; second only to compatriot Asafa Powell's 9.74 s record set the previous year in Rieti, Italy. Rival Tyson Gay lauded the performance, praising Bolt's form and technique especially. Michael Johnson, who was observing the race, said that he was shocked at how quickly he had improved over the 100 m distance. The Jamaican surprised even himself with the time, but coach Glen Mills remained confident that there was more to come.

Mills' prediction came true before the end of the month when Bolt established a new 100 m world record on 31 May 2008. Pushed on by a tail wind of 1.7 m/s, Bolt ran 9.72 s at the Reebok Grand Prix held in the Icahn Stadium in New York City, breaking Powell's record. The record time was even more remarkable in light of the fact that it was only his fifth senior run over the distance. Gay again finished second and commended Bolt's physical superiority, stating, "It looked like his knees were going past my face". Commentators noted that Bolt appeared to have gained a psychological advantage over fellow Olympic contender Gay.

In June 2008, Bolt responded to claims that he was a lazy athlete, saying that the comments were unjustified, and he trained hard to achieve his potential. However, he surmised that such comments stemmed from his lack of enthusiasm for the 400 metres event, and chose to not make the effort to train for distance running. Turning his efforts to the 200 m, Bolt proved that he could excel in multiple events—first setting the world-leading time in Ostrava, then breaking the national record for the second time with a 19.67 s finish in Athens, Greece. Although Mills still preferred that Bolt focus on the longer distances, the acceptance of Bolt's demand to run in the 100 m worked for both sprinter and trainer. Bolt was more focused in practice, and a training schedule to boost his top speed and his stamina, in preparation for the Olympics, had improved both his 100 m and 200 m times. His confidence was building, and he was sure that he would perform well in the upcoming Olympics.

2008 Summer Olympics

Bolt announced that he would double-up with the 100 metres and 200 metres events at the Beijing Summer Olympics, and the new 100 m world-record holder was the favourite to win both. Michael Johnson, the 200 m and 400 m record holder, personally backed the sprinter, saying that he did not believe that a lack of experience would work against him. Bolt qualified for the 100 m final with times of 9.92 s and 9.85 s in the quarter-finals and semifinals, respectively.

In the Olympic 100 m final, Bolt broke new ground, winning in 9.69 s (unofficially 9.683 s) with a reaction time of 0.165 s. This was an improvement upon his own world record, and he was well ahead of second-place finisher Richard Thompson, who finished in 9.89 s. Not only was the record set without a favourable wind (+0.0 m/s), but he also visibly slowed down to celebrate before he finished and his shoelace was untied. Bolt's coach reported that, based upon the speed of Bolt's opening 60 m, he could have finished with a time of 9.52 s. After scientific analysis of Bolt's run by the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics at the University of Oslo, Hans Eriksen and his colleagues also predicted a sub 9.60 s time. Considering factors such as Bolt's position, acceleration and velocity in comparison with second-place-finisher Thompson, the team estimated that Bolt could have finished in 9.55±0.04 s had he not slowed to celebrate before the finishing line.

Bolt stated that setting a record was not a priority for him, and that his goal was just to win the gold medal, Jamaica's first of the 2008 Games. Olympic medalist Kriss Akabusi construed Bolt's chest slapping before the finish line as showboating, noting that the actions cost Bolt an even faster record time. IOC president Jacques Rogge also condemned the Jamaican's actions as disrespectful. Bolt denied that this was the purpose of his celebration by saying, "I wasn't bragging. When I saw I wasn't covered, I was just happy". Lamine Diack, president of the IAAF, supported Bolt and said that his celebration was appropriate given the circumstances of his victory. Jamaican government minister Edmund Bartlett also defended Bolt's actions, stating, "We have to see it in the glory of their moment and give it to them. We have to allow the personality of youth to express itself".

Bolt then focused on attaining a gold medal in the 200 m event, aiming to emulate Carl Lewis' double win in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Michael Johnson felt that Bolt would easily win gold but believed that his own world record of 19.32 s set at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta would remain intact at the Olympics. Bolt eased through the first and second rounds of the 200 m, jogging towards the end of his run both times. He won his semifinal and progressed to the final as the favourite to win. Retired Jamaican sprinter Don Quarrie praised Bolt, saying he was confident that Johnson's record could be beaten. The following day, at the final, he won Jamaica's fourth gold of the Games, setting a new world and Olympic record of 19.30 s. Johnson's record fell despite the fact that Bolt was impeded by a 0.9 m/s headwind. The feat made him the first sprinter since Quarrie to hold both 100 m and 200 m world records simultaneously and the first since the introduction of electronic timing. Furthermore, Bolt became the first sprinter to break both records at the same Olympics. Unlike in the 100 m final, Bolt sprinted hard all the way to the finishing line in the 200 m race, even dipping his chest to improve his time. Following the race, "Happy Birthday" was played over the stadium's sound system as his 22nd birthday would begin at midnight.

