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Usain Bolt Biography

Usain was born on 21 August 1986 in Sherwood Content, a small town in Trelawny, Jamaica. As a youngster he was mostly interested in sports, spending time playing football, cricket and basketball. At one time he considered a career as a cricketer but, his natural talent for sprinting shone through, and so he was encouraged to take sprinting more seriously. At 15 years old, Usain already towered over his fellow competitors. Growing to a height of 6 foot 5 inches, Bolt showed a sprinter need not be short and powerful like previous sprinting greats. bo In 2002, he won Gold at the World Junior Championships in the 200 metres. At this stage in his career, Usain appeared to give the impression of being quite laid back. He didn’t lead an austere disciplined life but enjoyed dancing and the night-life of Kingston, Jamaica. However, he was still training hard and won Gold at the World Youth Championship in the next year at 2003.

In 2004, Bolt turned professional, under the guidance of new coach Fitz Coleman. He began his career with the CARIFTA Games in Bermuda. He became the first junior sprinter to break 20 seconds for the 200 metres. By 2005, Usain had a new coach Glen Mills who encouraged Usain to take a more professional approach and not just rely on his natural talent. Over the next few years, injury setbacks curtailed his career, but, he was still able to climb the rankings.

His big breakthrough came in the 2007 World Championships where he gained silver in the 200m and 4*100 metre relay. Bolt established a new 100m world record on 31 May 2008. Pushed on by a tailwind of 1.7 m/s, Bolt ran 9.72 s at the Reebok Grand Prix held at the Icahn Stadium in New York City, breaking Powell’s record.

2008 Olympics

2012 Olympics

Bolt won three gold medals, despite being beaten by his training partner, Yohan Blake during pre-Olympic events at the Jamaican national championships. Bolt won the 100m and 200m and was part of the team that set a new world record in the men’s 100m relay.

2013 World Championships

At the 2013 World Championships, Bolt again won a unique triple of gold at 100m, 200m and 100m relay.

Usain Bolt in 2014

Bolt’s 2014 season was marred by injury which reduced his racing programme. Bolt has stated that his body has become more prone to injury as his athletic career progresses. In the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, Bolt chose not to run in the individual 100m, but he did compete in the 100m relay. Bolt anchored the team to a gold medal and proved to be the star attraction of the games.

2016 Olympics

Bolt’s run up to the 2016 Olympics was not ideal with frequent injury problems curtailing his racing and training. However, he was determined to finish with a flurry and announced he would retire shortly after the 2016 Games.

Bolt was the undoubted superstar of the Games, and despite poor attendances in Rio, Bolt always managed to attract a full crowd. Bolt again managed to win gold in all three events – the 100m, 200m and 100m relay. It was a perfect bag of nine Olympic golds – a feat never before achieved.

Bolt has announced that he will retire from athletics after the 2016 Olympics.

Usain Bolt and drugs

Usain Bolt has shown tremendous talent ever since he first started running. His timings are consistent with an athlete of tremendous talent. As Bolt himself says:

“I was the youngest person to win the world juniors at 15. I ran the world junior [200] record 19.93 at [17] … I have broken every record there is to break, in every event I have ever done. “For me, I have proven myself since I was 15. … I have shown everything throughout the years since I was always going to be great.”

Usain Bolt is regularly tested by the IAAF international testing pool and has never tested positive. However, inevitably given the history of the sport, questions have been raised about the issue of drug use. The biggest cause for concern has been from the perceived inadequacies of the Jamaican Athletic Federation. In 2013, it emerged that they had failed to undertake proper out of competition testing in the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics. This failure to implement proper drug testing was compounded by six Jamaican athletes – including the former world 100m record holder Asafa Powell and Veronica Campbell-Brown, testing positive for banned substances. WADA announced an extraordinary audit of the Jamaican testing programme, and have even threatened to ban Jamaican athletes from international competition. ( link ) Bolt has frequently stated that he is clean

“I was made to inspire people and to run, and I was given the gift and that’s what I do,” the six-time Olympic champion said. “I am confident in myself and my team, the people I work with. And I know I am clean. “So I’m just going to continue running, using my talent and just trying to improve the sport.”

In Jan 2017, it was announced that Bolt’s teammate, Nesta Carter, from the 2008 Beijing Olympics had retroactively tested positive for a stimulant methylhexaneamine , and therefore the whole team were stripped of their gold medal.

Bolt retired after the 2017 World Championships in London. In his last major 100m final, Bolt finished in 3rd place – slightly off his usual blistering pace, after an injury-hit year. In his last ever race, he was anchor leg in the 4x100m final. After receiving the baton he pulled up with an apparent hamstring injury and hobbled over the line.

Since retirement, he has been involved in setting up Jamaican food outlets in the UK. So far, he has insisted he has no plans to return to the track.

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan . “ Biography of Usain Bolt ”, Oxford, UK – www.biographyonline.net . Last updated 20th January 2018.

Usain Bolt World Record Video

Personal Bests

100m: 9.58 s (WR, Berlin 2009)
150m: 14.35 s (WB, Manchester 2009)
200m: 19.19 s (WR, Berlin 2009)
400m: 45.28 s (Kingston 2007)

Olympic Results

2008 Beijing

Gold – 100 m
Gold – 200 m
Gold – 4×100 m relay

2012 London

World Championships

2017 Bronze – 100m
2015 Gold – 100m
2015 Gold – 200m
2015 Gold – 4x100m relay
2013 Gold – 100 m
2013 Gold – 200 m
2011 Gold – Daegu 4×100 m relay
2011 Gold – Daegu 200 m
2009 Gold – Berlin 100 m
2009 Gold – Berlin 200 m
2009 Gold – Berlin 4×100 m relay
2007 Silver – Osaka 200 m
2007 Silver – Osaka 4×100 m relay

Faster than Lightning: Usain Bolt

Faster than Lightning: Usain Bolt at Amazon

It even looks like he’s even faster than the FLASH!

February 28, 2019 7:57 PM
By Joshua Fox

He is the fastest man in the world. He conquered many prizes in his career. He is my idol

February 22, 2019 3:04 PM
December 20, 2018 5:43 AM
By Robert Smith

Jamaica's Usain Bolt is an Olympic legend who has been called "the fastest man alive" for smashing world records and winning multiple gold medals at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Games.

1986–present

Who Is Usain Bolt?

Quick facts, childhood and early successes, professional track and field, olympic career, records and awards, 'triple-triple' and loss of gold medal, other races, injury and retirement, soccer career, personal life and daughter.

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt was dubbed "the fastest man alive" after winning three gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, and becoming the first man in Olympic history to win both the 100- and 200-meter races in record times. Bolt also won three Olympic gold medals at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, along the way notching an Olympic-record time of 9.63 seconds in the 100 meters, making him the first man in history to set three world records in Olympic competition. He made history again at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio with gold medals in the 100- and 200-meter races and 4x100-meter relay; the wins gave him a "triple-triple" — three golds over three consecutive Olympics — though he later was stripped of one of the relay golds because of a teammate's doping violation.

FULL NAME: Usain Bolt BORN: August 21, 1986 BIRTHPLACE: Trelawny, Jamaica CHILDREN: Daughter ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Leo

Bolt was born on August 21, 1986, in Jamaica. Both a standout cricket player and a sprinter early on, Bolt's natural speed was noticed by coaches at school, and he began to focus solely on sprinting under the tutelage of Pablo McNeil, a former Olympic sprint athlete. (Glen Mills would later serve as Bolt's coach and mentor.) As early as age 14, Bolt was wowing fans with his lightning speed, and he won his first high school championship medal in 2001, taking the silver in the 200-meter race.

At the age of 15, Bolt took his first shot at success on the world stage at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Kingston, Jamaica, where he won the 200-meter dash, making him the youngest world-junior gold medalist ever. Bolt's feats impressed the sports world, and he received the International Association of Athletics Foundation’s Rising Star Award that year, boosting the recognition of a young man soon to be known as "Lightning Bolt."

At the Berlin 2009 World Championships, Bolt set a world record time of 9.58 seconds for the 100m race, notching a top speed of 27.8 miles per hour (44.72 kilometers per hour) between meters 60 and 80, with an average speed of 23.5 mph.

Despite a nagging hamstring injury, Bolt was chosen for the Jamaican Olympic squad for the 2004 Athens Olympics. He was eliminated in the first round of the 200 meters, though, again hampered by injury.

Bolt reached the world Top 5 rankings in 2005 and 2006. Unfortunately, injuries continued to plague the 6'5" sprinter, preventing him from completing a full professional season.

In 2007, Bolt broke the national 200-meter record held for over 30 years by Donald Quarrie, and earned two silver medals at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan. These medals boosted Bolt's desire to run, and he took a more serious stance toward his career.

At the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, Bolt ran the 100-meter and 200-meter events. In the 100-meter final leading up to the Games, he broke the world record, winning in 9.69 seconds. Not only was the record set without a favorable wind, but he also visibly slowed down to celebrate before he finished (and his shoelace was untied), an act that aroused much controversy later on. He went on to win three gold medals and break three world records in Beijing.

At the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, held in London, Bolt won his fourth Olympic gold medal in the men's 100-meter race, beating rival Yohan Blake, who won silver in the event. Bolt ran the race in 9.63 seconds, a new Olympic record. The win marked Bolt's second consecutive gold medal in the 100. He went on to compete in the men's 200, claiming his second consecutive gold medal in that race as well. He became the first man to win both the 100 and 200 in consecutive Olympic Games, as well as the first man to ever win back-to-back gold medals in double sprints. Bolt's accomplishments made him the first man in history to set three world records in a single Olympic Games competition.

Bolt returned to Olympic glory at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games when he won gold in the 100-meter race, making him the the first athlete to win three successive titles in the event. He finished the race in 9.81 seconds with American runner and rival Justin Gatlin, who took silver, 0.08 seconds behind him.

“This is why I came here, to the Olympics, to prove to the world that I’m the best — again,” he told reporters at a news conference. “It always feels good to go out on top, you know what I mean?”

He continued his Olympic winning streak, taking gold in the 200 meters in 19.78 seconds. "What else can I do to prove I am the greatest?" Bolt said in an interview with BBC Sport . ”I'm trying to be one of the greatest, to be among [Muhammad] Ali and Pelé . I have made the sport exciting, I have made people want to see the sport. I have put the sport on a different level."

The "fastest man alive" remained undefeated in what he said would be the last race of his Olympic career, the 4x100-meter relay, which he ran with teammates Blake, Asafa Powell and Nickel Ashmeade. Anchoring the race, Bolt led the Jamaican team to gold, crossing the finish line in 37.27 seconds. It was the third consecutive gold medal win for Bolt in Rio.

In an interview with CBS News , Bolt detailed his pride over his 2012 performance: "It's what I came here to do. I'm now a legend. I'm also the greatest athlete to live. I've got nothing left to prove."

Bolt is an 11-time world champion. He holds the world records in races for 100 meters, at 9.58 seconds, and 200 meters, at 19.19 seconds, both of which he set at the 2009 Berlin World Athletics Championships. Over the course of his career, Bolt has received numerous awards, including the IAAF World Athlete of the Year (twice), Track & Field Athlete of the Year and Laureus Sportsman of the Year.

Participating in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 summer Olympic Games, Bolt completed a "triple-triple," with a total of nine gold medals earned in the 100-meter, 200-meter and 4x100-meter relay races. In doing so, Bolt joined just two other triple-triple runners: Paavo Nurmi of Finland (in 1920, 1924 and 1928) and Carl Lewis of the United States (in 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996). However in January 2017, the International Olympic Committee stripped Bolt of one of these medals, for the 2008 4x100-meter relay, because his teammate Nesta Carter was found guilty of a doping violation.

Bolt took back the 100-meter world title on August 11, 2013, after having lost the title in 2011. Although Bolt didn't strike his signature "lightning bolt" pose after the race, his winning image still caused a stir, with lightning striking just as he crossed the finish line.

In 2015, Bolt faced some challenges: He came in second at the Nassau IAAF World Relays in May, but secured an individual win in the 200-meter event at the Ostrava Golden Spike event that same month. He also dominated the 200-meter race at the New York Addias Grand Prix that June. Trouble with his pelvic muscles forced him to withdraw from two races, though Bolt made a comeback that July with a 100-meter win at London's Anniversary Games.

In 2017, Bolt faced challenges on the track at the World Athletics Championships. He finished third in the men's 100 meters, taking home the bronze medal behind Christian Coleman, who won silver, and Gatlin, who took home the gold. It was the first time that Bolt had been beaten at the World Athletics Championships since 2007. His struggles didn't end there: In the 4x100-meter relay, which many believed would be Bolt's final race, he collapsed from a hamstring injury and had to cross the finish line with the help of his teammates.

In August 2017, following the World Athletics Championships, Bolt announced his retirement from track and field. “For me I don’t think one championship is going to change what I’ve done,” he said at a press conference. “I personally won’t be one of those persons to come back.”

Bolt had long talked about eventually making a career in soccer. In August 2017, following his retirement from track and field, he planned to join Manchester United for a charity game against Barcelona, but he had to miss the match due to his hamstring injury. In September, Bolt said he was already in talks with several pro soccer teams, including Manchester United. “We have a lot of offers from different teams, but I have to get over my injury first and then take it from there,” he told reporters.

In October, Bolt reaffirmed his commitment to playing soccer. "For me it's a personal goal. I don't care what people really think about it. I'm not going to lie to myself. I'm not going to be stupid," he told reporters at the U.S. Formula One Grand Prix. "If I go out there and feel I can do this then I will give it a try. It's a dream and another chapter of my life. If you have a dream that you always wanted to do, why not try and see where it will go."

Bolt began training with the Central Coast Mariners of the Australian A-League in summer 2018 and scored two goals in a preseason match in October, but left shortly afterward when he was unable to agree to contract terms with the club.

The sprinter published the memoir My Story: 9:58: The World’s Fastest Man in 2010, which was reissued two years later as The Fastest Man Alive: The True Story of Usain Bolt . He followed in 2013 with Faster Than Lightning: My Autobiography .

In August 2016, People magazine confirmed that Usain Bolt was dating Jamaican model Kasi Bennett. Bolt has been private about their relationship, but he told a journalist in January 2017 that they had been dating for almost three years. In May 2020, it was revealed that Bennett had given birth to a daughter.

It’s what I came here to do. I’m now a legend. I’m also the greatest athlete to live. I’ve got nothing left to prove.
When I was young, I didn’t really think about anything other than sports.
I was slightly worried about my start. I didn’t want to false start again. So I think I sat in the blocks a little bit. It wasn’t the best reaction in the world, but I executed and that was the key.
In training, [Yohan Blake] always works hard and pushes me.
The trials woke me up... Yohan [Blake] gave me a wake-up call. He knocked on my door and said, “Usain, this is the Olympic year, wake up.” After that, I refocused and got my head together.
My coach said, “Stop worrying about your start, the best of your race is at the end, that's where you rule.” So I stopped worrying about my start and I executed, so it worked.
Some of you guys doubted me. I just had to show you I was the greatest.
I just wanted to make Jamaica proud. I hope they were all standing up singing the national anthem.
For everybody who was in the race tonight, the four other fastest guys in the world, it was a real honor for me.
I was happy. When I went out in the first run, I felt, “I can do this.”
I’m a living legend.
I’m just going out there all the time to do my thing and show the world I’m probably the best.

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Usain Bolt Biography

Birthday: August 21 , 1986 ( Leo )

Born In: Sherwood Content, Jamaica

Usain Bolt is undoubtedly the greatest sprinter in the history of mankind. A living legend, he has won nine gold medals in track and field events in the Olympics; a feat which no other person had achieved before. He has achieved the ‘triple-triple’ and is the first man to win gold medals at three consecutive ‘Olympic Games’ in 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay events. He won these events at the 2008 ‘Beijing Olympics,’ 2012 ‘London Olympics,’ and 2016 ‘Rio Olympics.’ During his early days as a runner, he didn’t really believe in his abilities and was quite laid back with his approach towards sports. However, over the years, many coaches whom he teamed up with shaped him into a great runner. This talented athlete’s career suffered a setback when he was eliminated in the first round of the 200m event at the 2004 ‘Athens Olympics.’ But Bolt didn't give up and made a comeback with outstanding performances. He made his mark in the 2008 ‘Beijing Olympics’ where he won gold medals in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m events. He repeated this feat at the 2012 ‘London Olympics’ and 2016 ‘Rio Olympics’ and cemented his place as the greatest sprinter in the history of modern Olympics.

