The Olympics are the biggest sports stage in the world and the “main event” of the Olympics for the past couple of years has been the 100 M dash and that is because of the allure and amazing skill of one man, Usain Bolt. Bolt is the fastest man in the history of the world and one of the most lovable athletes out there. Here I will take a look at how a young kid from Jamaica would go on to be the fastest man of all time and one of the most dominant athletes ever.
From a very young age, Bolt was fascinated with sports and played cricket and soccer. He first showed potential as a runner when he was in primary school and ran in the nationals and was his schools faster person by the age of only 12. Despite this, when he first arrived to high school, he still chose to focus on other sports. But his cricket coach noticed how fast Bolt was on the pitch and told him he should try track and field, so Bolt gave it a go, but frustrated some coaches as he wasn’t too dedicated to his training and also loved to goof around.
(source: dailymail.co.uk)
But despite his failure to take it super seriously early on, Bolt was already breaking sprinting records by the time he was a teenager. By the age of 15, he had grown to 6’5 and was much taller than most of his opponents and gave him an advantage. This advantage has followed him throughout his career as well. While most sprinters are shorter with extremely strong legs and take many short strides during the race, Bolt is very lean and takes much longer (and thus, fewer) strides during his races.
In the early 2000s, he truly rose to prominence as he finally got to strut his stuff on a world stage. He won multiple word championships and other events as a teen as was a rising star in the world of athletics. For the next decade or so, Bolt would take the athletics world by storm, being the most decorated track athlete of all time.
(source: indianexpress.com)
He is the owner of three world records, and six Olympic Gold Medals. In fact, every Olympic event that Bolt has been a part of, he has taken home the gold medal going a perfect six of six. His contributions and success in the sport are unheard of and he is far and away the most popular athlete in athletics today. All eyes will surely be on him at this summer’s Olympics in Rio.
As for what the future holds for Bolt, he has claimed he is going to retire from athletics after the 2017 World Championships, but who knows if he will stick to that or not. If that is the case, he will go down as the best track and field athlete in history and while I’m sure his records will someday be broken, he will forever remain as one of the best athletes of our generation.