Two days later, Bolt ran as the third leg in the Jamaican 4x100 metres relay team, increasing his gold medal total to three. Along with teammates Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, and Asafa Powell, Bolt broke another world and Olympic record, their 37.10 s finish breaking the previous record by three tenths of a second. Powell, who anchored the team to the finishing line, lamented the loss of his 100 m record to Bolt but showed no animosity towards his Jamaican rival, stating that he was delighted to help him set his third world record. Following his victories, Bolt donated US$50,000 to the children of the Sichuan province of China to help those harmed by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

Bolt's record-setting runs caused commentators not only to praise his achievements but also to speculate about his potential to become one of the most successful sprinters ever. Critics hailed his Olympic success as a new beginning for a sport that had long suffered through high-profile drug scandals. The previous six years had seen the BALCO scandal, Tim Montgomery and Justin Gatlin stripped of their 100 m world records, and Marion Jones returning three Olympic gold medals. All three sprinters were disqualified from athletics after drugs tests detected banned substances in their systems. Bolt's record-breaking performances caused suspicion among some commentators, including Victor Conte, and the lack of an independent Caribbean anti-doping federation raised more concerns. The accusations of drug use were vehemently rejected by Glen Mills (Bolt's coach) and Herb Elliott (the Jamaican athletics team doctor). Elliott, a member of the IAAF anti-doping commission, urged those concerned about the issue to "come down and see our programme, come down and see our testing, we have nothing to hide". Mills had been equally ardent that Bolt was a clean athlete, declaring to the ''Jamaica Gleaner'': "We will test any time, any day, any part of the body...[he] doesn't even like to take vitamins". Bolt stated that he had been tested four times prior to the Olympics, and all had tested negative for banned substances. He also welcomed anti-doping authorities to test him to prove that he was clean, stating, "We work hard and we perform well and we know we're clean".

}}

After the Olympics

The end of the 2008 athletics season saw Bolt compete in the ÅF Golden League, beginning in Weltklasse Zürich. Despite having the slowest start among his competitors in the 100 m race, he still crossed the finishing line in 9.83 s. Even though the time was slower than both his newly set world record and Asafa Powell's track record, it was still among the top-fifteen 100 m finishes by any sprinter to that date. Bolt admitted that he was not running at full strength, suffering from a cold, but he had concentrated on both winning the race and finishing the season in good health. At the Super Grand Prix final in Lausanne, Bolt ran his second-fastest 200 m with a time of 19.63 s, equalling Xavier Carter's track record. However, it was the 100 m final, featuring Asafa Powell, that drew the most interest. Powell had moved closer to Bolt's world record after setting a new personal best of 9.72 s, reaffirming his status as Bolt's main contender. Bolt's final event of the season came three days later at the Golden League final in Brussels. This was the first 100 m race featuring both Bolt and Powell since the final in the Olympics. Both Jamaicans broke the track record, but Bolt came out on top with a time of 9.77 s, beating Powell by 0.06 s. Victory, however, did not come as smoothly as it had in Beijing. Bolt made the slowest start of the nine competitors and had to recover ground in cold conditions and against a 0.9 m/s headwind. Yet the results confirmed Jamaican dominance in the 100 m, with nine of the ten-fastest legal times in history being recorded by either Bolt or Powell. On his return to Jamaica, Bolt was honoured in a homecoming celebration and received an Order of Distinction in recognition of his achievements at the Olympics.

He was selected as the IAAF Male Athlete of the year and won a Special Olympic Award for his performances. However, Bolt turned his attention to future events, suggesting that he could aim to break the 400 metres world record in 2010 as no major championships were scheduled that year.

2009 Berlin World Championships

Bolt started the season competing over 400 metres in order to improve his speed, winning two races and registering 45.54 s in Kingston, and windy conditions gave him his first sub-10 second finish of the season in the 100 m in March. In late April Bolt suffered minor leg injuries in a car crash. However, he quickly recovered following minor surgery and (after cancelling a track meet in Jamaica) he stated that he was fit to compete in the 150 metres street race at the Manchester Great City Games. Bolt won the race in 14.35 s, the fastest time ever recorded for 150 m. Despite not being at full fitness, he took the 100 and 200 m titles at the Jamaican national championships, with runs of 9.86 s and 20.25 s respectively. This meant he had qualified for both events at the 2009 World Championships. Rival Tyson Gay suggested that Bolt's 100 m record was within his grasp, but Bolt dismissed the claim and instead noted that he was more interested in Asafa Powell's return from injury. Bolt defied unfavourable conditions at the Athletissima meet in July, running 19.59 seconds into a 0.9 m/s headwind and rain, to record the fourth fastest time ever over 200 m, one hundredth off Gay's best time.

At the 2009 World Championships in August, Bolt eased through the 100 m heats, clocking the fastest ever pre-final performance of 9.89 seconds. The final was the first time Bolt and Gay had met in the season, and Bolt improved his world record with a time of 9.58 s to win his first World Championship gold medal. Gay finished with a time of 9.71 s, 0.02 s off Bolt's 9.69 s world-record run in Beijing. Taking over a tenth of a second off the previous best mark, this was the largest ever margin of improvement in the 100 m world record since the beginning of electronic timing.

Although Gay withdrew from the second race of the competition, the Jamaican once again produced world record-breaking form in the 200 metres final. He broke his own record by 0.11 seconds, finishing with a time of 19.19 seconds. He won the 200 m race by the biggest margin in World Championships history, even though the race had three other athletes running under 19.90 seconds, the greatest number ever in the event. Bolt's pace impressed even the more experienced of his competitors; third-placed Wallace Spearmon complimented his speed, and former Olympic champion Shawn Crawford said "Just coming out there...I felt like I was in a video game, that guy was moving – fast". Bolt pointed out that an important factor in his performance at the World Championships was his improved start to the races: his reaction times in the 100 m (0.146) and 200 m (0.133) were significantly faster than those he had produced in his world record runs at the Beijing Olympics. However, he, together with other members of Jamaican 4x100 m relay team, fell short of their own world record of 37.10 s set at 2008 Summer Olympics by timing 37.31 s, which is, however, a championship record and the second fastest time in history at that date.