Recommended For You

Girlfriend: Kasi Bennett

Also Known As: Usain St. Leo Bolt

Age: 38 Years , 38 Year Old Males

father: Wellesley Bolt

mother: Jennifer Bolt

siblings: Sadiki Bolt, Sherine Bolt

Born Country: Jamaica

Athletes Jamaican Men

Height: 6'5" (196 cm ), 6'5" Males

Humanitarian Work: Helped victims of the ‘Siachen’ earthquake

awards: Olympics Games - 9 Gold Medals

You wanted to know

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Usain was born Usain St Leo Bolt on August 21, 1986, in Sherwood Content, Jamaica, to Jennifer and Wellesley Bolt. He is one of the three children born to the couple. His parents managed to make ends meet by running a shop where mostly groceries were sold.

The young boy was enrolled at an institution named ‘Waldensia Primary.’ He was known for being a good sprinter during his time here and even won many ‘10 meters’ running contests at this institution.

Bolt later moved to ‘William Knibb Memorial High School’ where he started playing sports, such as cricket. While mentoring the kids who were interested in the sport, the coach felt that Usain would be a better athlete than a cricketer. He even encouraged him to try sprinting.

The young lad soon participated in the 200-meter racing event in school, which he finished in a matter of just 22.04 seconds.

He was then coached by a former sprinter named Pablo McNeil who had previously participated in the Olympics.

Bolt’s first major international sporting event was the ‘IAAF World Youth Championship,’ which was held in 2001, at the Hungarian city of Debrecen. Although he failed to emerge victorious in the 200m qualifier event, he managed to finish the event in 21.73 seconds, which was his personal best at the time.

He then went on to participate in the 2002 ‘World Junior Championships.’ In this international event, held in Kingston, Jamaica, he managed to win the 200-meter event by completing the race in just 20.61 seconds.

He made waves in the world of sports by delivering an extraordinary performance at the 2003 ‘CARIFTA Games.’

During the ‘Jamaican High School Championships,’ which was also held in 2003, Bolt re-wrote the previous records of 200m and 400m running events by completing the events in 20.25 seconds and 45.35 seconds, respectively.

2004 turned out to be a major year in Usain’s career as he participated in three events, namely ‘CARIFTA Games,’ ‘World Junior Championships,’ and the famous ‘Athens Olympics.’

Although he was praised for his remarkable performance in the ‘CARIFTA Games,’ he failed to do well in the 200m Olympic qualifier event due to an injury that he had suffered.

Bolt teamed up with a new coach named Glen Mills in 2005. The latter tried his best to make Usain more professional than he was earlier. Under Glen’s mentorship, he registered a win in a 200m event where he finished the race in just 19.99 seconds.

In the same year, this upcoming sports star participated in the 2005 ‘World Championships.’ In the event, he fared much better than the way he did in the running events held in 2004.

This athlete was looking forward to the 2006 ‘Commonwealth Games,’ but had to back out of the event due to a severe injury to his hamstring.

Although his career suffered for the most part of 2006, he emerged victorious at the ‘IAAF World Athletics Final’ event, held in Germany that year.

He then traveled to the city of Osaka in Japan to participate in the 2007 ‘World Championship.’ Although he managed to cover a distance of 200m in 19.91 seconds, his performance was overshadowed by his contemporary Tyson Gay’s exceptional 19.76 seconds finish.

Though many felt that Usain lacked sufficient experience to participate in the ‘Beijing Summer Olympics,’ which was to be held in 2008, he silenced his critics by qualifying for the 100m final event. Bolt achieved path-breaking success when he won the 100m final by completing the race in just 9.69 seconds, becoming a world-renowned icon. He also won the 200m final with a new Olympic record of 19.30 seconds. He won his third gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in the 4x100m relay.

At the 2009 ‘Berlin World Championships,’ he created world records in both 100m and 200m events. He won the 100m race in 9.58 seconds and the 200m race in just 19.19 seconds. He also won a gold medal in the 4x100m relay race, but his team failed to better its own record.

At the 2011 ‘World Championships’ held in Daegu, Bolt was eliminated from the 100m finals due to a false start. He came back strongly to win the gold medal in the 200m event, finishing the race in just 19.40 seconds. He then partnered with his Jamaican teammates to set a world record time of 37.04 seconds in the 4x100m relay.

He participated in the 2012 ‘Summer Olympics’ and created history by becoming the first man to successfully defend both the 100m and 200m Olympic sprint titles. He also won the 4x100m relay race and achieved the 'Double Triple,' taking his overall Olympic medal tally to six gold medals. He won the 100m race in 9.63 seconds and the 200m race in 19.32 seconds.

At the 2013 ‘World Championships’ in Moscow, he once again emerged victorious in the 100m and 200m events, winning the races in 9.77 seconds and 19.66 seconds, respectively. He also won the gold medal in the 4×100 meters relay final, becoming the most successful athlete in the 30-year history of world championships.

At the 2014 ‘Commonwealth Games,’ he did not participate in the 100m and 200m events as he had previously suffered a hamstring injury. He participated in the 4x100m relay and helped his team win gold.

At the 2015 ‘Beijing World Championships,’ he once again won the 4x100m relay, 100m, and 200m events in 37.36 seconds, 9.79 seconds, and 19.55 seconds, respectively. He also joined Carl Lewis and Maurice Greene by winning a record three 100m world titles, and recorded his fourth consecutive win in the 200m event at the ‘World Championships.’

At the 2016 ‘Rio Olympics,’ he once again won gold medals in the 4x100m relay, 100m, and 200m events and took his overall Olympic medal tally to nine gold medals. He won the 100m in 9.81 seconds, the 200m in 19.78 seconds, and the 4x100m relay in 37.27 seconds.

After the 2017 ‘World Championships,’ where he finished third in his last 100m race, Bolt retired from track and field.

He then began training with the Australian A-League club ‘Central Coast Mariners’ as a left-winger. He scored twice for the team in a friendly match but left the club the next month and chose not to pursue a career in football.

Usain Bolt has participated in four Olympics and has won nine gold medals.

At the 2004 ‘Athens Olympics,’ his performance was hampered by a leg injury and he was eliminated in the first round of the 200-meter event.

At the 2008 ‘Beijing Olympics,’ he won gold medals in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay, finishing the races in 9.69 seconds, 19.30 seconds, and 37.10 seconds, respectively.

At the 2012 ‘London Olympics,’ he once again won three gold medals. He won the 100m event in 9.63 seconds, the 200m in 19.32 seconds, and the 4x100m relay in 36.84 seconds.

At the 2016 ‘Rio Olympics,’ he won gold medals in all three track events and achieved the ‘triple-triple.’ He won the 100m event in 9.81 seconds, the 200m in 19.78 seconds, and the 4x100m relay in 37.27 seconds.

Bolt received his first honor in the form of a silver medal in 2001, during one of the championships held in school. He won another silver medal at the ‘CARIFTA Games’ which was held in the same year.

In the 2002 ‘World Junior Championships,’ he won the gold medal, becoming the youngest person to do so.

He received four medals in the ‘CARIFTA’ games held in 2003. This is considered to be an incredible feat.

His phenomenal performance in the 100m event at the 2008 ‘Summer Olympics’ helped him win his first gold medal.

He won another gold medal in the ‘World Championships’ event held in 2009.

His winning spree at the Olympics continued in 2012, as he won a gold medal yet again.

One of Bolt’s favorite childhood memories is the days he spent playing cricket and football with his brother Sadiki.

Bolt revealed his humanitarian side to the world when he contributed US$50,000 to the victims of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

He is a self-confessed football freak who supports the famous club ‘Manchester United.’ He is also an ardent supporter of Dutch football player Ruud Van Nistelrooy.

In May 2020, Usain started dating Kasi Bennett . The couple welcomed a daughter named Olympia Bolt. In 2021, their twin sons, Thunder, and Saint Leo were born.

See the events in life of Usain Bolt in Chronological Order

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Usain Bolt summary

Usain Bolt , (born Aug. 21, 1986, Trelawny parish, Jam.), Jamaican sprinter. An athletics (track and field) prodigy, Bolt won the 200-meter event at the 2002 world junior championships at age 15. In May 2008 he set the 100-meter-dash world record, which he broke the following August while capturing a gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games . Bolt won additional Olympic gold medals in the 200 meters and the 4 × 100-meter relay, both in world record time. At the London 2012 Olympic Games, he again won the 100-meter and 200-meter events, becoming the first person to win both races in consecutive Olympiads. He also won a gold as a member of the 4 × 100-meter relay at the London Games. Four years later, he won golds in all three of those events, at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games, becoming the first man in history to complete the “triple triple.” He retired from competition after the 2017 world championships.

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Biography of Usain Bolt

Early life and career, early success and world championships, olympic success and retirement.

Usain St. Leo Bolt, a Jamaican sprinter, is considered one of the fastest - if not the fastest - men in the world. He is a three-time Olympic champion, an eight-time Olympic gold medalist, and an eleven-time world champion, holding the record for the most victories in these competitions among men. His name, 'Usain Bolt,' is synonymous with the word 'speed,' as he has set numerous world records throughout his career and shows no signs of slowing down.

Usain Bolt was born in Sherwood Content, Trelawny, Jamaica. His parents ran a small grocery store, and Bolt spent his free time playing cricket and football on the streets with his brother. Bolt's potential as a sprinter began to show in his school years, and by the age of 12, he was the fastest runner in his school on the 100-meter distance.

Although Bolt changed schools, he continued his involvement in sports. After experimenting with different disciplines, he decided to focus on track and field at the recommendation of his coach. Under the guidance of professional trainers, including former Olympic sprinter Pablo McNeil, Bolt developed his innate abilities and showcased increasingly impressive results.

Despite his dedication to sports, Bolt was known for his lighthearted approach to training and his love for practical jokes. However, his talent and determination were undeniable, and he made his international debut at the CARIFTA Games in 2001, where he set a personal record and won a silver medal in the 400 meters event. The same year, Bolt participated in the IAAF World Youth Championships in Debrecen, Hungary, setting a new record in the 200 meters race.

In 2002, the World Junior Championships took place in Jamaica, providing Bolt with an opportunity to showcase his talent. At the age of 15, he won the gold medal in the 200 meters race, becoming the youngest-ever gold medalist in the junior world championships. Despite his nerves before the race, Bolt's performance on the track demonstrated his exceptional abilities.

In the following years, Bolt continued to excel in his sport. At the CARIFTA Games in 2003, he won four gold medals and received the "Austin Sealy award" for the Most Outstanding Athlete. In the World Youth Championships, he won another gold medal and set a new championship record in the 200 meters event.

Despite receiving recognition for his potential, Bolt's greatest victories were yet to come. Focusing on the 200 meters distance, Bolt equaled the junior record set by Roy Martin, attracting the attention of the press. His popularity grew, both internationally and in his homeland.

Despite health issues that prevented him from competing in the World Championships, Bolt trained relentlessly and prepared for the Beijing Olympics. In the final of the 100 meters race, he set a new world record, confidently securing the gold medal. His victory became even more remarkable when considering the unfastened shoelace, lack of wind assistance, and his deliberate slowdown at the end of the race.

Two days later, Bolt won the gold medal in the 200 meters race, breaking yet another record. He completed the Olympics with a third gold medal in the 4x100 meters relay. Bolt's success continued at the London Olympics, where he defended both of his gold medals and added another gold in the 4x100 meters relay, making him the first person to achieve this feat.

On February 2, 2017, Bolt announced his plan to retire after the 2017 World Championships. Following his retirement from track and field, Bolt pursued his dream of becoming a professional footballer. On February 26, 2018, he signed a professional contract with the South African football club, Mamelodi Sundowns. He later debuted for the Norwegian football club, Stromsgodset, and joined the Australian football team, Central Coast Mariners.

While his football career did not reach the same heights as his track and field success, Bolt's contributions to both sports have left an indelible mark. His incredible speed, numerous world records, and charismatic personality have made Usain Bolt a legendary figure in the world of athletics.

Biography of Usain Bolt, Mutant

In just two years, he has demolished the 100-meter dash world records with times that are superhuman — literally thirty years ahead of what they historically should be. So what if the greatest athlete alive decided to actually get serious?

The low snap of a single gunshot bursts from eight speakers at once. Each speaker is positioned behind a single man, and each man is positioned more or less identically in a sprinter's crouch: his feet in the starting blocks, his legs slightly bent, his rear end higher than his shoulders, his fingers splayed on but not beyond the white chalk of the starting line. The color schemes of their Lycra uniforms are different — the blue and white of the United States, the red and white of Trinidad and Tobago, the green and yellow of Jamaica — but otherwise, at this moment, their heads down, their faces invisible, their bodies immobile, it is hard to tell the runners apart.

The individuation begins as soon as the sound waves conveying the gunshot traverse the two meters or so between the speakers and the ears of the men. Reaction times differ. The theoretical limit of reaction time in this race, taking into account the time it takes for the sound waves to reach the ears of the sprinters and the time it takes for their brains to process those sound waves and send a signal to their muscles, is 0.1 seconds. The starting blocks each contain Omega-built pressure sensors, and if these sensors detect a push from the foot of any runner beginning less than 0.1 seconds after the gunshot leaves the speaker, that runner is tagged with a false start and the racers must line up and begin again. There is no false start this evening, August 16, 2008, deep in the Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing. It is the 100-meter finals of the XXIX olympiad, and the first man off the blocks, 0.133 seconds after the shot, is Richard Thompson, of Trinidad and Tobago. He is followed less than a thousandth of a second later by Walter Dix, of the United States. In the next three hundredths of a second, four more runners shove off against their pressure sensors. And then, finally, 0.165 seconds after the start of the race, in second to last place, Usain Bolt of Jamaica begins to run.

He's only been racing this distance for about a year, and the importance of a quick start is one of the things he's still getting used to. His specialty throughout his running career has been the 200 meters, and that's a distance for which the start isn't as crucial. Over two hundred meters, you can make up for lost time. That's not the case in the 100. He's had to work to overcome some of his sloppy starting habits. For example, he has a tendency to brush his left toe along the ground during the explosive burst from the blocks, generating counterproductive friction. He's gotten better, and usually manages to avoid doing that now, but he does it today, the front of his left shoe scuffing the track as he whips his leg forward to take his second stride. The shoe also happens to be untied, a sloppy mistake, no excuse.

Within the next few seconds, the so-called drive phase, the heads of the runners begin to come up, and their bodies start to straighten, their spines unfurling as their strides lengthen. Although they are still grouped closely together — were the race to end at the 2.4-second mark, Bolt would come in fourth place, by a hair — another point of differentiation now emerges: Bolt is the biggest man in the pack. He's six feet five inches tall, 210 pounds. That makes him three inches taller and twenty pounds heavier than the second-biggest competitor.

During the drive phase, Bolt and the rest of the runners are all leaning forward at an unsustainable tilt, their torsos out ahead of where their feet impact the ground. They are basically in the act of falling down, face-first, but their legs, racing against gravity, are preventing that from happening, propelling them forward so hard and so fast that their bodies, instead of face-planting, begin to slowly rise up into a full upright position. Sprinters often describe this phase, when everything happens correctly, as being analogous to liftoff in an airplane.

Usain Bolt's top speed is simply significantly higher than anyone else's, ever.

By approximately the four-second mark, the drive phase has transitioned into the stage known as "full acceleration." The runners are now truly, in the classic sense, running, knees driving up ahead of their hips while their elbows drive back in the opposite direction, a plumb line between where the balls of their feet impact the ground and their chests cleave the air. And it is at this point that the ultimate difference between Usain Bolt and his competitors reveals itself. It is both a simple difference and one that, when you witness it, is hard to fathom.

When the other men reach their top speed, their limit, Usain Bolt continues to accelerate. By the fifty-meter mark, he has caught up to the leader. By the sixty-meter mark, a noticeable gap has emerged between him and the rest of the pack. By the seventy-meter mark, he is covering more than twelve meters of ground — about forty feet — every second, a pace faster than the speed limit for automobiles in most neighborhoods. Nobody has ever moved this fast before under his own power. Usain Bolt's top speed is simply significantly higher than anyone else's, ever.

