Usain Bolt

Sprinter

• Born: August 21, 1986
• Place of Birth: Trelawny, Jamaica

Usain "Lighting" Bolt stunned the world during the 2008 Summer Olympics by breaking world records in both the 100- and 200-meter sprints. Bolt's accomplishments came the day before his twenty-second birthday. He capped it off with another world record as part of the Jamaican relay team in the 4x100-meter race. His Olympic performance not only earned him the distinction of becoming the first Olympian since 1984 to win in all three events, but also the first sprinter in history to set world records in all three events in a single Olympic Games.

Early Life & Education

Usain Bolt was born on August 21, 1986, in Trelawny, Jamaica. His parents owned a grocery store. In elementary school, Bolt first started to show his talent on the track, becoming his school's fastest runner. At William Knibb Memorial High School, Bolt played cricket, and it was his cricket coach who suggested that he take up track and field. One of his coaches was a former Olympic sprinter, Pablo McNeil, who worked with Bolt until he moved to Kingston at age sixteen. It was McNeil who first called him "Bolt of Lightning," a nickname that would later be changed to "Lightning Bolt" by the media.

Bolt's first medal-winning race was in his high school championship in 2001. He ran the 200 meters in 22.04 seconds, winning the silver medal. He followed this at the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) Games in April 2001, winning silver medals in both the 200 meters and the 400 meters. In July 2001, Bolt faced his first international competition at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Youth Championships in Germany before he was fifteen years old. His 200-meter time of 21.73 seconds, although a personal best, was not fast enough to qualify him for the finals.

At 6'5" tall, the fifteen-year-old Bolt did not take his burgeoning career very seriously. His coach, Pablo McNeil, recalled having to go into town and bring Bolt back to train when he left practice to hang out with girls. In another incident, Bolt stole away in the back of a van when he was supposed to be training. Nonetheless, Bolt continued to perform well on the track. In spring 2002, at the CARIFTA Games, Bolt broke championship records in the 200- and 400-meter races. At the 2002 Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships, held in Bridgetown, Barbados, Bolt broke their records as well, winning both the 200 meter- and 400-meter races.

Rise to Fame

The World Junior Championships (held in even-numbered years for athletes who are nineteen and under) were held in Kingston, Jamaica, in July 2002. Before a hometown crowd, Bolt won gold in the 200 meters, with a personal best time of 20.61 seconds; at age fifteen, he became the youngest gold medalist in the history of the games. As part of the relay team, he won silver in the 4x100 meters and the 4x400 meters. Bolt caught the notice of former Jamaican prime minister P. J. Patterson, who had him moved to Kingston to train with the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA), leaving his former coach McNeil behind.

Bolt's performance in the 2002 World Junior Championships also caught the attention of PUMA. The athletic shoe manufacturer signed a sponsorship deal with Bolt following his gold-medal winning run, adding him to their roster of stars such as soccer legends Pelé and Diego Maradona. To cap off the year, Bolt was named as the IAAF's Rising Star for 2002.

At the 2003 World Youth Championships (held in odd-numbered years for athletes who are seventeen and under) in Sherbrooke, Canada, Bolt again broke a championship record, winning the 200 meters with a time of 20.40 seconds. Also that year, at the Pan-American Junior Championships, Bolt tied the world junior record of 20.13 seconds. At the trials for the Senior World Championships in France, Bolt recorded the best time, but a bout of conjunctivitis before the finals led the JAAA to withdraw him from the competition. Regardless, he was named the IAAF's Rising Star for 2003.

Turning Professional

With a new coach, Fitz Coleman, to back him up, Bolt turned pro in 2004. His first event as a professional was the CARIFTA Games, where he broke the world junior record for the 200 meters with a time of 19.93 seconds, becoming the first junior sprinter to break the 20-second barrier. Bolt suffered an injury to his hamstring later in the year that kept him from competing in the World Junior Championships.

Even with the injury, Bolt was chosen for the Jamaican team in the 2004 Olympics in Athens. In Athens, he was eliminated in the first round of the 200-meter race—the injury was obviously still affecting him. Bolt also graduated from high school in 2004, and was courted by many US colleges with offers of track scholarships. Declining these offers, he decided to stay in Jamaica and attend the University of Technology.

