Sarah the Cheetah Sets 100-Meter Record for Mammals, 6.13 Seconds

Usain Bolt is the world's fastest man, but he's not the world's fastest mammal by a long shot. A Cincinnati Zoo cheetah named Sarah has covered 100 meters in 6.13 seconds, besting Bolt's record for humans by nearly three and a half seconds.

Sarah ran two timed 100-meter dashes on Wednesday, first running a 6.16 to top the previous record of 6.19 seconds held by a male South African cheetah named Nyana since 2001, then shaving three-hundredths of a second off that time on her second attempt.

You might ask what the point of all this is, but I think it's great that the Cincinnati Zoo uses events like this to call attention to cheetahs, an endangered species whose worldwide population has shrunk from about 100,000 in 1900 to about 10,000 now.

And I love the enthusiasm of the Cincinnati Zoo employees, with one declaring, "This is the all-time great day in cheetah racing," and another saying, "When people see a cheetah, they see heart, skill and commitment." Just like a great human athlete.