His top speed is such a spectacle, so phenomenal, so searing that many who witness this race, who see Bolt cross the line in 9.69 seconds, breaking his own three-month-old world record by three hundredths of a second, don't notice, until they see the replay, what is perhaps the most salient and frightening thing about his performance: Approximately eighty meters into the race, twenty meters from the finish line, Bolt stops trying. It happens right after he throws a quick glance to the right, toward lane seven, the lane of his chief rival, a fellow Jamaican named Asafa Powell who held the world record before Bolt did. Prior to the start of the race, Bolt believed Powell was his only credible threat. Now seeing that Powell is nowhere in sight, that, indeed, no other runner is visible, Bolt lets something like a smile cross his lips. Then his arms stop pumping. He drops them to his sides, pulls his shoulders back, pushes his chest out, splays his fingers. His legs continue to cycle, but he no longer provides them additional impetus. He coasts. Several meters before he crosses the finish line, a full half second before he wins the 100-meter final by one of the widest margins in Olympic history, he brings his right fist up and thumps his chest.

As Bolt bounds toward his family waiting on the sidelines, kicking off his golden, unlaced shoes, beginning to do a Jamaican dance called the Nuh Linga, Ato Boldon, one of the men NBC hired to comment on the race, does his job and tries to put what he has just seen into words.

The frontiers of human performance, he says, sounding somewhat stunned, "have now gone into the realm of video-game times."

The sound of gunfire bursts from two speakers at once, one on either side of the television set. Usain Bolt flinches, flicks his left thumb forward on the nub of his controller.

"Run!" he shouts. "Run!"

Bolt is sitting on the edge of a king-sized mattress in his bedroom, one foot curled under him, the other planted on the floor. He's usually got a warm, open face, with a grin lurking near the surface, but right now his expression is as slack and empty as the wet socks hanging on the clothesline in his backyard. He and his younger brother, Sadiki, are playing a two-player mission in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Sadiki sits on a leather rocker next to the bedroom window, which is cracked open. A warm Jamaican breeze penetrates the room, causing the maroon-and-orange curtains to roil and billow inward, lapping up against Sadiki's cheek, but Sadiki doesn't seem to notice. He, like Bolt, is staring, rapt, at the fifty-inch Sharp HDTV that sits on the glass-topped entertainment console at the end of the bed.

They began playing soon after they woke up, at 10:00 A.M., and by 1:00 P.M., neither has moved, even to go to the bathroom, though Bolt has occasionally shifted his position, loosening his shoulders, stretching his back, switching from playing while sitting up to playing while lying on his stomach or his side. He's got scoliosis, a congenitally warped spine, and a significant portion of his training over the last few years has been devoted to dealing with this birth defect, trying to keep his back strong and supple.

At the foot of Bolt's bed is a partially unpacked suitcase. He got back almost a week ago from a publicity trip to Kenya, where he adopted a baby cheetah on behalf of the Zeitz Foundation for Intercultural Ecosphere Safety, a nonprofit that the chief executive of the Puma Corporation founded. Puma has been Bolt's sponsor for years, and his suitcase is basically a grab bag of the Puma freebies that make up the bulk of his wardrobe: sneakers, shorts, socks, shirts. Right now he's wearing khaki cargo shorts and a white tee. Under his bed, three new-looking pairs of sneakers are lined up, tongues lolling, next to a remote control and a sealed condom. Another condom sits on a chest of drawers next to the bed, along with a bottle of Jergens Age-Defying Lotion, a stick of Right Guard Xtreme deodorant, a bottle of Purelene Multivitamin Hair Food, a few ounces of Hugo Boss cologne, a ceremonial key to the city of Trelawny, and the passport he used on his trip to Kenya. On his next trip abroad, he'll have a new passport, since Jamaica's prime minister just made him an ambassador-at-large, a designation that comes with the perk of a customs-bypassing diplomatic passport, not to mention full diplomatic immunity.

Over the past few hours, he and his brother have hardly talked to each other, though Bolt did berate Sadiki at length when a terrorist's dog knocked Bolt's avatar down and started chewing his face off and Sadiki didn't do anything about it. "One thing," Bolt moaned, "I only needed you to do one thing!"

A couple of times they've had to pause the game when NJ, Bolt's best friend since first grade and personal assistant since Beijing, escorted visitors into the bedroom on business. A man named Clive Campbell, whom everyone refers to as "Busy," wanted Bolt's permission to provide the BBC with some footage he had of Bolt playing soccer. A woman named Kim from a local BMW dealership had a bunch of T-shirts she needed Bolt to sign. After Kim left, Bolt sent NJ out on a mission to track down a twelve-month Xbox Live subscription card, and he and Sadiki have been playing uninterrupted since.

Bolt was born twenty-three years ago and grew up, like Sadiki and NJ, in a remote village called Sherwood Content in the northwest quadrant of the island, a long way from here, the King's Vale gated community in Kingston, where Bolt's jet-black 2010 Skyline GT-R — a replacement for the 2009 BMW M3 he wrecked last year — squats in the driveway of his cozily swank whitewashed three-bedroom house, a few paces from the maid's entrance. Bolt's dad operated, and still does, a little shop in Sherwood Content that sells meat, eggs, milk. His mother worked in the fields, picking bananas, cassava, yams. Bolt's hometown remains the same sleepy place it's always been, though there's been a minor yam push there recently, with at least one company planning to export the local tubers worldwide, marketing them as the primal foodstuff of Usain Bolt.

There's another burst of gunfire and Bolt's portion of the screen reddens with blood. He's leaning forward a bit, his forearms resting on his thighs, his shoulders hunched, tense. More gunfire and he dodges to the right, both in the real world and the virtual one, his crosshairs losing their target. He sucks in air through his teeth, his whole body taut with effort, with anxiety, bracing for a final hit, another failure. But then, suddenly, unexpectedly, Sadiki comes through, finding the last terrorist, taking him out.

A banner unfurls on the screen — "Mission Accomplished" — and in the space of a heartbeat, Bolt relaxes, exhaling, flopping backward onto the bed, stretching his long legs out in front of him, pumping his fist, smiling, exultant.

It was close, but he made it. He won.

It's worth keeping in mind that there is a significant difference between the final seconds of Usain Bolt's gold-medal run in Beijing in 2008 and the final seconds of his victory this afternoon in Call of Duty. In the video game, right up until the moment Sadiki took out the final terrorist, Bolt was on edge, nervous, uncertain. It taxed him. He almost lost.

Beating the video game was a challenge for him. Executing the most dominant and effortless performance in the history of the Olympic Games was not.

Ethan Siegel, a theoretical astrophysicist at Lewis & Clark College, recently charted a graph to demonstrate that, judging by the incremental progression of the 100-meter world record over the past hundred years, Bolt appears to be operating at a level approximately thirty years beyond that of the expected capabilities of modern man. Mathematically, Bolt belonged not in the 2008 Olympics but the 2040 Olympics. Michael Johnson, the hero of the 1996 Olympic summer games, has made the same point in a different way: A runner capable of beating Bolt, he says, "hasn't been born yet."

Which raises the question: What would happen if the greatest athlete alive put as much effort into his training as he does his video games?

Bolt is lying on his back on the concrete floor at the top of a set of crumbling aqua-painted bleachers, one arm on his chest, the other flopped out by his side, holding on to the leg of a nearby massage table, eyes closed, gasping. The bleachers overlook a raggedy track on the outskirts of the Kingston campus of the University of the West Indies. The grass of the track is a sun-faded, watercolor green, much paler than the green of the mountains that rise up just beyond it. The pounding of countless footfalls has worn the grass away entirely in places, leaving bald spots of red earth. Bolt has just run six 200-meter half-oval repeats on the track. It was his first serious workout in months, since his recent trip to Kenya was preceded by a lengthy media tour of New York City, where he found himself doing things like appearing on Jimmy Fallon and racing the staff members of ESPN.

"Hey, Usain."

Bolt opens his eyes, sees the Racers Track Club masseur standing over him. The masseur shakes his head, pats his own stomach while looking down at Bolt's.

"What?" Bolt says, grinning, pulling up his T-shirt, exposing a six-pack, though one that is perhaps a bit more insulated than those of many of the other runners here today. Before arriving at the track, Bolt had scarfed down a typical lunch: a sandwich of cheese patties and coco bread, eaten one-handed from a greasy brown paper bag, his other hand working the controls of the deejay deck in his living room. Bolt pulls his shirt back down. The shirt is, of course, another Puma. It features a stylized picture of Bolt striking his now famous "Lightning Bolt" pose, one arm stretched to the sky, the other pulled back as though drawing a bowstring. Under the picture, two words: "Who Faster?"

Bolt eventually sits up, pushes himself to his feet with an exaggerated groan, and strolls over to where some of the other runners are clustered together, talking about movies.

" Law Abiding Citizen, " says a hurdler, and then offers a five-word review: "Yo. Moronic! That shit's bad."

"Funny?" Bolt asks.

"No, not funny. Not anything."

Bolt likes movies almost as much as he likes video games. He might even star in a movie himself soon. The producer of Pumping Iron, the old documentary about Arnold Schwarzenegger, has been talking with his manager and wants to shoot a feature-length documentary about Bolt. But he's got mixed feelings about it. He thinks the movie would probably be a dud: "It would be boring. I don't really do much. Training. Play video games. Play music. I'm always home."

The quietest and youngest runner of the group is an eighteen-year-old 100-meter specialist named Jason Young. Young, by one measure, is blessed: He came from Bolt's hometown, attended Bolt's high school, excelled there, attracting the attention of Bolt's manager, who decided to take Young under his wing. Bolt himself has been kind to Young, makes an effort, often invites him over to his place to hang out and play Xbox.

By another measure, though, Young, like every other up-and-coming 100-meter specialist in the world today, is cursed. Over the last several decades, up until last year, the world-record time in the 100 meters dropped in tiny steps, the world's top sprinters swapping it back and forth, shaving off a hundredth of a second every year or so. Two or three elite runners at a time always seemed to be within a toe of the mark, while a wider pool of runners brought up the rear, poised to take their place among the elite. Bolt, by replacing the incremental drop in the world record with an exponential one, by doing approximately thirty years of damage in a single year, has undermined the fondest aspirations of an entire generation. Who faster? Nobody. Here or anywhere. Not now, and probably not for a very long time.

Glen Mills, who has been Bolt's coach since 2005, is down on the field, watching another one of his runners skip sideways down a row of hurdles, the young man's legs kicking up and over each one like a chorus girl's. A digital stopwatch hangs from Mills's thick neck, dangling just above his potbelly. Mills has close-cut gray hair, narrow eyes, a perpetually sardonic expression. Were someone to have charted a graph depicting Bolt's story up to the point that Mills became his coach, it would have shown a steep parabolic trajectory, a rapid rise followed by a precipitous fall. Like many promising runners, Bolt had come out of nowhere, burned brightly for a few years — setting a number of junior records — then appeared to have burned out. In 2004, at seventeen years old, Bolt made the Jamaican national team and competed in that year's Olympic Games in Athens, but his performance there was poor: He never made it past the first round in his only event, the 200 meters. His progress stalled, then reversed.

"When I got him, he was injured," Mills says. "Also, his coordination and all those things were off. And his scoliosis was affecting his hamstring. So we had to do some work." Much of that work consisted of not working so hard. Mills cut down on Bolt's high-intensity workouts and put him instead on a training regimen that emphasized strength and flexibility, building up his core muscles to compensate for his problematic spine, honing Bolt's body and technique until he was ready to fully harness his gift. Although Bolt continued to compete, for the two years of 2006 and 2007, he didn't place first in any races. It wasn't until 2008 that Mills's training regimen came to fruition, and the world took notice of what had been taking root at this worn track on the grounds of an old Kingston sugar plantation.

Soon Mills noticed that some of his younger runners, realizing that they could never hope to match Bolt but not prepared to give up their world-conquering dreams, shifted their attention from the 100- and 200-meter distances to other events, to hurdles or longer distances in which they might still hope to make a mark. The 400, for example.

As it happens, a group of five 400-meter runners is rounding the oval right now, their last circuit of today's practice, and though it's not a real race, you can tell from across the field that they're trying hard, shoulders stiffening, cheeks bellowing, each wanting to win. Bolt and the others stand up and cup their hands to their mouths and start shouting encouragement. Bolt rarely races the 400, hates the long practices, the lung-searing, vomit-inducing arduousness of the extra training required to run that distance at an elite level. Still, he thinks that someday he might give the 400 a serious go. And the general consensus in the world track community is that if he were ever to dedicate himself to the 400, he could dominate it as thoroughly as he has the 100 and 200. And after that? Who knows. But he's kind of interested in the long jump, too. At this point, there's every reason to believe that Bolt is like Alexander in his prime, a young conqueror whose future conquests will not be determined by ability but simply by desire and discipline.

As the pack of 400-meter runners approaches the bleachers, the final bend, Bolt suddenly skips down the steps to the track. He's taken off his running shoes, is back in his usual pair of blue Puma flip-flops. When the runners come abreast of him, Bolt shoots a smile back at his friends in the bleachers, jumps out beside the straining, struggling runners, and sprints easily to the finish line in first place, arms raised in mock victory.

The route from the track back to Bolt's house passes a billboard that evidently has been up for a while. It's an ad for a local car dealership, and it features a picture of Asafa Powell leaning up against a Mercedes. "The Fastest Man in the World," it reads. Asafa Powell's world-record time in the 100, set in September 2007, was 9.74. Usain Bolt's latest, set at the World Championships in Berlin in August 2009, is 9.58. Incidentally, toward the end of that race, just as he had in Beijing, Bolt glanced over his shoulder and, seeing nobody was near him, slowed down before the finish line.

Powell and Bolt, though they train with different coaches, are friends. In fact, as soon as Bolt gets home, he will shower, change into slacks and a short-sleeved button-down shirt, and head out to the Pegasus Hotel, which is hosting an event honoring the launch of the Asafa Powell Foundation. At the event, in front of a crowd of a couple hundred people dressed in suits and gowns, Bolt will present Powell with a check. Later, at the podium, Powell will mumble good-naturedly that public speaking, for him, is as impossible a task as beating Usain Bolt.

Other runners, past and present, haven't been so gracious. Carl Lewis, for example, suggested in 2008 that anyone who, like Usain Bolt, can drop his 100-meter time from 10.03 seconds to 9.69 in a year has to be viewed with skepticism.

Darvis Patton, an American sprinter who ran in the 100-meter final against Bolt in Berlin, was asked for a comment about Bolt immediately after the race. Patton shook his head, then echoed the video-game analogy Ato Boldon had employed the year before in Beijing, but with an ambiguous twist. "There are no words to describe him. He's like a created, game person," Patton said. Then he thought for a moment and added, "He's like a cheat code."

Bolt, of course, swears he's not cheating. He says he doesn't even like to take legal supplements, that he's willing to be tested anytime, anywhere.

But Bolt's manager, Norman Peart, is keenly aware that it will take more than words to make his client wholly credible. It's only natural that people are skeptical, he says. He brings up the cases of Marion Jones and Justin Gatlin, two American 100-meter champions whose careers were destroyed not long ago by drug revelations. Prior to the revelations, Peart says, Jones and Gatlin had repeatedly "sat down just like me and you, and they went, 'I have never!' And 'I'm gonna sue so and so!' And they cried. And then ..." He shrugs. "Just the same way [Bolt looks], that's the way Marion looked, that's the same way Justin looked. Who are we to believe?"

The problem is compounded by the fact that these days there are plenty of substances Bolt could be taking, from human-growth hormone to designer steroids, that remain effectively undetectable.

"You can beat the system," Peart says. "You try to get something they can't find. Whatever. So that's the thing in people's minds: Are these guys one step ahead?"

Actually, putting all questions of chemistry aside, Bolt is not just one step ahead but three. When he set his latest 100-meter record, it took him forty-one steps to reach the finish line. The second-place finisher, the American Tyson Gay, required forty-four steps to cover the same distance. So the simplest, most literal explanation for Bolt's speed is this: He cycles his stride nearly as quickly as other sprinters, but his stride length, owing to his longer legs, is significantly greater than theirs. Or even simpler: He's a tall man who runs like a shorter one.

"That's his gift," Coach Mills says. "Over everyone else. That's what makes him special."

And what's the explanation for this gift?

"Only the good Lord can tell you," says Mills.

Which is to say, whether you believe in Usain Bolt is ultimately a matter of faith.