On the last day of the Berlin Championships, the governing Mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, presented Bolt with a 12-foot high section of the Berlin Wall in a small ceremony, saying Bolt had shown that “one can tear down walls that had been considered as insurmountable.” The nearly three-ton segment will be delivered to Bolt's training camp in Jamaica.

Several days after Bolt broke the world records in 100 and 200 metres events, Mike Powell, the world record holder in long jump (8.95 metres set in 1991) argued that Bolt could become the first man to jump over 9 metres, the long jump event being "a perfect fit for his speed and height". At the end of the season he was selected as the IAAF World Athlete of the Year for the second year running.

2010: Diamond League and broken streak

Early on in the 2010 outdoor season, Bolt ran 19.56 seconds in the 200 m in Kingston, Jamaica for the fourth-fastest run of all-time, although he stated that he had no record breaking ambitions for the forthcoming season. He took to the international circuit May with wins in East Asia at the Colorful Daegu Pre-Championships Meeting and then a comfortable win in his 2010 IAAF Diamond League debut at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix. Bolt made an attempt to break Michael Johnson's best time over the rarely competed 300 metres event at the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava. He failed to match Johnson's ten-year-old record of 30.85 and suffered a setback in that his 30.97-second run in wet weather had left him with an Achilles tendon problem.

On his return from injury a month later, he asserted himself with a 100 m win at the Athletissima meeting in Lausanne (9.82 seconds) and a victory over Asafa Powell at Meeting Areva in Paris (9.84 seconds). Despite this run of form, he suffered only the second loss of his career in a 100 m final at the DN Galan. Tyson Gay soundly defeated him with a run of 9.84 to Bolt's 9.97 seconds, and the Jamaican reflected that he had slacked off in training early in the season while Gay had been better prepared and in a better condition. This marked Bolt's first loss to Gay over 100 m, which coincidentally occurred in the same stadium where Powell had beaten Bolt for the first time two years earlier.

2011 Daegu World Championships

Considered the overwhelming favourite to win in the 100 metres at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, Bolt was eliminated from the final for a false start. Usain Bolt's countryman, Yohan Blake won in a season best of 9.92 seconds.

Personal life

Bolt expresses a love for dancing and his character is frequently described as laid-back and relaxed. Bolt's Jamaican track and field idols include Herb McKenley and former Jamaican 100 m 200 m world record holder, Don Quarrie. Michael Johnson, the former 200 m world and Olympic record holder, is also held in high esteem by Bolt. The first sport to interest him was cricket and he said if he was not a sprinter he would be a fast bowler instead. As a child he was a supporter of Pakistan and admired the bowling of Waqar Younis. He is also a fan of Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar, West Indian opener Chris Gayle and Australian opener Matthew Hayden. During a charity cricket match Bolt clean bowled West Indies captain and legendary batsman Chris Gayle. Gayle was complimentary of Bolt's pace and swing. Bolt also whacked a six as he showed off his batting skills as well. The six came off Chris Gayle's bowling. Another bowler complimentary of Bolt's pace was former West Indies fast-bowling great Curtly Ambrose. Bolt has also expressed his love for football and is a fan of Manchester United as well as Real Madrid. Bolt has also declared he is a fan of Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy. Following a race in Manchester, he met the team at their training ground and offered Portuguese national Cristiano Ronaldo some sprinting advice. Bolt was a special guest of Manchester United at the 2011 UEFA Champions League final in London, where he stated he'd like to play for them after he retires.

In 2010, he also revealed his fondness of music, when he played a reggae DJ set to a crowd in Paris.

After winning the 200 m title in the 2002 World Junior Championships in Kingston, Jamaica, Bolt signed a sponsorship deal with Puma. To promote Bolt's chase for Olympic glory in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, Puma released a series of videos including Bolt's then-world-record-setting run in Icahn Stadium and his Olympic preparations. After his world record breaking run in New York City, which was preceded by a lightning storm, the press frequently made puns on the Jamaican's name, nicknaming him "Lightning Bolt" and the "Bolt from the blue". During the Beijing 2008 100 m final, Bolt wore golden Puma Complete Theseus spikes that had "Beijing 100 m Gold" emblazoned across them. His athletics agent is PACE Sports Management.

In 2010, Bolt signed a lucrative publishing deal with HarperCollins for an autobiography, which was negotiated by Chris Nathaniel of NVA Management. This is scheduled for release in 2012. During a press conference in Paris on 15 July 2010, Bolt declined any comment on what would be contained within the book saying, "you can't really give away anything in your book ... should be exciting, it's my life, and I'm a cool and exciting guy".

Recognition

As a result of Bolt's successes in athletics, he was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for 2009 and 2010.

IAAF World Athlete of the Year: 2008, 2009

Track & Field Athlete of the Year: 2008, 2009

Laureus World Sportsman of the Year: 2009, 2010

BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year: 2008, 2009

Statistics

}}

Personal bests

!Event	!Time (seconds)	!Venue	!Date	!Records	!Notes
100 metres	9.58	Berlin, Germany	16 August 2009
150 metres	14.35	Manchester, United Kingdom	17 May 2009	World best	He ran the last 100 m in 8.70, the fastest ever recorded time over a 100 m distance. This would equal an average speed of 41.38 km/h.
	19.19	Berlin, Germany	20 August 2009
300 metres	30.97	Ostrava, Czech Republic	27 May 2010		This is the second fastest time, behind Michael Johnson's 30.85.
400 metres	45.28		5 May 2007
	37.10	Beijing, China			Shared with Asafa Powell, Michael Frater and Nesta Carter. Also holds the second fastest time with 37.31.