In 2005, Bolt's new coach, Glen Mills, worked not only on his sprinting, but also on his attitude. Bolt began to take his running much more seriously. At the Central American and Caribbean Senior Championships in July 2005, Bolt broke the championship record with a time of 20.03 seconds. However, the rest of 2005 did not go well for Bolt. In the World Championships held in Helsinki, Finland, in August 2005, Bolt injured his leg during the race and finished last. In November 2005, he was in a car accident, and while he escaped with only minor cuts and bruises, it disrupted his training.

After a further hamstring injury in early 2006, Bolt got back on track. Throughout 2006 and 2007, he continued to medal in the 200 meters at various events. While his coach and manager were encouraging him to consider training for the 400 meters, Bolt wanted to try the 100 meters. Mills told him that he could try the 100 meters if he first broke the Jamaican record for the 200 meters, set by Don Quarrie in 1971 at 19.86 seconds. Bolt promptly broke that record with a time of 19.75 seconds at the Jamaican Championships.

True to his word, Mills began training Bolt for the 100 meters. He ran his first event in July 2007, winning gold with a time of 10.03 seconds. He followed this with a silver medal at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan, and also took silver in the 200 meters with a time of 19.91 seconds. Encouraged by his success, Bolt continued training for both the 100 and 200 meters. At the Jamaica Invitational on May 3, 2008, Bolt ran the 100 meters in an astounding 9.76 seconds, falling just short of the record 9.74 seconds set by fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell the previous year. Less than a month later, on May 31, 2008, Bolt participated in the Reebok Grand Prix in New York City. The race was delayed for almost two hours because of an electrical storm, and when Bolt won the race with a world-record setting 9.72, the press resurrected his old nickname—"Lightning."

The 2008 Olympics

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, China, in August, Usain Bolt was the clear favorite to win both the 100- and 200-meter races. Breaking his own world record with a time of 9.69 seconds in the 100 meters, Bolt again astounded the crowds, in spite of the fact that one of his gold running shoes was untied. In the 200 meters, Bolt broke the world and Olympic records by 0.02 seconds with a time of 19.30 seconds. In doing this, he became the first sprinter to break both records in a single Olympics, as well as the first sprinter since the beginning of electronic timing to hold both records at the same time. The sound system at the stadium in Beijing played "Happy Birthday" after Bolt won—he turned twenty-two the next day.

Bolt finished the 2008 Olympics with one more world record. As the third leg in the Jamaican 4x100 relay team, Bolt won his third gold medal, bringing Jamaica's gold medal total to six. After his amazing Olympic performance, Bolt was invited by one of his favorite soccer teams, Spain's Real Madrid, to watch a game and meet some of their star players. The team then signed Bolt on to help train their players and improve their speed.

In 2008, he was made a Commander of the Jamaican Order of Distinction, a national award for those who have made great contributions to the country of Jamaica. The following year, he was inducted into the Order of Jamaica, becoming its youngest member ever at the age of 23. The honor is considered equivalent to a British knighthood.

The 2012 Olympics

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England, Bolt once again competed on the Jamaican team. After coming in second in the trials, he won the gold in both the 100- and 200-meter races, becoming the first man since 1988 to defend any sprint title and the first in history to defend both the 100-meter and 200-meter titles. In the 100 meters, Bolt beat his own record with a time of 9.63 seconds. He capped off his victory by once again winning the gold medal as part of the 4x100 relay team, helping to set a new world record of 36.84 seconds for the event. Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), called Bolt a "legend" and "the best sprinter of all time."

After 2012

In 2013, Bolt competed in the 100 meters at the Golden Gala meet in Rome, Italy, coming in second behind American sprinter Justin Gatlin, also an Olympic gold medalist. Bolt also appeared at the London Anniversary Games, where he won the 100 meters and was part of the winning team in the 4x100 relay. He then won the 100 meters, the 200 meters, and the 4x100 relay at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow, Russia, becoming the most successful athlete in the history of the competition. Following the championships, he was named IAAF World Male Athlete of the Year for the fifth time.