There's another HDTV hanging on the wall in Bolt's living room, above a shelf that is packed, like most available surface area in this house, with various awards and memorials, including a two-foot-tall abstract bronze statue of Bolt in which he looks kind of like the Sandman villain from Spider-Man, his skin sloughing off in waves. The TV is tuned to MTV Jams, which is showing the video for the new Chris Brown song, "I Can Transform Ya," but you can't hear Chris Brown at all because Bolt is blasting, at club-level volume, from speakers hooked up to a set of Pioneer deejay decks on a coffee table, Bob Marley's "One Love." Actually, you can't really hear Bob Marley, either, because Bolt has used the mixer to fade Marley's vocals and is singing the chorus himself. He's sitting on an overstuffed leather sofa, holding a wired mic flush against his lips. A pair of headphones scissors his skull above his ears. He's got a high, paper-thin singing voice.

"Let's get together and feel all right," he croons, holding a hand out toward an imaginary crowd. "Sing it together," he says. "Sing it!"

Most of the people in this room — Sadiki, NJ, and Bolt's bodyguard — aren't paying any attention to him. They're all busy doing other things, texting or Facebooking or Web surfing. They're used to these midafternoon deejaying sessions of his, used to ignoring them. Deejaying fascinates Bolt. He even entered a deejaying competition recently, and he lost to a former Miss Jamaica World. Undeterred, he remains a diligent, if not particularly precocious, student, keen to learn and get better. Most afternoons, he spends an hour or so here in his living room and tries to get his utterly disinterested entourage moving.

When they refuse to sing along to "One Love," he finishes up one more round of the chorus himself, then fades the song all the way down.

"Yeah, and we end that one on a good note," he says in a sort of self-consciously baritone deejay voice, smiling broadly, then executes a few scratches on his deck's turntable before using his MacBook to cue up the next song.

"All right, let's try some hip-hop," he says. "No more reggae now. You know what I'm gonna play now? Anyone know what I'm gonna play?"

" 'You're a Jerk,' " NJ says, sounding bored, without looking up from his own laptop.

"You know?" Bolt says, looking surprised, and a moment later the first verse of the song, which is the same as the chorus, which is the same as the title, fills the room.

"You're a jerk! You're a jerk! You're a jerk!"

The song is by a group called the New Boyz. It's hard to call it a song, actually, since it's more of a single hook line repeated, ad nauseam, over a desiccated drum-and-synth beat. It originated last year in southern California and has since spawned a minor dance craze, The Jerk, which washed up in Kingston. Bolt throws himself into it, dancing as best he can on the couch, his arms executing rhythmic backward circles, as though he were doing a sort of flailing backstroke.

His friends continue to ignore him.

The head of the International Olympic Committee criticized Bolt's dancing during the 2008 Olympics, saying that Bolt's dances after his gold-medal performances in the 100 meters, 200 meters, and 4x100-meter relay — dances known respectively as the Nuh Linga, the Gully Creepa, and the Tek Weh Yuhself — smacked of showboating and were disrespectful to the other athletes. The criticism of his dancing was part of the larger critique that's often leveled against him, which is that he doesn't take running seriously enough. There's a perception in some quarters of the athletic community that Usain Bolt is the Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart of track and field, a prodigiously gifted individual who is also something of a wastrel and clown. Certain people, when they see a man perform superhuman feats, want that man to carry himself with superhuman gravity. Bolt, by this measure, never fails to disappoint.

And personally, he couldn't care less. When he was younger, he says, the only thing he wanted to do was please everybody around him, from his fans to the media. But after his disastrous showing in Athens in 2004, Bolt sussed out the heartless calculus that underpins critical and public opinion: "I figured out that as long as you're not doing good, they're going to criticize you, and if you're doing good, they're going to love you." The epiphany was a liberating one, in that it allowed him to disregard basically everything — from the dizzying adulation to the steroid speculation — that people have thrown at him since then. "I figured it out, and I was like, okay ... I've gotta put me first. And then I just started enjoying it."

He tries to get Sadiki to get up and do the Jerk, but Sadiki's busy on his BlackBerry, so about thirty seconds into the song, Bolt throws off his headphones, puts down his mic, jumps over the coffee table, and does it himself, his Puma flip-flops sliding on the tiled floor as he starts sort of skipping backward in place. It's a goofy dance, but he's a good dancer.

His entourage can't ignore him anymore, and they're watching him now, but he doesn't see them. He's got his eyes closed, his ears open, his body moving.

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September 13, 2024

Life Story of Famous People

Short Bio » Sprinter » Usain Bolt

Usain Bolt is a Jamaican Sprinter. He is the fasted man alive. Usain Bolt has set all the records for 100m and 200m events. He holds 3 World Records. He is also a six-time Olympic Gold Medalist . Usain Bolt also has won 8 World Championships. He has been knighted by the Order of Jamaica in 2009. He is without any doubt the fastest man in history.

Usain Bolt was born on 21 August 1986 in Sherwood Content. He was born to Wellesley and Jennifer Bolt. He has two siblings a brother Sadiki and sister Sherine. Usain Bolt played cricket and football as a child. He was not interested in other sports. Usain Bolt joined William Knibb Memorial High School. There he was focused on Cricket. His cricket coach saw his speed on the pitch. He recommended him to try track and fields. Bolt began to show tremendous potential. He won almost every school sprint competitions. He is one of the elite to have won youth, the junior, and senior world championship. Although being a junior he was chosen for Jamaica in 2004 Olympics. He couldn’t participate due to injury. He decided to focus only on short distances. He dropped 400 meters from his mind. In 2007 World Championship he came second in 200m. He broke Asafa Powell’s 100m record in 2008. He broke 9.74 seconds and set it at 9.72 Seconds. He entered the 2008 Olympics in Beijing as the record holder. He participated in 100m, 200m and Men 100m relay. He made groundbreaking history in the events. He won gold in all the events. Even more, he won them easily and by setting world records in all of the three events. He continued to dominate the sprinting world in the next four years. He again won all the gold in 2012 London Olympics. He holds the top 3 fastest recorded times in history for 100m. He has stated that he will retire after 2016 Olympics.

Usain Bolt is a fun loving person. He loves to enjoy himself. Usain Bolt has been criticized for not taking his trade seriously. He himself stated he is lazy. But the lazy Usain Bolt is the fastest man in history. He is an avid cricket fan. He once bowled out fellow Jamaican Chris Gayle. Chris Gayle is one of the best cricket players in the world. He is also a fan of Football. He is good friends with Cristiano Ronaldo . He said if Ronaldo was a sprinter he could have given him the run for his money. He has been awarded the title OJ and CD .

World Records by Usain Bolt

100m – 9.56 Seconds 200m – 19.19 Seconds 100m * 4 Relay – 36.84 Seconds

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The Inspiring Journey of Usain Bolt: A Track & Field Legend

Are you ready to dive into the extraordinary life of Usain Bolt, the legendary track and field athlete? Join us as we explore the inspiring journey of the fastest man on the planet, from his humble beginnings in Jamaica to his record-breaking performances on the world stage. Bolt’s incredible talent, hard work, and determination have made him a true icon in the world of sports. Get ready to be inspired by the incredible story of Usain Bolt.

Early Life and Introduction to Track & Field

Birth and childhood in jamaica.

Usain Bolt was born on August 21, 1986, in Sherwood Content, a small town in Jamaica. Growing up in a close-knit community, Bolt was surrounded by a supportive family who encouraged him to pursue his dreams.

Discovering Talent and Passion for Running

It was during his time at Waldensia Primary School that Bolt’s talent for running was first noticed. His teachers and classmates were amazed by his speed and agility on the playground, which led to him participating in various school track meets.

Initial Training and Development

Bolt’s natural ability for running caught the attention of his high school coach, who saw great potential in the young athlete. Under his guidance, Bolt began to focus on track and field, honing his skills and developing a passion for the sport. This marked the beginning of Usain Bolt’s inspiring journey to becoming a track and field legend.

Rise to International Stardom

Usain Bolt’s journey to becoming a track and field legend began with his breakthrough at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This marked the start of his rise to international stardom.

Breakthrough at the 2008 Beijing Olympics

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Usain Bolt stunned the world by winning gold medals in both the 100m and 200m events. His record-breaking performances and charismatic personality captured the hearts of fans worldwide, propelling him to fame and recognition on a global scale.

Dominance in the 100m and 200m Events

Following his success at the Beijing Olympics, Usain Bolt continued to dominate the 100m and 200m events in major competitions. His lightning-fast speed and unmatched talent solidified his reputation as the fastest man on the planet, earning him numerous titles and accolades throughout his career.

Setting World Records and Winning Multiple Gold Medals

Throughout his career, Usain Bolt set multiple world records in the 100m and 200m events, solidifying his status as a track and field legend. His unparalleled speed and remarkable performances led to him winning multiple gold medals in prestigious events such as the Olympics and World Championships, further cementing his legacy as one of the greatest athletes of all time.

Legacy and Impact on the Sport

Usain Bolt’s legacy in the world of track and field is nothing short of legendary. His unprecedented speed and dominance on the track have forever changed the sport. Bolt’s record-breaking performances have set the bar high for future generations of athletes, inspiring them to push their limits and strive for greatness. His impact on the sport can be seen in the way that he has elevated the level of competition and brought a new level of excitement to track and field events.

Retirement and Transition to Other Endeavors

After an illustrious career on the track, Usain Bolt announced his retirement in 2017. While many athletes struggle to find their footing after leaving the sport that defined their lives, Bolt has seamlessly transitioned into other endeavors. He has explored opportunities in business, music, and philanthropy, showcasing his versatility and entrepreneurial spirit. Bolt’s ability to successfully navigate life after retirement serves as an inspiration to athletes looking to make a similar transition.

Inspiring the Next Generation of Track & Field Athletes

Usain Bolt’s impact extends far beyond his own career. He has dedicated himself to inspiring the next generation of track and field athletes, serving as a mentor and role model to young aspiring competitors. Bolt’s commitment to giving back to the sport that has given him so much is evident in his efforts to support youth programs and initiatives that promote the development of young athletes. His dedication to nurturing talent and fostering a love for track and field ensures that his legacy will continue to inspire for generations to come.

Usain Bolt’s Enduring Influence on the Sport

Even in retirement, Usain Bolt’s influence on track and field remains undeniable. His charismatic personality, unmatched athleticism, and record-breaking performances have cemented his status as a true legend of the sport. Bolt’s impact can be seen in the way that he has brought new fans to track and field, elevating its popularity and global appeal. His enduring influence serves as a reminder of the power of dedication, hard work, and perseverance in achieving greatness. Usain Bolt’s legacy will continue to inspire athletes and fans alike for years to come.

In conclusion, Usain Bolt’s journey in track and field is nothing short of inspiring. From humble beginnings in Jamaica to becoming a global sensation, Bolt has proven time and time again that hard work, dedication, and passion can lead to greatness. His record-breaking performances and charismatic personality have earned him the title of a track and field legend. Bolt’s story serves as a reminder that with perseverance and determination, any goal is within reach. As fans and admirers, we can continue to be inspired by his accomplishments and strive to reach our own personal bests, both on and off the track. Usain Bolt will forever remain a beacon of hope and motivation for athletes and individuals around the world.

50 Facts About Usain Bolt

Written by Krystal Feaster

Published: 04 Aug 2024

Athlete Facts

Usain Bolt , the name synonymous with speed, has left an indelible mark on the world of athletics. Ever wondered what makes him tick? Born on August 21, 1986 , in Jamaica, Bolt's journey from a small-town boy to the fastest man alive is nothing short of extraordinary. With a towering height of 6 feet 5 inches , he defied the odds, proving that sprinters don't have to be short and stocky. Did you know he holds the world record for the 100 meters at 9.58 seconds ? Beyond the track, Bolt's charisma and love for music and dance have made him a global icon . Ready to learn more about this sprinting legend? Buckle up for 50 fascinating facts about Usain Bolt !

Key Takeaways:

Usain Bolt, the fastest man alive, was born in Jamaica and showed his sprinting prowess at a young age, breaking records and winning medals.
Beyond his athletic achievements, Bolt is a music lover, football fan, and philanthropist, inspiring others with his confidence and memorable quotes.

Early Life and Background

Usain Bolt, the fastest man alive, has a fascinating backstory. Let's dive into some intriguing facts about his early years.

Born in Jamaica : Usain St. Leo Bolt was born on August 21, 1986, in Sherwood Content, a small town in Trelawny Parish, Jamaica.

Nickname : As a child, Bolt was nicknamed "Lightning Bolt" due to his incredible speed, even before he became a professional athlete.

Family : Bolt grew up with his parents, Wellesley and Jennifer Bolt, and his two siblings, Sadiki and Sherine.

First Love : Cricket was Bolt's first love. He admired legendary cricketers like Waqar Younis and Sachin Tendulkar.

Schooling : He attended Waldensia Primary and later William Knibb Memorial High School, where he first showed his sprinting prowess.

Athletic Beginnings

Bolt's journey to becoming a world-renowned sprinter started early. Here are some key moments from his initial foray into athletics.

First Coach : Pablo McNeil, a former Olympic sprinter, was Bolt's first coach and recognized his potential early on.

First Medal : At the age of 14, Bolt won his first high school championship medal in the 200 meters.

Junior Championships : In 2002, Bolt won the 200 meters at the World Junior Championships in Kingston, Jamaica, making him the youngest world junior gold medalist ever.

Record Breaker : At 15, Bolt broke the 200 meters world junior record with a time of 20.13 seconds.

Scholarship : His athletic talent earned him a scholarship to the University of Technology, Jamaica.

Rise to Stardom

Bolt's rise to international fame was meteoric. Here are some pivotal moments that catapulted him to stardom.

2004 Olympics : Bolt's first Olympic appearance was in Athens, but he was eliminated in the first round due to a leg injury.

First World Record : In 2008, Bolt set his first world record in the 100 meters with a time of 9.72 seconds at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York.

Beijing Olympics : Bolt won three gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, setting world records in the 100 meters, 200 meters, and 4×100 meters relay.

Signature Pose : Bolt's "To Di World" pose, also known as the "Lightning Bolt," became iconic during the Beijing Olympics.

Berlin World Championships : In 2009, Bolt broke his own 100 meters world record with a time of 9.58 seconds at the World Championships in Berlin.

Dominance in Athletics

Bolt's dominance in track and field is unparalleled. Here are some facts that highlight his supremacy.

Olympic Golds : Bolt has won a total of eight Olympic gold medals, making him one of the most decorated sprinters in history.

World Championships : He has 11 World Championship gold medals, the most by any sprinter.

Double-Double : Bolt is the first athlete to win the 100 meters and 200 meters at consecutive Olympics (2008 and 2012).

Triple-Triple : He achieved the "triple-triple" by winning gold in the 100 meters, 200 meters, and 4×100 meters relay at three consecutive Olympics (2008, 2012, and 2016).

Fastest Man Alive : Bolt's 100 meters world record of 9.58 seconds still stands, making him the fastest man in history.

Personal Life and Interests

Beyond the track, Bolt has a rich personal life and diverse interests. Here are some lesser-known facts about him.

Music Lover : Bolt is a huge fan of reggae and dancehall music. He even tried his hand at DJing.

Football Fan : A passionate football fan, Bolt supports Manchester United and has expressed interest in playing professional football.

Business Ventures : Bolt has launched several business ventures, including his own restaurant chain, Tracks & Records.

Philanthropy : He established the Usain Bolt Foundation, which focuses on education and cultural opportunities for children in Jamaica.

Acting : Bolt made a cameo appearance in the 2016 film "The Secret Life of Pets."

Retirement and Legacy

Even after retiring, Bolt's legacy continues to inspire. Here are some facts about his life post-retirement.

Retirement : Bolt retired from professional athletics in 2017 after the World Championships in London.

Football Debut : In 2018, Bolt made his professional football debut for Australian club Central Coast Mariners.

Record Holder : Despite retiring, Bolt still holds the world records for the 100 meters, 200 meters, and 4×100 meters relay.

Autobiography : Bolt released his autobiography, "Faster Than Lightning: My Story," in 2013.

Global Icon : Bolt's influence extends beyond sports; he is a global icon and a symbol of excellence and perseverance.

Fun and Quirky Facts

Bolt's life is full of fun and quirky moments. Here are some light-hearted facts about him.

Video Games : Bolt loves playing video games, especially Call of Duty and FIFA.

Favorite Food : His favorite food is Jamaican dumplings and yams.

Height : Standing at 6 feet 5 inches, Bolt is unusually tall for a sprinter.