Records

Bolt's personal best of 9.58 seconds in the 100 metres is the fastest ever legal time. Bolt also holds the second fastest time of 9.69 seconds (more precisely 9.683), the current Olympic record. Tyson Gay recorded a time of 9.68 s at the 2008 US Olympic Trials, but was aided with a tail wind of 4.1 m/s, exceeding the legal limit of 2.0 m/s set by the IAAF and nullifying its inclusion as a world record. Obadele Thompson's run of 9.69 s in 1996 is also not recognised as it was aided by a 5.0 m/s tail wind.

Bolt's personal best of 19.19 s in the 200 metres is the world record. This was recorded at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin against a headwind of −0.3 m/s. He has also broken the Olympic record with a time of 19.30 s (more precisely 19.296 s)

The Jamaican relay team including Bolt, set the 4x100 metres world and Olympic records at the 2008 Olympics with a time of 37.10 seconds. This is the only run in the IAAF top ten performances which was not set by an American team.

Bolt also holds the 200 metres world teenage best results for the age categories 15 (20.58 s), 16 (20.13 s, world youth record), 17 (19.93 s) and 18 (19.93 s, world junior record). He also holds the 150 metres world best set in 2009, during which he ran the last 100 metres in 8.70 seconds, the quickest timed 100 metres ever.

Average speed

From his record time of 9.58 s for the 100 m sprint Usain Bolt's average ground speed equates to: 37.58 km/h or 23.35 mph. However, once his reaction time of 0.15 s is subtracted, his time is closer to 9.43 s, making his average speed closer to 38.18 km/h or 23.72 mph.

Honours

{| |- |rowspan=3|2002 |rowspan=3|World Junior Championships |rowspan=3|Kingston, Jamaica | style="background:gold;"| 1st |200 m |20.61 |- | style="background:silver;"| 2nd |4×100 m relay |39.15 NJR |- | style="background:silver;"| 2nd |4×400 m relay |3:04.06 NJR |- |2003 |World Youth Championships |Sherbrooke, Canada | style="background:gold;"| 1st |200 m |20.40 |- |rowspan=2|2003 |rowspan=2|Pan American Junior Championships |rowspan=2|Bridgetown, Barbados | style="background:gold;"| 1st |200 m |20.13 WYB |- | style="background:silver;"| 2nd |4×100 m relay |39.40 |- |2004 |CARIFTA Games |Hamilton, Bermuda | style="background:gold;"| 1st |200 m |19.93 WJR |- |2005 |Central American and Caribbean Championships |Nassau, Bahamas | style="background:gold;"| 1st |200 m |20.03 |- |2006 |World Athletics Final |Stuttgart, Germany | style="background:#c96;"| 3rd |200 m |20.10 |- |2006 |IAAF World Cup |Athens, Greece | style="background:silver;"| 2nd |200 m |19.96 |- |2007 |World Championships |Osaka, Japan | style="background:silver;"| 2nd |200 metres |19.91 |- |2008 |Reebok Grand Prix |New York City, United States | style="background:gold;"| 1st |100 m |9.72 |- |rowspan=3|2008 |rowspan=3|Olympic Games |rowspan=3|Beijing, China | style="background:gold;"| 1st |100 metres |9.69 |- | style="background:gold;"| 1st |200 metres |19.30 |- | style="background:gold;"| 1st |4×100 metres relay |37.10 |- |rowspan=3|2009 |rowspan=3|World Championships |rowspan=3|Berlin, Germany | style="background:gold;"| 1st |100 metres |9.58 |- | style="background:gold;"| 1st |200 metres |19.19 |- | style="background:gold;"| 1st |4×100 metres relay |37.31 CR |}

See also

Men's 100 metres world record progression

Men's 200 metres world record progression

List of multiple Olympic gold medalists

List of multiple Olympic gold medalists at a single Games

Athletics in Jamaica

Jamaica at the Olympics

References

External links

Official website

Usain Bolt timeline via ''The Daily Telegraph''

Lightning Strikes Twice – slideshow by ''The First Post''

Asafa Powell}} |- |- Tyson Gay}} David Rudisha}} |- |- Roger Federer}} Rafael Nadal}} |- |- |- Asafa Powell}} Tyson Gay}} Tyson Gay}}

Category:Article Feedback Pilot Category:1986 births Category:Living people Category:Male sprinters Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Category:Jamaican sprinters Category:Laureus World Sports Awards winners Category:Olympic athletes of Jamaica Category:Olympic gold medalists for Jamaica Category:People from Trelawny Parish Category:World record holders in athletics (track and field) Category:Olympic medalists in athletics (track and field)

