As we all expected, the graphics team of the New York Times is throwing a personal show of visualizations that has been praised in leading sites and blogs. It’s almost one of those cases where the visualization becomes the news itself. The “One Race, Every Medalist Ever“, a 3D rendering and video of a race with every athlete ever to medal in the men’s 100-meter sprint, has been referenced on a worldwide scale.

And now, you can check out part of the ‘making of’ of this amazing visualization, thanks to Kevin Queal, graphics editor at the New York Times and the person behind Chartsnthings.

I’d love to take credit for the idea, but it’s not new. The first time I ever saw the idea was in 2009, when my colleague Bill Marsh had a small piece in the Week in Review after Usain Bolt got a 9.58 in Berlin, setting the world record that still stands.

(image: Chartsnthings | The New Yor Times)

Read the full post, especially because it looks like there will be some follow-up soon, with “a couple other fun things from this piece”, according to Queal.

Links – The New York Times – “One Race, Every Medalist Ever | Chartsnthings: Sketches from One Race, Every Medalist Ever