Speed : Bolt's top speed during his 100 meters world record run was 27.8 mph.

Nickname Origin : His nickname "Lightning Bolt" became even more fitting as his career progressed.

Awards and Honors

Bolt's achievements have earned him numerous awards and honors. Here are some notable ones.

IAAF World Athlete of the Year : Bolt won this prestigious award six times.

Laureus World Sportsman of the Year : He received this award four times, recognizing his outstanding achievements.

Order of Jamaica : In 2009, Bolt was awarded the Order of Jamaica for his contributions to sports.

UNESCO Champion for Sport : Bolt was named a UNESCO Champion for Sport in 2009.

Time 100 : Bolt was included in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016.

Records and Achievements

Bolt's records and achievements are a testament to his extraordinary talent. Here are some highlights.

200 Meters Record : Bolt holds the world record for the 200 meters with a time of 19.19 seconds.

4×100 Meters Relay : Bolt's Jamaican team set the world record for the 4×100 meters relay with a time of 36.84 seconds.

Diamond League : Bolt has won multiple Diamond League titles in both the 100 meters and 200 meters.

Olympic Records : Bolt holds the Olympic records for the 100 meters (9.63 seconds) and 200 meters (19.30 seconds).

Commonwealth Games : Bolt won gold in the 4×100 meters relay at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Inspirational Quotes

Bolt's words have inspired many. Here are some of his most memorable quotes.

"I am Bolt" : "I am Bolt" is not just a statement; it's a declaration of his confidence and identity.

"Anything is possible" : Bolt often says, "Anything is possible. I don't think limits."

"Train hard" : He believes in hard work, saying, "Train hard, turn up, run your best, and the rest will take care of itself."

"Dream big" : Bolt encourages everyone to dream big, stating, "Dream big to achieve big."

"Enjoy the journey" : Bolt emphasizes enjoying the process, saying, "The journey is what brings us happiness, not the destination."

Usain Bolt's Legacy

Usain Bolt's impact on athletics is undeniable. Known as the fastest man alive, Bolt's record-breaking sprints have inspired countless athletes worldwide. His charismatic personality and sportsmanship have made him a beloved figure beyond the track. Bolt's achievements, including eight Olympic gold medals and numerous world records, set a high bar in the world of sports.

Beyond his athletic prowess, Bolt's dedication to philanthropy and his home country, Jamaica, showcases his commitment to giving back. His legacy is not just about speed but also about inspiring others to pursue their dreams with passion and determination.

As we reflect on Bolt's incredible journey, it's clear his influence will be felt for generations. Whether you're a sports enthusiast or simply admire greatness, Usain Bolt's story is a testament to what can be achieved with talent, hard work, and a bit of flair.

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Usain Bolt Biography

100m world record - 9.58 seconds
200m world record - 19.19 seconds
4x100m relay world record - 36.84 seconds
Eight Olympic Gold Medals
Eleven World Championship Gold Medals
One World Junior Championship Gold Medal
As a child, Usain Bolt showed an interest in playing cricket and football (in America "soccer"). He has also shown an interest in playing both sports professionally today.
Usain Bolt's first world record breaking performance in the 100m was preceded by a very strong lighting storm.
Usain Bolt has broken both the 100m world record and the 4x100m world record three times and has broken the 200m world record twice.
Usain Bolt has appeared as a special guest on two Saturday Night Live skits.
Usain Bolt has written three autobiographies.
Usain Bolt partnered with a mobile gaming company to make his own themed mobile game simply called Bolt! in which players control him and fight pirates.
At the Beijing 2008 Olympics, during the final seconds of the 100m event, Usain Bolt slowed down considerably to start celebrating his inevitable gold medal finish, unaware that he was on pace for approximately a 9.55 second 100m time. One of his shoes was also untied.

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Usain Bolt facts for kids

Quick facts for kids

Usain Bolt
CD

Personal information

Full name

Usain St. Leo Bolt

Nickname(s)

Lightning Bolt

Born

(1986-08-21) 21 August 1986 (age 38)
Sherwood Content, Jamaica

Height

1.95 m

Weight

94 kilograms (207 lb)

Sport

Event(s)

Club

Racers Track Club

Coached by

Glen Mills

Retired

2017

Achievements and titles

Personal best(s)

: 4.22 ( , 2019) : 9.58 (Berlin 2009) : 14.35
(Manchester 2009) : 19.19 (Berlin 2009) : 30.97 (Ostrava 2010) : 45.28 ( 2007) : 2:05

Event	1st	2nd	3rd
	8	0	0
World Championships	11	2	1
World Relays	0	1	0
CAC Championships	1	0	0
	1	0	0
World Junior Championships	1	2	0
World Youth Championships	1	0	0

Event	1st	2nd	3rd
	6	0	1
200 m	10	1	0
4×100 m relay	7	3	0
4×400 m relay	0	1	0

Usain St. Leo Bolt OJ CD OLY ( / ˈ juː s eɪ n / ; born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter , widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is the world record holder in the 100 metres , 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay.

An eight-time Olympic gold medallist, Bolt is the only sprinter to win Olympic 100 m and 200 m titles at three consecutive Olympics (2008, 2012, and 2016). He also won two 4 × 100 relay gold medals. He gained worldwide fame for his double sprint victory in world record times at the 2008 Beijing Olympics , which made him the first person to hold both records since fully automatic time became mandatory.

An eleven-time World Champion, he won consecutive World Championship 100 m, 200 m and 4 × 100 metres relay gold medals from 2009 to 2015, with the exception of a 100 m false start in 2011. He is the most successful male athlete of the World Championships. Bolt is the first athlete to win four World Championship titles in the 200 m and is one of the most successful in the 100 m with three titles, being the first person to run sub-9.7s and sub-9.6s.

Bolt improved upon his second 100 m world record of 9.69 with 9.58 seconds in 2009 – the biggest improvement since the start of electronic timing. He has twice broken the 200 metres world record, setting 19.30 in 2008 and 19.19 in 2009. He has helped Jamaica to three 4 × 100 metres relay world records, with the current record being 36.84 seconds set in 2012. Bolt's most successful event is the 200 m, with three Olympic and four World titles. The 2008 Olympics was his international debut over 100 m; he had earlier won numerous 200 m medals (including 2007 World Championship silver) and held the world under-20 and world under-18 records for the event until being surpassed by Erriyon Knighton in 2021.

His achievements as a sprinter have earned him the media nickname "Lightning Bolt", and his awards include the IAAF World Athlete of the Year, Track & Field Athlete of the Year, BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year (three times), and Laureus World Sportsman of the Year (four times). Bolt was included in Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2016. Bolt retired after the 2017 World Championships, when he finished third in his last solo 100 m race, opted out of the 200 m, and pulled up injured in the 4×100 m relay final.

Early competitions

Rise to prominence, 2004–2007 early career, world-record breaker, 2008 summer olympics, after the 2008 olympics, 2009 berlin world championships, 2010 diamond league and broken streak, 2011 world championships, 2012 summer olympics, 2013 world championships, 2014: injury and commonwealth games, 2015 beijing world championships, 2016 rio olympics, 2017 season, financial crisis, other sports, documentary film, sponsorships and advertising work, entrepreneurship, music producer, recognition, personal bests, guinness world records, average and top speeds, season's bests, world rankings, international competitions, national titles, circuit wins, early years.

Bolt was born on 21 August 1986 to parents Wellesley and Jennifer Bolt in Sherwood Content, a small town in Jamaica. Jennifer named her son Usain at the suggestion of her nephew-in-law, who suggested the name as he had a classmate of that name, while Bolt's middle name, St Leo, was given to him by his aunt. He has a brother, Sadiki, and a sister, Sherine. His parents ran the local grocery store in the rural area, and Bolt spent his time playing cricket and football in the street with his brother, later saying, "When I was young, I didn't really think about anything other than sports." As a child, Bolt attended Waldensia Primary, where he began showing his sprint potential when he ran in his parish's annual national primary school meet. By the age of twelve, Bolt had become the school's fastest runner over the 100 metres distance. Bolt also developed an affection for European football teams Real Madrid and Manchester United .

Upon his entry to William Knibb Memorial High School, Bolt continued to focus on other sports, but his cricket coach noticed Bolt's speed on the pitch and urged him to try track and field events. Pablo McNeil, a former Olympic sprint athlete, and Dwayne Jarrett coached Bolt, encouraging him to focus his energy on improving his athletic abilities. The school had a history of success in athletics with past students, including sprinter Michael Green. Bolt won his first annual high school championships medal in 2001; he took the silver medal in the 200 metres with a time of 22.04 seconds. McNeil soon became his primary coach, and the two enjoyed a positive partnership, although McNeil was occasionally frustrated by Bolt's lack of dedication to his training and his penchant for practical jokes.

When Bolt was a boy, he attended Sherwood Content Seventh-day Adventist Church in Trelawny , Jamaica, with his mother. His mother did not serve pork to him in accordance with Adventist beliefs.

Representing Jamaica in his first Caribbean regional event, Bolt clocked a personal best time of 48.28 s in the 400 metres in the 2001 CARIFTA Games, winning a silver medal. The 200 m also yielded a silver, as Bolt finished in 21.81 s.

He made his first appearance on the world stage at the 2001 IAAF World Youth Championships in Debrecen , Hungary. Running in the 200 m event, he failed to qualify for the finals, but he still set a new personal best of 21.73 s. Bolt went to the CARIFTA Games, where he set championship records in the 200 m and 400 m with times of 21.12 s and 47.33 s, respectively. He continued to set records with 20.61 s and 47.12 s finishes at the Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships.

Bolt is one of only nine athletes (along with Valerie Adams , Veronica Campbell-Brown , Jacques Freitag, Yelena Isinbayeva , Jana Pittman, Dani Samuels, David Storl , and Kirani James) to win world championships at the youth, junior, and senior level of an athletic event. Former Prime Minister P. J. Patterson recognised Bolt's talent and arranged for him to move to Kingston , along with Jermaine Gonzales, so he could train with the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA) at the University of Technology, Jamaica.

The 2002 World Junior Championships were held in front of a home crowd in Kingston, Jamaica, and Bolt was given a chance to prove his credentials on a world stage. By the age of 15, he had grown to 1.95 metres (6 ft 5 in) tall, and he physically stood out among his peers. He won the 200 m in a time of 20.61 s, which was 0.03 s slower than his personal best of 20.58 s, which he set in the 1st round. Bolt's 200 m win made him the youngest world-junior gold medallist ever. The expectation from the home crowd had made him so nervous that he had put his shoes on the wrong feet, although he realized the mistake before the race began. However, it turned out to be a revelatory experience for Bolt, as he vowed never again to let himself be affected by pre-race nerves. As a member of the Jamaican sprint relay team, he also took two silver medals and set national junior records in the 4×100 metres and 4×400 metres relay, running times of 39.15 s and 3:04.06 minutes respectively.

The rush of medals continued as he won four golds at the 2003 CARIFTA Games and was awarded the Austin Sealy Trophy for the most outstanding athlete of the games. He won another gold at the 2003 World Youth Championships. He set a new championship record in the 200 m with a time of 20.40 s, despite a 1.1 m/s (4.0 km/h; 2.5 mph) head wind . Michael Johnson , the 200 m world-record holder, took note of Bolt's potential but worried that the young sprinter might be over-pressured, stating, "It's all about what he does three, four, five years down the line". Bolt had also impressed the athletics hierarchy, and he received the IAAF Rising Star Award for 2002.

Bolt competed in his final Jamaican High School Championships in 2003. He broke the 200 m and 400 m records with times of 20.25 s and 45.35 s, respectively. Bolt's runs were a significant improvement upon the previous records, beating the 200 m best by more than half a second and the 400 m record by almost a second. Bolt improved upon the 200 m time three months later, setting the former World youth best at the 2003 Pan American Junior Championships. The 400 m time remains No. 6 on the all-time youth list, surpassed only once since, by future Olympic champion Kirani James.

Bolt turned his main focus to the 200 m and equalled Roy Martin's world junior record of 20.13 s at the Pan-American Junior Championships. This performance attracted interest from the press, and his times in the 200 m and 400 m led to him being touted as a possible successor to Johnson. Indeed, at sixteen years old, Bolt had reached times that Johnson did not register until he was twenty, and Bolt's 200 m time was superior to Maurice Greene 's season's best that year.

Bolt was growing more popular in his homeland. Howard Hamilton, who was given the task of Public Defender by the government, urged the JAAA to nurture him and prevent burnout, calling Bolt "the most phenomenal sprinter ever produced by this island". His popularity and the attractions of the capital city were beginning to be a burden to the young sprinter. Bolt was increasingly unfocused on his athletic career and preferred to eat fast food, play basketball, and party in Kingston's club scene. In the absence of a disciplined lifestyle, he became ever-more reliant on his natural ability to beat his competitors on the track.

As the reigning 200 m champion at both the World Youth and World Junior championships, Bolt hoped to take a clean sweep of the world 200 m championships in the Senior World Championships in Paris. He beat all comers at the 200 m in the World Championship trials. Bolt was pragmatic about his chances and noted that, even if he did not make the final, he would consider setting a personal best a success. However, he suffered a bout of conjunctivitis before the event, and it ruined his training schedule. Realising that he would not be in peak condition, the JAAA refused to let him participate in the finals, on the grounds that he was too young and inexperienced. Bolt was dismayed at missing out on the opportunity, but focused on getting himself in shape to gain a place on the Jamaican Olympic team instead. Even though he missed the World Championships, Bolt was awarded the IAAF Rising Star Award for the 2003 season on the strength of his junior record-equalling run.

Professional athletics career

Under the guidance of new coach Fitz Coleman, Bolt turned professional in 2004, beginning with the CARIFTA Games in Bermuda. He became the first junior sprinter to run the 200 m in under twenty seconds, taking the world junior record outright with a time of 19.93 s. For the second time in the role, he was awarded the Austin Sealy Trophy for the most outstanding athlete of the 2004 CARIFTA Games. A hamstring injury in May ruined Bolt's chances of competing in the 2004 World Junior Championships, but he was still chosen for the Jamaican Olympic squad. Bolt headed to the 2004 Athens Olympics with confidence and a new record on his side. However, he was hampered by a leg injury and was eliminated in the first round of the 200 metres with a disappointing time of 21.05 s. American colleges offered Bolt track scholarships to train in the United States while continuing to represent Jamaica on the international stage, but the teenager from Trelawny refused them all, stating that he was content to stay in his homeland of Jamaica. Bolt instead chose the surroundings of the University of Technology, Jamaica, as his professional training ground, staying with the university's track and weight room that had served him well in his amateur years.

The year 2005 signalled a fresh start for Bolt in the form of a new coach, Glen Mills, and a new attitude toward athletics. Mills recognised Bolt's potential and aimed to cease what he considered an unprofessional approach to the sport. Bolt began training with Mills in preparation for the upcoming athletics season, partnering with more seasoned sprinters such as Kim Collins and Dwain Chambers. The year began well, and in July, he knocked more than a third of a second off the 200 m CAC Championship record with a run of 20.03 s, then registered his 200 m season's best at London's Crystal Palace , running in 19.99 s.

Misfortune awaited Bolt at the next major event, the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki. Bolt felt that both his work ethic and athleticism had much improved since the 2004 Olympics, and he saw the World Championships as a way to live up to expectations, stating, "I really want to make up for what happened in Athens. Hopefully, everything will fall into place". Bolt qualified with runs under 21 s, but he suffered an injury in the final, finishing in last place with a time of 26.27 s. Injuries were preventing him from completing a full professional athletics season, and the eighteen-year-old Bolt still had not proven his mettle in the major world-athletics competitions. However, his appearance made him the youngest ever person to appear in a 200 m world final. Bolt was involved in a car accident in November, and although he suffered only minor facial lacerations, his training schedule was further upset. His manager at the time, Norman Peart, made Bolt's training less intensive, and he had fully recuperated the following week. Bolt had continued to improve his performances, and he reached the world top-5 rankings in 2005 and 2006. Peart and Mills stated their intentions to push Bolt to do longer sprinting distances with the aim of making the 400 m event his primary event by 2007 or 2008. Bolt was less enthusiastic, and demanded that he feel comfortable in his sprinting. He suffered another hamstring injury in March 2006, forcing him to withdraw from the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne , and he did not return to track events until May. After his recovery, Bolt was given new training exercises to improve flexibility, and the plans to move him up to the 400 m event were put on hold.