ar:يوسين بولت az:Useyn Bolt be:Усэйн Болт be-x-old:Усэйн Болт bs:Usain Bolt br:Usain Bolt bg:Юсейн Болт ca:Usain Bolt cs:Usain Bolt cy:Usain Bolt da:Usain Bolt de:Usain Bolt et:Usain Bolt el:Γιουσέιν Μπολτ es:Usain Bolt eo:Usain Bolt eu:Usain Bolt fa:اوسین بولت fr:Usain Bolt ga:Usain Bolt gl:Usain Bolt ki:Usain Bolt gu:યુસૈન બોલ્ટ ko:우사인 볼트 hi:उसैन बोल्ट hr:Usain Bolt id:Usain Bolt is:Usain Bolt it:Usain Bolt he:יוסיין בולט kn:ಯುಸೈನ್ ಬೋಲ್ಟ್ ka:უსაინ ბოლტი sw:Usain Bolt ht:Usain Bolt la:Usain Bolt lv:Useins Bolts lt:Usain Bolt hu:Usain Bolt mk:Јусејн Болт ml:ഉസൈൻ ബോൾട്ട് mr:युसेन बोल्ट ms:Usain Bolt mn:Усэйн Болт nl:Usain Bolt ja:ウサイン・ボルト no:Usain Bolt nn:Usain Bolt oc:Usain Bolt pl:Usain Bolt pt:Usain Bolt ro:Usain Bolt ru:Болт, Усэйн sc:Usain Bolt sq:Usain Bolt scn:Usain Bolt simple:Usain Bolt sk:Usain Bolt sl:Usain Bolt szl:Usain Bolt sr:Јусејн Болт sh:Usain Bolt fi:Usain Bolt sv:Usain Bolt tl:Usain Bolt ta:உசேன் போல்ட் te:ఉసేన్ బోల్ట్ th:ยูเซน โบลต์ tr:Usain Bolt uk:Усейн Болт vi:Usain Bolt wa:Usain Bolt yo:Usain Bolt zh:尤塞恩·博尔特

name	Jennette McCurdy
background	solo_singer
birth name	Jennette Michelle Faye McCurdy
birth date	June 26, 1992
origin	Garden Grove, California, U.S.
instrument	Vocals, guitar, keyboard
genre	Country
occupation	Actress, singer, songwriter
years active	2000–present (actress)2008–present (singer)
label	Your Tyme, Capitol Nashville
website	jennettemccurdy.com
notable instruments	}}

Jennette Michelle Faye McCurdy (born June 26, 1992) is an American film and television actress and country pop singer-songwriter. She is best known for her role as Sam Puckett on the Nickelodeon sitcom ''iCarly''. She has also appeared in a number of notable television series, including True Jackson VP, ''Zoey 101'', ''Malcolm in the Middle'', ''Will & Grace'', ''Strong Medicine'', ''Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'', ''The Inside'' and ''Judging Amy''.

Early life

McCurdy was born in Garden Grove, California, and she has three older brothers. She gained interest in acting after watching Harrison Ford in ''Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope'' right after her mother recovered from breast cancer.

Career

She started her acting career in 2000 at the age of eight on ''MADtv''. Since then she appeared in several television series, including ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', ''Malcolm in the Middle'', ''Lincoln Heights'', ''Will & Grace'', ''Penguins of Madagascar'', ''Zoey 101'', ''True Jackson, VP'', ''Law and Order SVU'', ''Medium'', ''Judging Amy'', ''The Inside'', ''Karen Sisco'', ''Over There'' and ''Close to Home''. In 2003, she had the chance to act with her inspiration, Harrison Ford in the movie ''Hollywood Homicide''. In 2005, she was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Television Series - Guest Starring Young Actress for her performance in ''Strong Medicine'' as Hailey Campos. She has also appeared in several commercials such as one for Sprint and another commercial for crossing the road safely.

Since 2007, she has a starring role in the Nickelodeon TV series ''iCarly'' opposite Miranda Cosgrove, Nathan Kress and Jerry Trainor, as Carly Shay's best friend Sam Puckett. In 2008 she was nominated for a Young Artist Award for her work on ''iCarly'', and for her performance as Dory Sorenson in the TV movie ''The Last Day of Summer''. She was nominated for a 2009 Teen Choice Award, in the ''Favorite TV Sidekick'' category for her work on ''iCarly''. She also was cast to the role of Bertha in ''Fred: The Movie'', a movie based on a YouTube series about Fred Figglehorn.

Music

In June 2008, she announced on her official web site that she was working on her debut album. The first single, "So Close", was released on March 10, 2009. The second single, "Homeless Heart", a cover of a song from Amanda Stott, was released on May 19. The song was released in honor of McCurdy's recently deceased friend Cody Waters, who died at the age of 9 from brain cancer, and 20% of the proceeds were donated to the Cody Waters Foundation. She met Cody Waters through St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Both were released under the Your Tymes music label. After the single "So Close" was released in March 2009, McCurdy announced that her debut album would be released on June 30, 2009. By the time June ended, no album had been released and on July 6, 2009, McCurdy announced she had signed a deal with Capitol Records Nashville.

On April 16, 2010, samples of select songs from McCurdy's upcoming debut country album were released to the public. Those songs were "Not That Far Away", "Never Let Me Down", "Break Your Heart", "Better", "Stronger", and "Put Your Arms Around Someone". The songs were released early in order for fans to vote for which one they believed should be McCurdy's first single. "Not That Far Away" won, and was released to country radio on May 24, 2010 and iTunes on June 1. She released an EP on August 16/August 17 , 2010 which added other songs including "Stronger", "Put Your Arms Around Someone", "Break Your Heart" and "Me with You". It has also been stated that another of her songs, "Stronger" was released later on NOW That's What I Call Music! Vol. 35 on August 31, 2010.

McCurdy's second single under ''Capitol Records Nashville'', "Generation Love" was released as a digital download on March 22, 2011. This song was released to radio April 25, 2011.

Philanthropy

In addition to supporting the Cody Waters Foundation, McCurdy was active in campaigns such as stopping child soldiers (she is in the Invisible Children Inc. group) and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. McCurdy did a PSA for Safe Kids USA which is aired on Nickelodeon and TeenNick.

