Usain St. Leo Bolt is the fastest runner in the world and is known to run at the speed equal to a cheetah. He is entitled to 8 Olympic gold medals. He has a world record in winning gold medals in 100m and 200m races and 4*100m relay races. His sobriquet was “Lightning Bolt” and sometimes “Bolt from the Blue” for his speed and momentum.
He was born on 21st August, 1986 in Sherwood Content a small town in Jamaica. Father’s name is Wellesley Bolt and Mother’s name is Jennifer Bolt who ran a grocery store in the town for a living and even though they could fulfill their children’s financial needs but could feed the family only two times a day. Usain Bolt had one sister named Sherine and a brother named Sadiki. To help his family financially at those times Usain worked in a grocery store which sold Rum and Cigarettes. His town had no proper roads, electricity and water supply to their house. It was a developing town at those times. Amongst all these difficulties his goal to become a sportsperson never changed especially in his youth days which he also said in his biography – “THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE: the true story of Usain Bolt” in 2012. He has worked hard for almost 20 years to come to this stage in his life.
Bolt spent his childhood playing cricket and football with his brother and also stated in an interview that he was always into sports from his childhood and couldn’t think of anything else. It was his wish to build a career in the field of sports which he had decided at the age of 12 but was not sure of which sports to choose. He studied in Waldensia Primary School where he first took part in the running competition at the age of 9 and became the fastest runner over the 100 meters distance. Later in William Knibb Memorial High School, he got into cricket coaching and there his coach and an Olympian himself Pablo S McNeil identified his speed and suggested and encouraged him to take part in the track and field events. This one suggestion changed Bolt’s life and gave him the right path to choose his career. Later he also trained Bolt throughout his High School.
In the year 2001, he participated in the Carifta games where his competitions began and he was unstoppable after that. In the same year he participated in the IAAF World Youth Championship in Hungary, though he did not reach the finals but broke his own record as compared to the previous games. Then he participated in Central American and Caribbean Junior. The then Prime Minister P J Patterson identified Bolt’s talent and asked him to shift to Jamaica Amateur Athletic association in Kingston for his further training.
In 2002 he participated in the World Junior Championship and won the Gold medal and became the World’s youngest gold medallist and after that he managed to win all the events he participated in. There was a time when the expectation from his people rose to such a great extent that he used to become so nervous before getting on to the tracks which made him weak during the game. Later he vowed to himself that he will never get disturbed by the expectations of the people and only concentrate on the game. He has participated in many World Championships and Olympic games which has made him the fastest person living on earth. He has participated in the Olympics for three consecutive years (2008, 2012 and 2016) and won gold medals in the years which is one of his greatest achievements. Along with this he has 11 World Championship Gold, two Silver and one Bronze medal won in games over his career.
His other recognitions include IAAF World Athlete of the year, Track and Field Athlete of the Year, BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year (three times) and Laureus World Sportsman of the Year (four times) and was included in Times Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2016.
Running for 115 seconds Usain Bolt has earned 119 million which is equal to 880 crore and that makes up to 7.5 crore per second. This explains the speed of Usain Bolt and his capability to earn wealth for which he has worked hard all his life. But this was also the time when Bolt let loose himself and deviated from his goal. He stated attending parties, meeting new people and other activities had increased and his time to practise for the game on the tracks reduced. This affected one of his World Championship games and after that he became more determined toward his game and never lost his focus.
He has had a number of injuries during his career but the hamstring injury in 2017 while playing 4*100m relay in the World Athletic Championship led him to announce his retirement at the age of 34 from the game. It is believed that the hamstring injury in 2014 would lead him to an early retirement but luckily he recovered and the 2017 injury was indeed severe which put a full stop for his games.
Bolt is a huge fan of Sachin Tendulkar, Matthew Hayden and Chris Gayle. Bolt is also a huge fan of the European football teams Real Madrid and Manchester United. A huge fan of Kevin Garnett, an American former professional Basketball player. Since he was fascinated with Cricket and Football from his childhood days, he once in an interview said that he would have become a cricket player if not a sprinter. He has also played with a few of the famous cricketers in various charity functions where he has gained appreciation for his gaming skills in cricket.
Usain Bolt is the co-founder of electric scooter company named “Bolt Mobility” in 2018. Since 2019 he has also produced various music albums.
Usain Bolt made a public appearance with his long-time girlfriend Kasi Bennett in 2016. They gave birth to their daughter in 2020 and in 2021 Bolt and Bennett announced that they welcomed twin boys. Their daughter is named Olympia Lightning Bolt and the twins are named Thunder Bolt and Saint Leo Bolt.
Usain Bolt’s 10 rules for success
- Do it for yourself
- Compete with the toughest
- Work hard
- Be the best ever
- Be confident
- Learn how to lose before you win
- Have heroes
- Don’t get scared easily
- Learn to move on
- Go outside, have breaks