The 200 m remained Bolt's primary event when he returned to competition; he bested Justin Gatlin 's meet record in Ostrava , Czech Republic. Bolt had aspired to run under twenty seconds to claim a season's best but, despite the fact that bad weather had impaired his run, he was happy to end the meeting with just the victory. However, a sub-20-second finish was soon his, as he set a new personal best of 19.88 s at the 2006 Athletissima Grand Prix in Lausanne , Switzerland, finishing behind Xavier Carter and Tyson Gay to earn a bronze medal. Bolt had focused his athletics aims, stating that 2006 was a year to gain experience. Also, he was more keen on competing over longer distances, setting his sights on running regularly in both 200 m and 400 m events within the next two years.

Bolt claimed his first major world medal two months later at the IAAF World Athletics Final in Stuttgart , Germany. He passed the finishing post with a time of 20.10 s, gaining a bronze medal in the process. The IAAF World Cup in Athens, Greece, yielded Bolt's first senior international silver medal. Wallace Spearmon from the United States won gold with a championship record time of 19.87 s, beating Bolt's respectable time of 19.96 s. Further 200 m honours on both the regional and international stages awaited Bolt in 2007. He yearned to run in the 100 metres but Mills was skeptical, believing that Bolt was better suited for middle distances. The coach cited the runner's difficulty in smoothly starting out of the blocks and poor habits such as looking back at opponents in sprints. Mills told Bolt that he could run the shorter distance if he broke the 200 m national record. In the Jamaican Championships, he ran 19.75 s in the 200 m, breaking the 36-year-old Jamaican record held by Don Quarrie by 0.11 s.

Mills complied with Bolt's demand to run in the 100 m, and he was entered to run the event at the 23rd Vardinoyiannia meeting in Rethymno , Crete . In his debut tournament, he won the gold medal in a time of 10.03 s, feeding his enthusiasm for the event.

He built on this achievement at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka , Japan, winning a silver medal. Bolt recorded 19.91 s with a headwind of 0.8 m/s (2.9 km/h; 1.8 mph). The race was won by Tyson Gay in 19.76 s, a new championship record.

Bolt was a member of the silver medal relay team with Asafa Powell, Marvin Anderson, and Nesta Carter in the 4×100 metres relay. Jamaica set a national record of 37.89 s. Bolt did not win any gold medals at the major tournaments in 2007, but Mills felt that Bolt's technique was much improved, pinpointing improvements in Bolt's balance at the turns over 200 m and an increase in his stride frequency, giving him more driving power on the track.

The silver medals from the 2007 Osaka World Championships boosted Bolt's desire to sprint, and he took a more serious, more mature stance towards his career. Bolt continued to develop in the 100 m, and he decided to compete in the event at the Jamaica Invitational in Kingston. On 3 May 2008, Bolt ran a time of 9.76 s, with a 1.8 m/s (6.5 km/h; 4.0 mph) tail wind , improving his personal best from 10.03 s. This was the second-fastest legal performance in the history of the event, second only to compatriot Asafa Powell's 9.74 s record set the previous year in Rieti , Italy. Rival Tyson Gay lauded the performance, especially praising Bolt's form and technique. Michael Johnson observed the race and said that he was shocked at how quickly Bolt had improved over the 100 m distance. The Jamaican surprised even himself with the time, but coach Glen Mills remained confident that there was more to come.

On 31 May 2008, Bolt set a new 100 m world record at the Reebok Grand Prix in the Icahn Stadium in New York City. He ran 9.72s with a tail wind of 1.7 m/s (6.1 km/h; 3.8 mph). This race was Bolt's fifth senior 100 m. Gay again finished second and said of Bolt: "It looked like his knees were going past my face." Commentators noted that Bolt appeared to have gained a psychological advantage over fellow Olympic contender Gay.

In June 2008, Bolt responded to claims that he was a lazy athlete, saying that the comments were unjustified, and he trained hard to achieve his potential. However, he surmised that such comments stemmed from his lack of enthusiasm for the 400 metres event; he chose not to make an effort to train for that particular distance. Turning his efforts to the 200 m, Bolt proved that he could excel in two events—first setting the world-leading time in Ostrava , then breaking the national record for the second time with a 19.67 s finish in Athens, Greece . Although Mills still preferred that Bolt focus on the longer distances, the acceptance of Bolt's demand to run in the 100 m worked for both sprinter and trainer. Bolt was more focused in practice, and a training schedule to boost his top speed and his stamina, in preparation for the Olympics, had improved both his 100 m and 200 m times.

Bolt doubled-up with the 100 metres and 200 metres events at the Beijing Summer Olympics . As the new 100 m world-record holder, he was the favourite to win both races. Michael Johnson , the 200 m and 400 m record holder, personally backed the sprinter, saying that he did not believe that a lack of experience would work against him. Bolt qualified for the 100 m final with times of 9.92 s and 9.85 s in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, respectively.

In the Olympic 100 m final (16 August), Bolt broke new ground, winning in 9.69 s (unofficially 9.683 s) with a reaction time of 0.165 s. This was an improvement upon his own world record, and he was well ahead of second-place finisher Richard Thompson, who finished in 9.89 s. Not only was the record set with no favourable wind (0.0 m/s), but he also visibly slowed down to celebrate before he finished and his shoelace was untied. Bolt's coach reported that, based upon the speed of Bolt's opening 60 m, he could have finished with a time of 9.52 s. After scientific analysis of Bolt's run by the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics at the University of Oslo , Hans Eriksen and his colleagues also predicted a sub 9.60 s time. Considering factors such as Bolt's position, acceleration and velocity in comparison with second-place-finisher Thompson, the team estimated that Bolt could have finished in 9.55±0.04 s had he not slowed to celebrate before the finishing line.

Bolt stated that setting a world record was not a priority for him, and that his goal was just to win the gold medal, Jamaica's first of the 2008 Games. Olympic medallist Kriss Akabusi construed Bolt's chest slapping before the finish line as showboating, noting that the actions cost Bolt an even faster record time. IOC president Jacques Rogge also condemned the Jamaican's actions as disrespectful. Bolt denied that this was the purpose of his celebration by saying, "I wasn't bragging. When I saw I wasn't covered, I was just happy". Lamine Diack, president of the IAAF , supported Bolt and said that his celebration was appropriate given the circumstances of his victory. Jamaican government minister Edmund Bartlett also defended Bolt's actions, stating, "We have to see it in the glory of their moment and give it to them. We have to allow the personality of youth to express itself".

Bolt then focused on attaining a gold medal in the 200 m event, aiming to emulate Carl Lewis ' double win in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics . Michael Johnson felt that Bolt would easily win gold but believed that his own world record of 19.32 s set at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta would remain intact at the Olympics. Bolt eased through the first and second rounds of the 200 m, jogging towards the end of his run both times. He won his semi-final and progressed to the final as the favourite to win. Retired Jamaican sprinter Don Quarrie praised Bolt, saying he was confident that Johnson's record could be beaten. The following day, at the final, he won Jamaica's fourth gold of the Games, setting a new world and Olympic record of 19.30 s. Johnson's record fell despite the fact that Bolt was impeded by a 0.9 m/s (3.2 km/h; 2.0 mph) headwind. The feat made him the first sprinter since Quarrie to hold both 100 m and 200 m world records simultaneously and the first to hold both records since the introduction of electronic timing. Furthermore, Bolt became the first sprinter to break both records at the same Olympics. Unlike in the 100 m final, Bolt sprinted hard all the way to the finishing line in the 200 m race, even dipping his chest to improve his time. Following the race, "Happy Birthday" was played over the stadium's sound system as his 22nd birthday would begin at midnight.

Two days later, Bolt ran as the third leg in the Jamaican 4 × 100 metres relay team, increasing his gold medal total to three. Along with teammates Nesta Carter , Michael Frater, and Asafa Powell, Bolt broke another world and Olympic record, their 37.10 s finish breaking the previous record by three-tenths of a second. Powell, who anchored the team to the finishing line, lamented the loss of his 100m record to Bolt but showed no animosity towards his Jamaican rival, stating that he was delighted to help him set his third world record. In January 2017 the Jamaican relay teammates were stripped of their gold medals when a blood sample taken from Carter after the race was retested and found positive for a banned substance. Following his victories, Bolt donated US$50,000 to the children of Sichuan province in China to help those harmed by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake .

Bolt's record-setting runs caused commentators not only to praise his achievements but to speculate about his potential to become one of the most successful sprinters in history.

At the end of the 2008 athletics season, Bolt competed in the ÅF Golden League, beginning in Weltklasse Zürich. Despite having the slowest start among his competitors in the 100 m race, he still crossed the finishing line in 9.83 s. Even though the time was slower than both his newly set world record and Asafa Powell's track record, it was still among the top-fifteen 100 m finishes by any sprinter to that date. Bolt admitted that he was not running at full strength because he was suffering from a cold, but he concentrated on winning the race and finishing the season in good health. At the Super Grand Prix final in Lausanne , Bolt ran his second-fastest 200 m with a time of 19.63 s, equalling Xavier Carter 's track record. However, it was the 100 m final, featuring Asafa Powell, that drew the most interest. Powell had moved closer to Bolt's world record after setting a new personal best of 9.72 s, reaffirming his status as Bolt's main contender. Bolt's final event of the season came three days later at the Golden League final in Brussels . This was the first 100 m race featuring both Bolt and Powell since the final in the Olympics. Both Jamaicans broke the track record, but Bolt came out on top with a time of 9.77 s, beating Powell by 0.06 s. Victory, however, did not come as smoothly as it had in Beijing. Bolt made the slowest start of the nine competitors and had to recover ground in cold conditions and against a 0.9 m/s (3.2 km/h; 2.0 mph) headwind. Yet the results confirmed Jamaican dominance in the 100 m, with nine of the ten-fastest legal times in history being recorded by either Bolt or Powell.

On his return to Jamaica, Bolt was honoured in a homecoming celebration and received an Order of Distinction in recognition of his achievements at the Olympics. Additionally, Bolt was selected as the IAAF Male Athlete of the year, won a Special Olympic Award for his performances, and was named Laureus World Sportsman of the Year. Bolt turned his attention to future events, suggesting that he could aim to break the 400 metres world record in 2010 as no major championships were scheduled that year.

Bolt started the season competing in the 400 metres in order to improve his speed, winning two races and registering 45.54 s in Kingston, and windy conditions gave him his first sub-10 seconds finish of the season in the 100 m in March. In late April, Bolt suffered minor leg injuries in a car crash. However, he quickly recovered following minor surgery and (after cancelling a track meet in Jamaica) he stated that he was fit to compete in the 150 metres street race at the Manchester Great City Games. Bolt won the race in 14.35 s, the fastest time ever recorded for 150 m. Despite not being at full fitness, he took the 100 and 200 m titles at the Jamaican national championships, with runs of 9.86 s and 20.25 s respectively. This meant he had qualified for both events at the 2009 World Championships. Rival Tyson Gay suggested that Bolt's 100 m record was within his grasp, but Bolt dismissed the claim and instead noted that he was more interested in Asafa Powell's return from injury. Bolt defied unfavourable conditions at the Athletissima meet in July, running 19.59 seconds into a 0.9 m/s (3.2 km/h; 2.0 mph) headwind and rain, to record the fourth fastest time ever over 200 m, one hundredth off Gay's best time.

The 2009 World Championships were held during August at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, which was coincidentally the same month and venue where Jesse Owens had achieved world-wide fame 73 years earlier. Bolt eased through the 100-m heats, clocking the fastest ever pre-final performance of 9.89 seconds. The final was the first time that Bolt and Gay had met during the season, and Bolt set a new world record—which stands to this day—with a time of 9.58s to win his first World Championship gold medal. Bolt took more than a tenth of a second off his previous best mark, and this was the largest-ever margin of improvement in the 100-m world record since the beginning of electronic timing. Gay finished with a time of 9.71 s, 0.02 s off Bolt's 9.69 s world-record run in Beijing.

Although Gay withdrew from the second race of the competition, Bolt once again produced world record-breaking time in the 200 metres final. He broke his own record by 0.11 seconds, finishing with a time of 19.19 seconds. He won the 200 m race by the largest margin in World Championships history, even though the race had three other athletes running under 19.90 seconds, the greatest number ever in the event. Bolt's pace impressed even the more experienced of his competitors; third-placed Wallace Spearmon complimented his speed, and the Olympic champion in Athens 2004 Shawn Crawford said "Just coming out there...I felt like I was in a video game, that guy was moving – fast". Bolt pointed out that an important factor in his performance at the World Championships was his improved start to the races: his reaction times in the 100 m (0.146) and 200 m (0.133) were significantly faster than those he had produced in his world record runs at the Beijing Olympics. However, he, together with other members of Jamaican 4×100 m relay team, fell short of their own world record of 37.10 s set at 2008 Summer Olympics by timing 37.31 s, which is, however, a championship record and the second fastest time in history at that date.

On the last day of the Berlin Championships, the Governing Mayor of Berlin , Klaus Wowereit , presented Bolt with a 12-foot high section of the Berlin Wall in a small ceremony, saying Bolt had shown that "one can tear down walls that had been considered as insurmountable." The nearly three-ton segment was delivered to the Jamaica Military Museum in Kingston .

Several days after Bolt broke the world records in 100 and 200 metres events, Mike Powell , the world record holder in long jump (8.95 metres set in 1991) argued that Bolt could become the first man to jump over 9 metres, the long jump event being "a perfect fit for his speed and height". At the end of the season, he was selected as the IAAF World Athlete of the Year for the second year running.

Early on in the 2010 outdoor season, Bolt ran 19.56 seconds in the 200 m in Kingston, Jamaica for the fourth-fastest run of all time, although he stated that he had no record breaking ambitions for the forthcoming season. He took to the international circuit May with wins in East Asia at the Colorful Daegu Pre-Championships Meeting and then a comfortable win in his 2010 IAAF Diamond League debut at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix. Bolt made an attempt to break Michael Johnson's best time over the rarely competed 300 metres event at the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava. He failed to match Johnson's ten-year-old record of 30.85 and suffered a setback in that his 30.97-second run in wet weather had left him with an Achilles tendon problem.

After his return from injury a month later, Bolt asserted himself with a 100 m win at the Athletissima meeting in Lausanne (9.82 seconds) and a victory over Asafa Powell at Meeting Areva in Paris (9.84 seconds). Despite this run of form, he suffered only the second loss of his career in a 100 m final at the DN Galan. Tyson Gay soundly defeated him with a run of 9.84 to Bolt's 9.97 seconds, and the Jamaican reflected that he had slacked off in training early in the season while Gay had been better prepared and in a better condition. This marked Bolt's first loss to Gay in the 100 m, which coincidentally occurred in the same stadium where Powell had beaten Bolt for the first time two years earlier.

Bolt went undefeated over 100 m and 200 m in the 2011 season. He began with wins in Rome and Ostrava in May. He ran his first 200 m in over a year in Oslo that June and his time of 19.86 seconds was a world-leading one. Two further 200 m wins came in Paris and Stockholm the following month, as did a 100 m in Monaco, though he was a tenth of a second slower than compatriot Asafa Powell before the world championships.

Considered the favourite to win in the 100 metres at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu , Bolt was eliminated from the final, breaking "ridiculously early" according to the starter in an interview for BBC Sport, and receiving a false start. This proved to be the highest profile disqualification for a false start since the IAAF changed the rules that previously allowed one false start per race. The disqualification caused some to question the new rule, with former world champion Kim Collins saying it was "a sad night for athletics". Usain Bolt's countryman, Yohan Blake , won in a comparatively slow 9.92 seconds.

In the World Championships 200 m, Bolt cruised through to the final which he won in a time of 19.40. Though this was short of his world record times of the two previous major tournaments, it was the fourth fastest run ever at that point, after his own records and Michael Johnson's former record, and left him three tenths of a second ahead of runner-up Walter Dix. This achievement made Bolt one of only two men to win consecutive 200 m world titles, alongside Calvin Smith . Bolt closed the championships with another gold with Jamaica in the 4 × 100 metres relay. Nesta Carter and Michael Frater joined world champions Bolt and Blake to set a world record time of 37.04.