McCurdy currently serves as a StarPower Ambassador for Starlight Children’s Foundation, encouraging other young people to commit their time, energy and resources to help other kids and working with Starlight to brighten the lives of seriously ill children.

Personal life

On June 11, 2011, McCurdy composed and published an article titled "Off-Camera, My Mom's Fight With Cancer" to the Wall Street Journal, which describes, in detail, her mother Debra's on-going battle with cancer and how her family is coping with the situation. The article also features tips on living with such a situation, given out by McCurdy herself to anyone interested.

Discography

;Studio albums

Title	Details	Peak chartpositions
		! style="width:40px;"	! style="width:40px;"
''Jennette McCurdy''		* Release date: To be announced	* Label: Capitol Nashville	Compact disc>CD, music download	-	-

;Extended plays

Title	Details	Peak chartpositions
		! style="width:40px;"	! style="width:40px;"
''Not That Far Away''		* Release date: August 17, 2010	* Label: Capitol Nashville	* Formats: Music download	32	3

;Singles

Year	Single	Peak position	Album
		! style="width:55px;"
2010		58
2011		44

;Music videos

! Year	! Song	! Director
2010	"Not That Far Away"
2011	"Generation Love"

Filmography

; Film ''My Daughter's Tears'' ''Hollywood Homicide'' ''Taylor Simmons'' ''Breaking Dawn'' ''Tiger Cruise'' ''See Anthony Run'' ''Against Type'' '''' ''Proving Ground: From the Adventures of Captain Redlocks'' ''iGo to Japan'' ''Minor Details'' ''Fred: The Movie'' ''Best Player'' ''The Goree Girls''

Year	Notes
2001	''Shadow Fury''	Anna Markov
2002	|	Mary Fields
2003	|	Van Family Daughter
2003	|	Amanda Simmons
2004	|	The Little Girl
2004	|	Kiley Dolan	TV movie
2005	|	Lucy	Short film
2006	|	Meredith	TV movie
2007	|	Dory Sorenson	TV movie
2008	|	Aria Krait
2008	|	Sam Puckett	TV movie
2009	|	Mia
2010	|	Bertha	TV movie
2011	|	Christina "Prodigy" Saunders	TV movie
2011	|	Billie Crow	Musical Film

; Television

''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation ''Malcolm in the Middle'' ''Karen Sisco'' ''Strong Medicine'' ''Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' ''Medium (TV series) ''Judging Amy'' ''Malcolm in the Middle'' '''' ''Over There'' ''Zoey 101'' ''Will & Grace'' ''Close to Home (TV series) ''Lincoln Heights (TV series) ''iCarly'' ''True Jackson, VP'' '''' ''Glenn Martin, DDS''

Year	Notes
2000	''MADtv''	Cassidy Gifford
2002	C.S.I.'' ||	Jackie Trent	Episode: "Cats in the Cradle"
2003	|	Daisy (Female Dewey)	Episodes: "If Boys Were Girls"
2004	|	Josie Boyle	Episode: "No One's Girl"
2004	|	Hailey Campos	Episode: "Selective Breeding"
2005	|	Holly Purcell	Episode: "Contagious"
2005	Medium'' ||	Sara Crewson	Episode: "Coded"
2005	|	Amber Reid	Episode: "My Name is Amy Gray"
2005	|	Penelope	Episode: "Buseys Take a Hostage"
2005	|	Madison St. Clair	Episode: "Everything Nice"
2005	|	Lynne	Episode: "Situation Normal"
2005	|	Trisha Kirby	List of Zoey 101 episodes#Season 2: 2005–2006>Bad Girl"
2006	|	Lisa	Episode: "Von Trapped"
2006	Close to Home'' ||	Stacy Johnson	Episode: "Escape"
2007	Lincoln Heights'' ||	Beckie	Episode: "Betrayal" Episode: "Tricks and Treats"Episode: "House Arrest"
2007 to present	|	Sam Puckett
2008 to 2010	|	List of True Jackson, VP characters>Pinky Turzo	Episode: "[[List of True Jackson, VP episodes#Season 1: 2008 - 2009
2010	|	Becky	Episode: "Badger Pride"
2010	|	Mazy	Episode: "Courtney's Pony"

Awards

"Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama), Supporting Young Actress" Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards

Year !! Award !! Category !! Motive !! Result
2009	Young Artist Award	|	''iCarly''
2011	Kids' Choice Awards ||	"Favorite TV Sidekick"	''iCarly''

References

External links

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birthname	John Francis Welch, Jr.
birth date	November 19, 1935
birth place	Peabody, Massachusetts
occupation	Former CEO of General Electric Author
net worth	US$720 Million (2006)
spouse	Carolyn Welch, Jane Welch, Suzy Welch
url	}}

John Francis "Jack" Welch, Jr. (born November 19, 1935) is an American chemical engineer, business executive, and author. He was Chairman and CEO of General Electric between 1981 and 2001. In 2006 Welch's net worth was estimated at $720 million.

Early life and career

Jack Welch was born in Salem, Massachusetts to John, a Boston & Maine Railroad conductor, and Grace, a homemaker.

Welch attended Salem High School and later the University of Massachusetts Amherst, graduating in 1957 with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering. While at UMass he was a member of the Alpha chapter of the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity.

Welch went on to receive his M.S. and Ph.D at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1960.

Welch joined General Electric in 1960. He worked as a junior chemical engineer in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, at a salary of $10,500 annually. While at GE, he blew off the roof of the factory, and was almost fired for doing so. Welch was displeased with the $1,000 raise he was offered after his first year, as well as the strict bureaucracy within GE. He planned to leave the company to work with International Minerals & Chemicals in Skokie, Illinois.

