Danimal, I'm trying to explain why he was able to maintain that.
Cockysprinter- This is the generally accepted wisdom, however, I've yet to see anyone explain the physics as to wy this is so. If nobody can explain the physics as to why this is so, then perhaps we're operating off an incorrect model.
Also, Johnson, Greene, Ato, Crawford and Collins are all at around average height (at least for an American Male) within two inches. They are not "tall" in any sense of the word, as none of them touches six foot. only 60% of the olympic golds you put forth can really be considered "tall" and 60% isn't really a statistically significant amount.
And l specifically said "I'm not talking about stride length"
its simple math. lets say two sprinters have a ground contact of 1 second (ridiculous i know). 1 applies 80 pounds of force and another applies 100. the 100 pounds of force guy will be faster. there is room for variation of course, but thats the idea. if one guy has a longer ground contact, he needs to have a higher stride frequency or massive strides to make up. and both of these are dependent on power output. sorry but i dont remember much of physics, i took it a few years ago.
the average american male is 5'8.5" which mean 1 sprinter i listed is slightly short (5'8"), 2 are slightly above average (5'9"), 2 are tall (5'10, 5'11"), and the rest are 6'+. also if you discount ben johnson as the winner of 1988, greene is the only olympic gold medalist that is under 6'. i also believe that the 1980 winner was 6' or taller, i just dont remember who he is or what his height was. theres been a thread on this already where i did the same thing with more 100m gold medalists. so in conclusion, the shortest 100m sprinters are average height. not exactly a case for it being the norm.
also id like to add that his acceleration is average for a WR holder. his race doesnt become the best ever until the last 10-20m