Following the World Championships, Bolt ran 9.85 seconds for the 100 m to win in Zagreb before setting the year's best time of 9.76 seconds at the Memorial Van Damme . This run was overshadowed by Jamaican rival Blake's unexpected run of 19.26 seconds in the 200 m at the same meeting, which brought him within seven hundredths of Bolt's world record. Although Bolt failed to win the Diamond Race in a specific event, he was not beaten on the 2011 IAAF Diamond League circuit, taking three wins in each of his specialities that year.

Bolt began the 2012 season with a leading 100 m time of 9.82 seconds in May. He defeated Asafa Powell with runs of 9.76 seconds in Rome and 9.79 in Oslo. At the Jamaican Athletics Championships, he lost to Yohan Blake, first in the 200 m and then in the 100 m, with his younger rival setting leading times for the year.

However, at the 2012 London Olympics, he won the 100 metres gold medal with a time of 9.63 seconds, improving upon his own Olympic record and duplicating his gold medal from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Blake was the silver medallist with a time of 9.75 seconds. Following the race, seventh-place finisher Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago declared "There's no doubt he's the greatest sprinter of all time", while USA Today referred to Bolt as a Jamaican "national hero", noting that his victory came just hours before Jamaica was to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its independence from the United Kingdom. With his 2012 win, Bolt became the first man to successfully defend an Olympic sprint title since Carl Lewis in 1988.

Bolt followed this up with a successful defence of his Olympic 200 metres title with a time of 19.32 seconds, followed by Blake at 19.44 and Warren Weir at 19.84 to complete a Jamaican podium sweep. With this, Bolt became the first man in history to defend both the 100 m and 200 m Olympic sprint titles. He was dramatic in victory: in the final metres of the 200 m race, Bolt placed his fingers on his lips, gesturing to silence his critics, and after crossing the line he completed five push-ups – one for each of his Olympic gold medals.

On the final day of the 2012 Olympic athletics, Bolt participated in Jamaica's gold medal-winning 4×100 metres relay team along with Nesta Carter , Michael Frater and Blake. With a time of 36.84 seconds, they knocked two tenths of a second from their previous world record from 2011. He celebrated by imitating the " Mobot " celebration of Mo Farah , who had claimed a long-distance track double for the host nation.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge initially stated that Bolt was not yet a "legend" and would not deserve such acclaim until the end of his career, but later called him the best sprinter of all time. Following the Olympics he was confirmed as the highest earning track and field athlete in history.

Bolt ended his season with wins on the 2012 IAAF Diamond League circuit; he had 200 m wins of 19.58 and 19.66 in Lausanne and Zürich before closing with a 100 m of 9.86 in Brussels. The latter run brought him his first Diamond League title in the 100 m.

Bolt failed to record below 10 seconds early season and had his first major 100 m race of 2013 at the Golden Gala in June. He was served an unexpected defeat by Justin Gatlin , with the American winning 9.94 to Bolt's 9.95. Bolt denied the loss was due to a hamstring issue he had early that year and Gatlin responded: "I don't know how many people have beaten Bolt but it's an honour". With Yohan Blake injured, Bolt won the Jamaican 100 m title ahead of Kemar Bailey-Cole and skipped the 200 m, which was won by Warren Weir. Prior to the 2013 World Championships in Athletics, Bolt set world leading times in the sprints, with 9.85 for the 100 m at the London Anniversary Games and 19.73 for the 200 m in Paris.

Bolt regained the title as world's fastest man by winning the World Championships 100 metres in Moscow. In wet conditions, he edged Gatlin by eight hundredths of a second with 9.77, which was the fastest run that year. Gatlin was the sole non-Jamaican in the top five, with Nesta Carter, Nickel Ashmeade and Bailey-Cole finishing next.

Bolt was less challenged in the 200 m final. His closest rival was Jamaican champion Warren Weir but Bolt ran a time of 19.66 to finish over a tenth of a second clear. This performance made Bolt the first man in the history of the 200 metres at the World Championships in Athletics to win three gold medals over the distance.

Bolt won a third consecutive world relay gold medal in the 4 × 100 metres relay final, which made him the most successful athlete in the 30-year history of the world championships. The Jamaican team, featuring four of the top five from the 100 m final were comfortable winners with Bolt reaching the finish line on his anchor leg three tenths of a second ahead of the American team anchored by Gatlin. Bolt's performances were matched on the women's side by Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce , meaning Jamaica took a complete sweep of the sprint medals at the 2013 World Championships.

After the championships, Bolt took 100 m wins on the 2013 IAAF Diamond League circuit in Zürich and Brussels. He remained unbeaten in the 200 m and his only loss that year was to Gatlin over 100 m in Rome. For the fifth time in six years, Bolt was named IAAF World Male Athlete of the Year.

An injury to Bolt's hamstring in March 2014 caused him to miss nine weeks of training. Having recovered from surgery, Bolt competed in the 4 × 100 metres relay of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Not in peak form Bolt said that he was attending the Games for the fans and to show his progress since the injury. Bolt and his teammates won the 4 × 100 metres relay in 37.58 seconds – a Commonwealth Games record. This was the foremost competition of the year for Bolt, given no Olympics or World Championships in 2014.

In August 2014, Bolt set the indoor 100 m world record in Warsaw with a time of 9.98 seconds. This was his sole individual outing of the 2014 season. Soon afterwards he ended his season early in order to be fit for the 2015 season. In Bolt's absence, Justin Gatlin had dominated the sprints, holding the year's fastest times, including seven of the top ten 100 m runs that season.

At the start of 2015, he intended to make the 2017 World Championships in Athletics his last major competition before retirement.

Upon his return from injury, Bolt appeared a reduced figure at the start of the 2015 season. He ran only two 100 m and three 200 m before the major championship. He opened with 10.12 seconds for the 100 m and 20.20 for the 200 m. He won the 200 m in New York and Ostrava, but his season's best time of 20.13 seconds ranked him 20th in the world going into the championships. Two 100 m runs of 9.87 in July in London showed better form, but in comparison, Justin Gatlin was easily the top ranked sprinter – the American had times of 9.74 and 19.57 seconds, and had already run under 9.8 seconds on four occasions that season. Bolt entered the World Championships to defend his sprint titles but was not the comfortable favourite he had been since 2008.

In the World Championships 100 m, Bolt won his semi-final in 9.96, which lagged Gatlin's semi-final win in 9.77 seconds. However, Gatlin did not match that form in the final while Bolt improved through the rounds. In a narrow victory, Bolt leaned at the line to beat Gatlin 9.79 to 9.80 seconds. Bolt joined Carl Lewis and Maurice Greene on a record three 100 m world titles.

A similar outcome followed in the 200 m World finals. In the semi-final, Gatlin outpaced Bolt – the Jamaican at 19.95 and the American at 19.87. Despite such slow times prior to Beijing, Bolt delivered in the final with his fifth fastest run ever for the 200 m at 19.55 seconds. Gatlin failed to reach his early season form and finished almost two-tenths of a second behind Bolt. Bolt's four consecutive wins over 200 m at the World Championships was unprecedented and established him clearly as the best ever sprinter at the competition.

There was also a fourth straight win in the 4 × 100 metres relay with the Jamaica team ( Nesta Carter , Asafa Powell, Nickel Ashmeade, Usain Bolt). The Americans initially had a lead, but a poor baton exchange saw them disqualified and Jamaica defend their title in 37.36 seconds – well clear of the Chinese team who took a surprise silver for the host nation.

Conscious of his injuries at the start of the season, he did not compete after the World Championships, skipping the 2015 IAAF Diamond League final.

Bolt competed sparingly in the 200 m before the Olympics, with a run of 19.89 seconds to win at the London Grand Prix being his sole run of note over that distance. He had four races over 100 m, though only one was in Europe, and his best of 9.88 seconds in Kingston placed him fourth on the world seasonal rankings. As in the previous season, Gatlin appeared to be in better form, having seasonal bests of 9.80 and 19.75 seconds to rank first and second in the sprints.

At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Bolt won the 100 metres gold medal with a time of 9.81 seconds. With this win, Bolt became the first athlete to win the event three times at the Olympic Games. Bolt followed up his 100 m win with a gold medal in the 200 m, which also makes him the first athlete to win the 200 m three times at the Olympic Games. Bolt ran the anchor leg for the finals of the 4 × 100 m relay and secured his third consecutive and last Olympic gold medal in the event. With that win, Bolt obtained the "triple-triple", three sprinting gold medals in three consecutive Olympics, and finished his Olympic career with a 100% win record in finals. However, in January 2017, Bolt was stripped of the 4 × 100 relay gold from the Beijing Games in 2008 because his teammate Nesta Carter was found guilty of a doping violation.

Bolt took a financial stake in a new Australia-based track and field meeting series – Nitro Athletics. He performed at the inaugural meet in February 2017 and led his team (Bolt All-Stars) to victory. The competition featured variations on traditional track and field events. He committed himself to three further editions.

In 2017, the Jamaican team was stripped of the 2008 Olympics 4×100 metre title due to Nesta Carter 's disqualification for doping offences. Bolt was quoted by the BBC saying that the prospect of having to return the gold was "heartbreaking".

At the 2017 World Athletics Championships, Bolt won his heat uncomfortably after a slow start in 10.07, in his semi-final he improved to 9.98 but was beaten by Christian Coleman by 0.01. That race broke Bolt's 4 year winning streak in the 100 m. In his final individual race, in the final, Bolt won the bronze medal in 9.95, 0.01 behind silver medalist Coleman and 0.03 behind World Champion Justin Gatlin . It was the first time Bolt had been beaten at a major championship since the 4×100 m relay of the 2007 World Athletics Championships. Also at the 2017 World Athletics Championships, Bolt participated as the anchor runner for Jamaica's 4×100-metre relay team in both the heats and the final. Jamaica won their heat comfortably in 37.95 seconds. In what was intended to be his final race, Bolt pulled up in agony with 50 metres to go and collapsed to the track after what was later confirmed to be another hamstring injury. He refused a wheelchair and crossed the finish line one last time with the assistance of his teammates Omar McLeod, Julian Forte, and Yohan Blake .

Following his 2017 season, Bolt had a statue of him unveiled in his honour at the National Stadium in Kingston on 3 December 2017. The statue shows him in his signature "lightning bolt" pose.

Personal life

Bolt expresses a love for dancing and his character is frequently described as laid-back and relaxed. His Jamaican track and field idols include Herb McKenley and former Jamaican 100 m and 200 m world record holder Don Quarrie. Michael Johnson , the former 200 m world and Olympic record holder, is also held in high esteem by Bolt.

Bolt has the nickname "Lightning Bolt" due to his name and speed. He is Catholic and known for making the sign of the cross before racing competitively, and he wears a Miraculous Medal during his races. His middle name is St. Leo.

In 2010, Bolt also revealed his fondness of music, when he played a reggae DJ set to a crowd in Paris. He is also an avid fan of the Call of Duty video game series, saying, "I stay up late [playing the game online], I can't help it."

In his autobiography, Bolt wrote that he suffered from scoliosis , a curvature of the spine which made his right leg 1 ⁄ 2 inch (13 mm) shorter than his left. This condition causes an uneven stride, with his left leg remaining on the ground for longer than his right, and hitting the ground with a lesser force. Biomechanics researchers have studied, with no firm conclusions, whether this asymmetry has helped or hurt Bolt in his sprinting career.

He popularised the "lightning bolt" pose, also known as "to di world" or "bolting", which he used both before races and in celebration. The pose consists of extending a slightly raised left arm to the side and the right arm folded across the chest, with both hands have the thumb and index finger outstretched. His performance of the pose during his Olympic and World Championship victories led to widespread copying of the move, from American President Barack Obama to small children. It has been suggested that the pose comes from Jamaican dancehall moves of the period, though Olympic sprint champion Bernard Williams also had performed similar celebration moves earlier that decade. His habit of fist bumping the volunteers for good luck has been noted in the media.

In 2021, Bolt told the BBC that his love for video games , such as Mario Kart and Mortal Kombat , helped him during his Olympic career.

Usain Bolt had fallen victim to a fraud scheme, resulting in the disappearance of more than $12 million from his retirement savings account, according to a letter from his attorneys obtained by the Associated Press. The account, held with Kingston-based investment firm Stocks and Securities Ltd., showed a balance of only $12,000, down from its previous $12.8 million. Bolt's legal team had stated that if the allegations were true, a serious act of fraud or larceny had been committed against their client.

On 17 May 2020, Bolt's longtime girlfriend Kasi Bennett gave birth to their first child, daughter Olympia Lightning. Bolt and Bennett welcomed twin boys Thunder and Saint Leo in June 2021.

Cricket was the first sport to interest Bolt, and he said if he were not a sprinter, he would be a fast bowler instead. As a child, he admired the bowling of Waqar Younis . He is also a fan of Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar , West Indian opener Chris Gayle , and Australian opener Matthew Hayden . During a charity cricket match, Bolt clean-bowled Gayle, who was complimentary of Bolt's pace and swing. Bolt also struck a six off Gayle's bowling. Another bowler complimentary of Bolt's pace was former West Indies fast-bowling great Curtly Ambrose.

After talking with Australian cricketer Shane Warne , Bolt suggested that if he were able to get time off he would be interested in playing in the cricket Big Bash League. Melbourne Stars chief executive Clint Cooper said there were free spots on his team should he be available. Bolt stated that he enjoyed the Twenty20 version of the game, admiring the aggressive and constant nature of the batting. On his own ability, he said, "I don't know how good I am. I will probably have to get a lot of practice in."

Bolt is also a fan of Premier League football team Manchester United . He has declared he is a fan of Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy . Bolt was a special guest of Manchester United at the 2011 UEFA Champions League Final in London, where he stated that he would like to play for them after his retirement.

In 2013, Bolt played basketball in the NBA All-Star Weekend Celebrity Game. He scored two points from a slam dunk but acknowledged his other basketball skills were lacking.

In an interview with Decca Aitkenhead of The Guardian in November 2016, Bolt said he wished to play as a professional footballer after retiring from track and field. He reiterated his desire to play for Manchester United if given a chance and added, "For me, if I could get to play for Manchester United, that would be like a dream come true. Yes, that would be epic."

In 2018, after training with Norwegian side Strømsgodset, Bolt played for the club as a forward in a friendly match against the Norway national under-19 team. He wore the number "9.58" in allusion to his 100 m world record. Bolt wore the same number whilst captaining the World XI during Soccer Aid 2018 at Old Trafford .

On 21 August 2018, on his 32nd birthday, Bolt started training with Australian club Central Coast Mariners of the A-League . He made his friendly debut for the club as a substitute on 31 August 2018 against a Central Coast Select team, made up of players playing in the local area. On 12 October, he started in a friendly against amateur club Macarthur South West United and scored two goals, both in the second half, with his goal celebration featuring his signature "To Di World" pose.

Bolt was offered a two-year contract from Maltese club Valletta, which he turned down on 18 October 2018. On 21 October 2018, Bolt was offered a contract by the Mariners. The Australian FA was helping the Mariners to fund it. Later that month, Perth Glory forward Andy Keogh was critical of Bolt's ability, stating his first touch is "like a trampoline." He added Bolt has "shown a bit of potential but it's a little bit of a kick in the teeth to the professionals that are in the league."

Bolt left the Mariners in early November 2018 after 8 weeks with the club. In January 2019, Bolt decided not to pursue a career in football, saying his "sports life is over."

Bolt, a Green Bay Packers fan, stated in July 2021 he could have considered a career as a wide receiver in the National Football League had the rules on violent tackles related to concussions been as tightly regulated 'back in the day' as they were by that stage. If he had switched to gridiron football, his concern was that he would have been a high-priced target for very heavy hits which made him back out of his desire to try the sport. He also felt certain that even at 34 and being retired he would comfortably be the fastest player in the league.

A documentary film based on the athletic life of Bolt to win three Olympic gold medals, titled I Am Bolt , was released on 28 November 2016 in United Kingdom. The film was directed by Benjamin Turner and Gabe Turner.

After winning the 200 m title in the 2002 World Junior Championships in Kingston, Bolt signed a sponsorship deal with Puma . To promote Bolt's chase for Olympic glory in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, Puma released a series of videos including Bolt's then-world-record-setting run in Icahn Stadium and his Olympic preparations. After his record-breaking run in New York City, which was preceded by a lightning storm , the press frequently made puns on the Jamaican's name, nicknaming him "Lightning Bolt" and the "Bolt from the blue". During the 2008 Beijing 100 m final, Bolt wore golden Puma Complete Theseus spikes that had "Beijing 100 m Gold" emblazoned across them.

