Only the most fitting image ever

Published Aug. 12, 2013 1:00 a.m. ET

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Sam Gardner

We’ve seen theatrics from Usain Bolt before, but Sunday in Moscow, the world’s fastest sprinter took his on-track histrionics to a whole new level.

Running in the rain, Bolt won back his 100-meter world title at the IAAF World Championships with a time of 9.77 seconds — just barely beating second-place finisher Justin Gatlin’s 9.85. But it was a photograph taken just after Bolt crossed the finish line that got all of the post-race attention.

Olivier Morin of AFP snapped the surreal photo you see below, which shows a victorious Bolt, with an actual lightning bolt in the background:

It’s one of the most meta things you’ll ever see in sports, and if you didn’t know better, you’d say it was a gag straight out of an Arrested Development episode.

It would be like Shaun White landing a Double McTwist 1260 on the half-pipe, and then getting hit by an actual flying tomato. Or Greg Norman hitting a golf ball into the water, and then getting attacked by a great white shark when he went to retrieve it. Could you imagine William Perry getting stuffed at the goal line by an actual fridge?

Anyway, Bolt’s latest bit of dramatization will join his past accomplishments in showmanship, which include jogging the last few strides of a race and that omnipresent "bolt" pose. But now that he’s gotten the weather involved, Bolt may have set a bar that even he can’t top.

Now, for some links:

• The Orioles are inviting fans to design a T-shirt that will be given away at a game later this season.

• This guy said he'd run across the 18th fairway at the PGA today if he got 10,000 retweets on Twitter. He got 10,000 RTs, but then he also got a call from the cops:

• PJ Hairston is not a fan of parking legally.

• Mark Stoops got knocked down during a Kentucky football practice drill, then got up, then started a riot:

• You can adopt Georgetown's old mascot, J.J.

• The Tulsa football team has a golden retriever "dog ambassador" this season.

• Peyton Siva with the over-the-head, one-handed, half-court shot:

• Mike Woodson’s got game:

• J.R. Smith has developed a special friendship with a fan with Down syndrome.

• And this 10-year-old boy has a unique and touching relationship with the Clemson football program.

• Jeremy Shockey is catching more fish than footballs these days:

• Check out this interview on how the Springfield Isotopes (of The Simpsons fame) — and, by extension, the Albuquerque Isotopes — came to be:

• The Georgia Bulldogs football team tried some high-diving at the pool.

• Flip Saunders says rookie Shabazz Muhammad could end up in the D-League if he doesn't shape up. But I wouldn't hold my breath waiting on that to happen.

• Florida basketball star Patric Young tries his hand at football:

• After filling in at quarterback last year, one Maryland football player is glad to be back at linebacker.

• The Detroit Free Press writes in praise of the World Dwarf Games.

• Georgia Tech wide receiver DeAndre Smelter made a heck of a catch during a scrimmage:

• Here is Jose Canseco being Jose Canseco:

• Football hasn't kicked off yet, but it is gator season in Alabama.

• Here's a story of perseverance from Indianapolis Colts camp.

• Michael Jordan is 50, but he still has his hops:

• Shaquille O’Neal is big; comedian Kevin Hart is... not so much:

• A 60-year-old woman won two triathlons in one weekend.

• Taking a page from the WWE playbook, wrestler CM Punk used a chair as a bat during Kerry Wood's celebrity Wiffle Ball game at Wrigley.

• Speaking of which, this is the best Wiffle Ball catch you’ll ever see:

• Ichiro left a nice message for Ken Griffey, Jr., when the Mariners honored The Kid this weekend:

• The Miami Heat selected this year's dance team, and the Sun-Sentinel offered an 80-photo slideshow as proof.

• Could pole dancing one day become an Olympic sport?

• Jameis Winston looks like fun:

• LeBron James put on a football uniform — at his old high school:

• Jack Clark's co-host plans to sue the station that fired him Saturday morning.

• Auburn fans celebrated Jason Dufner's PGA Championship victory by rolling Toomer's Corner.

• And this kid was as thrilled as you’d be to have Auburn alum Katherine Webb sign his hat:

• The Dodgers let David Price bring his dog, Astro, in the clubhouse this weekend — and then welcomed the dog with some gifts:

• The NFL's new no-bag rule was not well-received at preseason games this weekend.

• A rodeo clown was slammed for donning an Obama mask during a competition in Missouri.

• Kobe Bryant’s new Nike commercial shows him to be quite the drill sergeant:

• This stubborn ram wasn’t about to let this guy on a dirt bike pass through his path:

• Joe McKnight did a lot of talking without really saying anything about his health and legal issues.

• Temple football will have a live owl on the sideline this season.

• And finally, this isn’t sports, but who cares? Here’s Ringo Star, Joe Walsh and an inflatable shark:

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