Reuben Gutoff, a young executive two levels higher than Welch, decided that the man was too valuable a resource for the company to lose. He took Welch and his first wife Carolyn out to dinner at the Yellow Aster in Pittsfield, and spent four hours trying to convince Welch to stay. Gutoff vowed to work to change the bureaucracy to create a small-company environment.

"''Trust me''," Gutoff remembers pleading. "''As long as I am here, you are going to get a shot to operate with the best of the big company and the worst part of it pushed aside''." "''Well, you are on trial''," retorted Welch. "''I'm glad to be on trial''," Gutoff said. "''To try to keep you here is important''." At daybreak, Welch gave him his answer. "''It was one of my better marketing jobs in life''," recalls Gutoff. "''But then he said to me--and this is vintage Jack--'I'm still going to have the party because I like parties, and besides, I think they have some little presents for me.'''" Some 12 years later, Welch would audaciously write in his annual performance review that his long-term goal was to become CEO.

Welch was named a vice president of GE in 1972. He moved up the ranks to become senior vice president in 1977 and vice chairman in 1979. Welch became GE's youngest chairman and CEO in 1981, succeeding Reginald H. Jones. By 1982, Welch had disassembled much of the earlier management put together by Jones.

Tenure as CEO of GE

Through the 1980s, Welch worked to streamline GE. In 1981 he made a speech in New York City called "Growing fast in a slow-growth economy". This is often acknowledged as the "dawn" of the obsession with shareholder value. Later, in an interview with the Financial Times on the Global financial crisis of 2008–2009, Welch said, “On the face of it, shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world. Shareholder value is a result, not a strategy... your main constituencies are your employees, your customers and your products.” Interestingly, Welch did not make such a comment while still the CEO of GE. He also pushed the managers of the businesses he kept to become more productive. Welch worked to eradicate perceived inefficiency by trimming inventories and dismantling the bureaucracy that had almost led him to leave GE in the past. He shut down factories, reduced payrolls and cut lackluster old-line units. Welch's public philosophy was that a company should be either #1 or #2 in a particular industry, or else leave it completely. Welch's strategy was later adopted by other CEOs across corporate America.

Each year, Welch would fire the bottom 10% of his managers. He earned a reputation for brutal candor in his meetings with executives. He would push his managers to perform, but he would reward those in the top 20% with bonuses and stock options. He also expanded the broadness of the stock options program at GE from just top executives to nearly one third of all employees. Welch is also known for destroying the nine-layer management hierarchy and bringing a sense of informality to the company.

During the early 1980s he was dubbed "Neutron Jack" (in reference to the neutron bomb) for eliminating employees while leaving buildings intact. In ''Jack: Straight From The Gut'', Welch states that GE had 411,000 employees at the end of 1980, and 299,000 at the end of 1985. Of the 112,000 who left the payroll, 37,000 were in sold businesses, and 81,000 were reduced in continuing businesses. In return, GE had increased its market capital tremendously. However, Welch eliminated basic research, closed or sold off businesses that were allegedly under-performing. These and other moves placed basic research at the bottom of the list with respect to funding and attention.

In 1986, GE acquired RCA, RCA's corporate headquarters was located in Rockefeller Center; Welch subsequently took up an office in the now GE Building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The RCA acquisition resulted in GE selling off RCA properties to other companies and ultimately keeping NBC as part of the GE portfolio of businesses. During the 1990s, Welch shifted GE business from manufacturing to financial services through numerous acquisitions.

Welch adopted Motorola's Six Sigma quality program in late 1995. In 1980, the year before Welch became CEO, GE recorded revenues of roughly $26.8 billion. In 2000, the year before he left, the revenues increased to nearly $130 billion. When Jack Welch left GE, the company had gone from a market value of $14 billion to one of more than $410 billion at the end of 2004, making it the most valuable and largest company in the world.

At the time of his retirement, Welch received a salary of $4 million a year, followed by his controversial retirement plan of $8 million a year, which included GE's $80,000 per month luxury apartment in Trump Tower (New York City), free food and wine, access to a $300,000 per month B737 corporate jet, VIP tickets to the Metropolitan Opera, the Knicks, Wimbledon, the US Open (tennis) and the Red Sox, an office and a secretary in the GE building and a limousine with driver. In 1999 he was named "Manager of the Century" by Fortune magazine.

There was a lengthy and well-publicized succession planning saga prior to his retirement between James McNerney, Robert Nardelli, and Jeffrey Immelt, with Immelt eventually selected to succeed him as Chairman and CEO. Nardelli became the CEO of Home Depot until his resignation in early 2007, and until recently, was the CEO of Chrysler, while McNerney became CEO of 3M until he left that post to serve in the same capacity at Boeing.

Criticism

Some industry analysts claim that Welch is given too much credit for GE's success. They contend that individual managers are largely responsible for the company's success. For example, GE Capital, under Gary C. Wendt, contributed nearly 40% of the company's total earnings while NBC, and Robert C. Wright worked to turn the network around, leading to five years of double-digit earnings growth. It is also held that Welch did not rescue GE from great losses as the company had 16% annual earnings growth during the tenure of his predecessor, Reginald H. Jones. Critics also say that "the pressure Welch imposes leads some employees to cut corners, possibly contributing to some of the defense-contracting scandals that have plagued GE, or to the humiliating Kidder, Peabody & Co. bond-trading scheme of the early 1990s that generated bogus profits".