In September 2010, Bolt travelled to Australia where his sponsor Gatorade was holding an event called the "Gatorade Bolt" to find Australia's fastest footballer. The event was held at the Sydney International Athletic Centre and featured football players from rugby league , rugby union , Australian rules football , and association football . Prior to the race Bolt gave the runners some private coaching and also participated in the 10th anniversary celebrations for the 2000 Summer Olympic Games .

In January 2012, Bolt impersonated Richard Branson in an advertising campaign for Virgin Media . The campaign was directed by Seth Gordon and features the Virgin founder Branson to promote its broadband service. In March 2012, Bolt starred in an advert for Visa and the 2012 Summer Olympics. In July 2012, Bolt and RockLive launched Bolt! , an Apple iOS game based on his exploits. Bolt! quickly became the No. 1 app in Jamaica and climbed the UK iTunes charts to reach No. 2 on the list of Top Free Apps.

In 2012, Bolt collaborated with headphone maker Soul Electronics to design his own line of headphones. Bolt designed both an in-ear bud and over-ear model with the Jamaican color scheme and his signature "To Di World" pose.

Bolt's autobiography, My Story: 9.58: Being the World's Fastest Man , was released in 2010. Bolt had previously said that the book "...should be exciting, it's my life, and I'm a cool and exciting guy." His athletics agent is PACE Sports Management.

As part of his sponsorship deal with Puma, the manufacturer sends sporting equipment to his alma mater, William Knibb Memorial High School, every year. At Bolt's insistence, advertisements featuring him are filmed in Jamaica, by a Jamaican production crew, in an attempt to boost local enterprise and gain exposure for the country. In 2017, Bolt had the third highest earning social media income for sponsors among sportspeople (behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar ), and he was the only non-footballer in the top seven.

Bolt is the highest paid athlete in the history of the sport. In 2016, Bolt earned about $33 million in one year putting him at No. 32 on Forbes list of The World's Highest-paid Athletes making him the only track and field athlete on the list.

Usain Bolt co-founded electric scooter company Bolt Mobility in 2018, created in his namesake. Bolt founded the micromobility company, which provides electric scooters and other yet-to-be released mobility devices, such as the company's upcoming Bolt Nano . Bolt appeared in Bolt Mobility's debut commercial, released through YouTube and his official Facebook account. Bolt appeared in a number of interviews for the company, alongside CEO Sarah Pishevar Haynes. Bolt made his first public appearance for the company in March 2019, during the company's New York City launch and in CNBC interviews on the NYSE . In May 2019, the company expanded its services to Europe, introducing the product first in Paris . In May 2019, Bolt spoke in Paris at the Viva Technology conference, where he introduced the company's future release of the Nano minicar. He also met with French president Emmanuel Macron while at the conference. While in France, Bolt participated in a CNN interview where he revealed his reasons for founding the company.

Bolt argues that his scooter is different, which allows bag, shopping and mobile phone storage. The scooters have capabilities to reach up to 30 mph, but are typically capped at 15 mph depending on city regulation. The company has begun operations in a number of U.S. cities, and plans to expand throughout Europe and Asia.

In early July 2022, Bolt Mobility abruptly ceased operations, leaving bike-sharing programs up in the air, including Burlington, Vermont; Portland, Oregon; Richmond, California; and Richmond, Virginia.

In July 2019, Bolt made his debut as a dancehall music producer with the release of the Olympe Rosé riddim that featured 5 tracks from Jamaican dancehall artistes: Dexta Daps "Big Moves", Munga Honorable "Weekend", Christopher Martin "Dweet", Ding Dong "Top A Di Top" and football player turned artist Ricardo "Bibi" Gardner "Mount A Gyal".

In November 2019, he followed up with another compilation called Immortal Riddim that included tracks from Vybz Kartel, Masicka, Munga Honorable and Christopher Martin.

In early January 2021, Bolt released a single titled "Living the Dream" with his childhood friend and manager Nugent 'NJ' Walker.

IAAF World Athlete of the Year: 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016
Track & Field Athlete of the Year: 2008, 2009
Laureus World Sportsman of the Year: 2009, 2010, 2013, 2017
BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year: 2008, 2009, 2012
L'Équipe Champion of Champions: 2008, 2009, 2012, 2015
Jamaica Sportsman of the year: 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013
AIPS Male Athlete of the Year: 2015
Marca Leyenda (2009)
In October 2008, he was made a Commander of the Order of Distinction, which entitles him to use the post nominal letters CD.
In 2009, at age 23, Usain Bolt became the youngest member so far of the Order of Jamaica . The award was "for outstanding performance in the field of athletics at the international level". In the Jamaican honours system, this is considered the equivalent of a knighthood in the British honours system , and entitles him to be formally styled " The Honourable ", and to use the post nominal letters OJ .

Event	Time (seconds)	Venue	Date	Notes
	9.58	,	16 August 2009	Also has the second fastest time (9.63) and shares the third fastest time of 9.69 with Tyson Gay and Yohan Blake. Bolt's 9.63 is the Olympic record, set at the 2012 games.
150 metres	14.35	,	17 May 2009	He ran the last 100 m in 8.70, the fastest ever recorded time over a 100 m distance. This would equal an average speed of 41.38 km/h (25.71 mph).
200 metres	19.19	,	20 August 2009	Also holds the Olympic record with 19.30, which was then (2008) a world record.
300 metres	30.97	,	27 May 2010	This is the fourth fastest time, behind Letsile Tebogo 30.69, Wayde van Niekerk 30.81 & Michael Johnson 30.85. The event is not recognised by the .
400 metres	45.28	,	5 May 2007
4 × 100 metres relay	36.84	,	11 August 2012	Shared with , Michael Frater and .

Bolt's personal best of 9.58 seconds in 2009 in the 100 metres is the fastest ever run. Bolt also holds the second fastest time of 9.63 seconds, the current Olympic record, and set two previous world records in the event. Bolt's personal best of 19.19 s in the 200 metres is the world record. This was recorded at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin against a headwind of −0.3 m/s (−1.1 km/h; −0.67 mph). This performance broke his previous world record in the event, his 19.30 s clocking in winning the 2008 Olympic 200 metres title.

Bolt has been on three world-record-setting Jamaican relay teams. The first record, 37.10 seconds, was set in winning gold at the 2008 Summer Olympics, although the result was voided in 2017 when the team was disqualified. The second record came at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, a time of 37.04 seconds. The third world record was set at the 2012 Summer Olympics, a time of 36.84 seconds.

Bolt also holds the 200 metres world teenage best results for the age categories 15 (20.58 s), 16 (20.13 s, former world youth record), 17 (19.93 s) and 18 (19.93 s, world junior record). He also holds the 150 metres world best set in 2009, during which he ran the last 100 metres in 8.70 seconds, the quickest timed 100 metres ever.

Bolt completed a total of 53 wind-legal sub-10-second performances in the 100 m during his career, with his first coming on 3 May 2008 and his last on 5 August 2017 at the World Championships. His longest undefeated streak in the 200 m was in 17 finals, lasting from 12 June 2008 to 3 September 2011. He also had a win-streak covering 14 100 m finals from 16 August 2008 to 16 July 2010.

Bolt claimed 19 Guinness World Records , and, after Michael Phelps , holds the second-highest number of accumulative Guinness World Records for total number of accomplishments and victories in sports.

Fastest run 150 metres (male)
Most medals won at the IAAF Athletics World Championships (male)
Most gold medals won at the IAAF Athletics World Championships (male)
Most Athletics World Championships Men's 200 m wins
Most consecutive Olympic gold medals won in the 100 metres (male)
Most consecutive Olympic gold medals won in the 200 metres (male)
Most Olympic men's 200 metres Gold medals
Fastest run 200 metres (male)
Most Men's IAAF World Athlete of Year Trophies
First Olympic track sprint triple-double
Highest annual earnings for a track athlete
Most wins of the 100 m sprint at the Olympic Games
First athlete to win the 100 m and 200 m sprints at successive Olympic Games
Fastest run 100 metres (male)
First man to win the 200 m sprint at successive Olympic Games
Most Athletics World Championships Men's 100 m wins
Most tickets sold at an IAAF World Championships
Most competitive 100 m sprint races completed in sub 10 seconds
Fastest relay 4×100 metres (male)

From his record time of 9.58 s for the 100 m sprint, Usain Bolt's average ground speed equates to 37.58 km/h (23.35 mph). However, once his reaction time of 0.148 s is subtracted, his time is 9.44 s, making his average speed 38.18 km/h (23.72 mph). Bolt's top speed, based on his split time of 1.61 s for the 20 metres from the 60- to 80-metre marks (made during the 9.58 WR at 100m), is 12.42 m/s (44.72 km/h (27.79 mph)).

World rank in parentheses

Year	100 metres	200 metres	400 metres
2001	—	21.73	48.28
2002	—	20.58	47.12
2003	—	20.13 (9)	45.35
2004	—	19.93 (2)	47.58
2005	—	19.99 (3)	—
2006	—	19.88 (4)	47.58
2007	10.03 (12)	19.75 (3)
2008	9.69 (1)	19.30 (1)	46.94
2009	(1)	(1)	45.54
2010	9.82 (4)	19.56 (1)	45.87
2011	9.76 (1)	19.40 (2)	—
2012	9.63 (1)	19.32 (1)	—
2013	9.77 (1)	19.66 (1)	46.44
2014	9.98 (16)	—	—
2015	9.79 (2)	19.55 (1)	46.38
2016	9.81 (2)	19.78 (3)	—
2017	9.95 (10)	—	—

Representing
Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Time	Notes
2001	CARIFTA Games	, Barbados	2nd	200 m	21.81
	CARIFTA Games	, Barbados	2nd	400 m	48.28
	World Youth Championships	, Hungary	17th (semis)	200 m	21.73
	World Youth Championships	, Hungary	4th	Medley relay	1:52.36
2002	CAC Junior Championships (U17)	, Barbados	1st	200 m	20.61
			1st	400 m	47.12
			1st	4×100 m relay	40.95
			1st	4×400 m relay	3:16.61
	CARIFTA Games		1st	200 m	21.12
			1st	400 m	47.33
			1st	4×400 m relay	3:18.88
	World Junior Championships		1st	200 m	20.61
			2nd	4×100 m relay	39.15
			2nd	4×400 m relay	3:04.06
2003	CARIFTA Games	, Trinidad and Tobago	1st	200 m	20.43
			1st	400 m	46.35
			1st	4×100 m relay	39.43
			1st	4×400 m relay	3:09.70
	World Youth Championships	, Canada	1st	200 m	20.40
			(semis)	400 m	—
			(semis)	Medley relay	—
	Pan American Junior Championships	, Barbados	1st	200 m	20.13
	Pan American Junior Championships	, Barbados	2nd	4×100 m relay	39.40
2004	CARIFTA Games		1st	200 m	19.93
			1st	4×100 m relay	39.48
			1st	4×400 m relay	3:12.00
	Olympic Games	, Greece	40th (heats)	200 m	21.05
2005	CAC Championships		1st	200 m	20.03
2005	World Championships	, Finland	8th	200 m	26.27
2006	World Athletics Final	, Germany	3rd	200 m	20.10
2006	IAAF World Cup	, Greece	2nd	200 m	19.96
2007	World Championships	, Japan	2nd	200 m	19.91
2007	World Championships	, Japan	2nd	4×100 m relay	37.89
2008	Olympic Games	, China	1st	100 m	9.69
			1st	200 m	19.30
				4×100 m relay	—
2009	World Championships	, Germany	1st	100 m	9.58
			1st	200 m	19.19
			1st	4×100 m relay	37.31
	World Athletics Final	, Greece	1st	200 m	19.68	=
2011	World Championships	, South Korea		100 m	—	False start
			1st	200 m	19.40
			1st	4×100 m relay	37.04
2012	Olympic Games	, United Kingdom	1st	100 m	9.63
			1st	200 m	19.32
			1st	4×100 m relay	36.84
2013	World Championships	, Russia	1st	100 m	9.77
			1st	200 m	19.66
			1st	4×100 m relay	37.36
2014		, United Kingdom	1st	4×100 m relay	37.58
2015	World Relays		2nd	4×100 m relay	37.68
	World Championships	, China	1st	100 m	9.79
			1st	200 m	19.55
			1st	4×100 m relay	37.36
2016	Olympic Games	, Brazil	1st	100 m	9.81
			1st	200 m	19.78
			1st	4×100 m relay	37.27
2017	World Championships	, United Kingdom	3rd	100 m	9.95
2017	World Championships	, United Kingdom		4×100 m relay	—	Injury

100 m: 2008, 2009, 2013
200 m: 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009

: 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013

: 2009

Manchester GreatCity Games: 2010 (150 m)
Ostrava Golden Spike: 2010 (300 m)
Athletics in Jamaica
Jamaica at the Olympics
List of multiple Olympic gold medalists
List of multiple Olympic gold medalists at a single Games
Men's 100 metres world record progression
Men's 200 metres world record progression
Sport in Berlin
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The Fastest Man Alive: The True Story of Usain Bolt Paperback – October 1, 2012

Print length 288 pages
Language English
Publisher Sports Publishing
Publication date October 1, 2012
Dimensions 7 x 7 x 9 inches
ISBN-10 9781613210673
ISBN-13 978-1613210673
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ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1613210671
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sports Publishing; 1st edition (October 1, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781613210673
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1613210673
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.4 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 7 x 9 inches
#1,280 in Track & Field Sports
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Usain Bolt
Usain Bolt (b. 1986) is a Jamaican sprinter who won gold medals in the 100-meter and 200-meter races in an unprecedented three straight Olympic Games and is widely considered the greatest sprinter of all time. He set numerous world records, notably winning the 100-meter world championship event in 2009 with a time of 9.58 seconds.
Usain Bolt
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Usain's family and friends discuss the path which led the record breaker to become the world's fastest man, including an insight into his childhood and what ...
PDF Usain Bolt A biography
n Bolt - A biographyUsain Saint Leo Bolt was born on the 21st of August 1986 in Sherwood Content, a small tow. in Trelawny, Jamaica. He is a World and Olympic champion sprinter and many people believe he is the fastest person ever, which has earned him the nicknam. 'Lightning Bolt'!Usain Bolt grew up with his parents, Wellesley and ...
Usain Bolt facts for kids
Usain St. Leo Bolt OJ CD OLY (/ ˈ juː s eɪ n /; born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time.He is the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay.. An eight-time Olympic gold medallist, Bolt is the only sprinter to win Olympic 100 m and 200 m titles at three consecutive Olympics (2008, 2012 ...
Usain Bolt : my story : 9.58 : being the world's fastest man
Bolt, Usain, 1986-, Runners (Sports) -- Jamaica -- Biography Publisher London : HarperSport Collection internetarchivebooks; inlibrary; printdisabled Contributor Internet Archive Language English Item Size 925.2M . 282 p. : 24 cm Since the heady days of the Beijing Olympics in August 2008, Usain Bolt has lowered both the 100 metres and 200 ...
Usain BOLT
Usain BOLT, Jamaica
The Fastest Man Alive: The True Story of Usain Bolt
Usain St. Leo Bolt is a thirty-year-old phenomenon. At the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, he won gold in the 100-meter (9.69 seconds), the 200-meter (19.30 seconds), and the 4x100-meter relay (37.10 seconds), becoming the first man to win three sprinting events at a single Olympics since Carl Lewis in 1984.
Usain Bolt
Usain Bolt (Trelawny, 21. kolovoza 1986.), sprinter s Jamajke. ... Bolt je istrčao 9,63 te tako srušio olimpijski rekord na 100m koji je prije toga bio 9,69, te novi rekord na 4x100m koji iznosi 36,84, s Yohanom Blakeom, Nestom Carterom i Michaelom Fraterom. Na SP u Berlinu 2009. Usain Bolt postavio je dva svjetska rekorda, na 100 m - 9,58 s ...

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The Inspiring Journey of Usain Bolt: A Track & Field Legend

Early Life and Introduction to Track & Field

Discovering Talent and Passion for Running

Initial Training and Development

Rise to International Stardom

Breakthrough at the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Dominance in the 100m and 200m Events

Setting World Records and Winning Multiple Gold Medals

Legacy and Impact on the Sport

Retirement and Transition to Other Endeavors

Inspiring the Next Generation of Track & Field Athletes

Usain Bolt’s Enduring Influence on the Sport

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