In March 2014, Bolt suffered an injury to his hamstring that required surgery, causing him to miss nine weeks of training. He participated in the 4x100 relay at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, winning with a time of 37.58 seconds, and in a race at Warsaw National Stadium in Poland, he set a world record of 9.98 seconds for the indoor 100 meter sprint. Following the race in Poland, he was supposed to compete in the Weltklasse Diamond League meeting in Zurich, Switzerland; however, he withdrew and ended his season early, concerned about the possibility of reinjuring himself and wanting to be fit for the 2015 season.

The 2016 Olympics

Bolt competed in his last Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August 2016. He announced in 2015 that he would retire after competing in the 2017 World Championships in London. He finished up his Olympic run with a strong performance and three gold medals: one in the 4x100-meter relay, another in the 200-meter event, and the last in the 100-meter race.

Casualty of Drug Scandals

Bolt's record was unfortunately tarnished in January 2017, though by no fault of his own. Beginning in 2016, in preparation for the Summer Olympics and amidst a high-profile scandal that revealed a government-sanctioned doping scheme carried out by Russia and many of its athletes, the International Olympic Committee had begun using more advanced techniques to retest blood and urine samples from contestants in the 2008 Olympic Games. By early 2017, it had been announced that several athletes had failed the retest, including Nesta Carter, who was part of Bolt's relay team for the 4x100-meter race in 2008. Therefore, because of Carter's use of a banned substance, every member of the team, including Bolt, was stripped of his gold medal and retroactively disqualified from the event.

2017 World Championships and Retirement

Though Bolt did not finish the 2017 World Championships in London in early August at his usual standards, he remained committed to ending his running career at that point, proud of his overall accomplishments. After earning the bronze medal in the 100-meter race, he was forced to leave his final event, the 4x100-meter relay, upon suffering an injury. Regardless, he took a final lap of honor around the track and received great recognition from fans.

In interviews, Bolt indicated that he would like to remain involved in athletics in some capacity. In 2018, he began training with the Australian soccer club Central Coast Mariners. He was offered a contract but left after only eight weeks with the club. Because he can run so fast, Bolt also considered playing professional football but decided against it.

Bolt became a father in 2020 when his longtime girlfriend, Kasi Bennett, gave birth to their daughter, Olympia Lightning. In 2021, the couple welcomed twin boys, Thunder and Saint Leo.

Bibliography

Aitkenhead, Decca. "Usain Bolt: 'I Feel Good Because I know I've Done It Clean.'" The Guardian, 12 Nov. 2016, www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/nov/12/usain-bolt-feel-good-because-know-done-it-clean. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.

Bethea, Charles. "How Fast Would Usain Bolt Run the Mile?" The New Yorker, 1 Aug. 2016, www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/how-fast-would-usain-bolt-run-the-mile. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.

"Biography." Usain Bolt, usainbolt.com/bio/. Accessed 5 Jan. 2015.

Bolt, Usain, and Shaun Custis. Usain Bolt: My Story—9.58: Being the World's Fastest Man. HarperSport, 2010.

Kelner, Martha. "Usain Bolt Leaves Athletics behind with Final Warning to Drug Cheats." The Guardian, 13 Aug. 2017, www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/aug/13/usain-bolt-leaves-athletics-warning-drugs-cheats. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.

Mather, Victor. "Usain Bolt Stripped of Medal after Relay Teammate Found Guilty of Doping." The New York Times, 25 Jan. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/01/25/sports/olympics/usain-bolt-jamaica-stripped-2008-olympic-relay-gold-medal-nesta-carter.html. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.

Wright, Andrew. "Paris 2024: When Did Usain Bolt Retire? What Were His 100M and 200M Records? How Many Olympic Medals Did He Win?" Eurosports, 8 Mar. 2024, www.eurosport.com/olympics/olympic-games-paris-2024/2024/when-did-usain-bolt-retire‗sto20018210/story.shtml. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.