Welch has also received criticism over the years for an apparent lack of compassion for the middle class and working class. By his actions during acquisitions and wholesale shutdowns of GE business units Welch proved that his technique of only keeping the units your company is "good" at you can maximize ROI for the short term. In the meantime (as of the 1990) thousands of employees have been removed from the rolls of GE. Welch has publicly stated that he is not concerned with the discrepancy between the salaries of top-paid CEOs and those of average workers. When asked about the issue of excessive CEO pay, Welch has stated that such allegations are "outrageous" and has vehemently opposed proposed SEC regulations affecting executive compensation. Countering the public uproar over excessive executive pay (including backdating stock options, golden parachutes for nonperformance, and extravagant retirement packages), Welch stated that CEO compensation should continue to be dictated by the free market, without interference from government or other outside agencies. In addition, Welch is a vocal opponent of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

Personal life

Welch is a person who stutters. He had four children with his first wife, Carolyn. They divorced amicably in April 1987 after 28 years of marriage. His second wife, Jane Beasley, was a former mergers-and-acquisitions lawyer. She married Jack in April 1989, and they divorced in 2003. While Welch had crafted a prenuptial agreement, Beasley insisted on a ten-year time limit to its applicability, and thus she was able to leave the marriage with an amount believed to be in the range of $180 million.

The third wife of Jack Welch is Suzy Wetlaufer, who co-authored his 2005 book ''Winning'' as Suzy Welch. Wetlaufer served briefly as the editor-in-chief of the ''Harvard Business Review'' before being forced to resign in early 2002 after admitting to having been involved in an affair with Welch while preparing an interview with him for the magazine.

Welch underwent triple bypass surgery in May 1995. He returned to work full time in September of the same year and also adopted an exercise schedule that included golf. Welch is a member of Augusta National Golf Club. However, in ''Winning'', Welch acknowledges that back problems forced him to give up playing golf, and that, surprisingly, he doesn't miss it. He acknowledges using his time formerly spent on the golf course to consult with companies and indulge other personal interests such as modern art, international travel, teaching and attending Red Sox games. Since then, he has picked up his golf game, playing at courses such as Nantucket Golf Club, Sankaty Head Golf Club, and the Country Club of Fairfield, CT, among others.

On January 25, 2006, Welch gave his name to Sacred Heart University's College of Business, which will be known as the "John F. Welch College of Business".

Since September 2006, Welch has been teaching a class at the MIT Sloan School of Management to a hand-picked group of 30 MBA students with a demonstrated career interest in leadership. He is also a global warming skeptic. Yet he has said that every business must embrace green products and green ways of doing business, "whether you believe in global warming or not...because the world wants these products."

Thanks to a donation from Jack Welch, the Jack Welch Management Institute at the Chancellor University in Ohio was founded in July 2009. The institute offers a MBA program based on Welch's management philosophy. Classes are offered both online and at the school’s Cleveland campus.

On March 11, 2010, Welch appeared as himself in the fourteenth episode of the fourth season of the hit NBC sitcom 30 Rock. In the episode, he governed the sale of NBC Universal to a fictional Philadelphia-based cable company, Kabletown, a parody of the actual acquisition of NBC Universal from General Electric by Comcast in November 2009.

In August 2010, Jack Welch was interviewed by Bill Hybels on the topic of leadership during The Global Leadership Summit, which is hosted by Willow Creek Association.

In June 2011, when Piers Morgan asked him "You’re a Republican, right?" Welch replied "Yes, absolutely."

See also

Vitality curve

References

Further reading

''Jack: Straight From The Gut'', (ISBN 0-446-69068-6)

''Winning'' by Jack and Suzy Welch - HarperCollins (April 2005), (ISBN 0-06-075394-3)

''Winning: The Answers'' by Jack and Suzy Welch - Harper 2006, (ISBN 0-00725264-1)

''Jack Welch and the GE way : management insights and leadership secrets of the legendary CEO'' by Robert Slater (ISBN

0070581045)

''The New GE: How Jack Welch Revived an American Institution'', (ISBN 1-55623-670-0)

''Jacked Up: The Inside Story of how Jack Welch Talked GE into Becoming the World's Greatest Company'' by Bill Lane - McGraw Hill (2008), (ISBN 978-0-07-154410-8)

''At Any Cost: Jack Welch, General Electric, and the Pursuit of Profit'', (ISBN 0-375-70567-8)

External links

Official

Articles

IMNO Interviews Jack Welch Nov 2004

The Six-Sigma Zone

Videos

Jack Welch Interview with Bill Hybels at The Global Leadership Summit 2010

Jack Welch on Leadership

April 27, 2005 - Mr. Welch speaks about creating candor in the workplace at the Stanford Graduate School of Business

April 12, 2005 - A Conversation with Jack Welch at MIT Sloan School of Management

October 16, 2001 - Mr. Welch speaks at the Kellogg School of Management

2000 (?) - Mr. Welch at the Fairfield University-Charles F. Dolan School of Business

September 12, 2005 Mr. Welch speaks at the Rotman School of management in Toronto

Jack Welch talks about Leadership and the State of Corporate America at UCLA Anderson School of Management

October 16, 2001 - Jack Welch at University of Chicago Graduate School of Business

Other

Bio for Jack Welch as featured speaker at the 2011 World Business Forum

Category:1935 births Category:American businesspeople Category:American business writers Category:American chief executives Category:American philanthropists Category:General Electric people Category:Living people Category:People from Essex County, Massachusetts Category:Rockefeller Center Category:University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign alumni Category:University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni

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