Usain St. Leo Bolt,
OJ, CD (
;
[9] born 21 August 1986) is a Jamaican
sprinter. Regarded as the fastest person ever, he is the first man to hold both the
100 metres and
200 metres world records since
fully automatic time measurements became mandatory in 1977. Along with his teammates, he also set the world record in the
4×100 metres relay. He is the reigning Olympic champion in these three events, the first man to win six Olympic
gold medals
in sprinting, and a ten-time World champion. He was the first to
achieve a "double double" by winning 100 m and 200 m titles at
consecutive Olympics (2008 and 2012),
[10] and topped this through the first "double triple" (including 4×100 m relays).
[11]
Although gaining worldwide popularity for a sprint double victory at
the Beijing Games, Bolt has had more victories as a 200 m runner. While
he had not won any significant 100 m title prior to the
2008 Olympics, he had won numerous crowns in the 200 m event at the youth, junior and senior levels. Further, at the
2013 World Championships in Moscow, Bolt completed a
hat-trick of
200 m world titles by winning his third straight gold in the event. His 2009 record breaking margin for
100 m,
from 9.69 seconds (his own previous world record) to 9.58, is the
highest since the start of fully automatic time measurements.
[12]
Bolt's achievements in sprinting have earned him the media nickname "Lightning Bolt",
[13] and awards including the
IAAF World Athlete of the Year,
Track & Field Athlete of the Year, and
Laureus World Sportsman of the Year (three times). He is the highest paid athlete ever in track and field.
[14] He has been called the world's most marketable athlete.
[15]
By winning three gold medals at the 2015 World Championships, Bolt
became the first athlete to complete a "triple triple", and also became
the
most successful athlete in the 32-year history of the athletics world championships.
On 14 February 2015, Bolt announced that he intends to retire from athletics after the 2017 World Championships in London.
[16]
Early years
Bolt was born on 21 August 1986 in
Sherwood Content,
[2] a small town in
Trelawny, Jamaica, and grew up with his parents, Wellesley and Jennifer Bolt, his brother Sadiki,
[17] and his sister Sherine.
[18][19] 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,
[20] later saying, "When I was young, I didn't really think about anything other than sports".
[21]
As a child, Bolt attended Waldensia Primary, where he first began to
show his sprinting potential, running in the annual national
primary-schools' meeting for his parish.
[13] By the age of twelve, Bolt had become the school's fastest runner over the
100 metres distance.
[22]
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.
[23] Pablo McNeil, a former Olympic sprint athlete,
[24] and Dwayne Jarrett coached Bolt,
[25]
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.
[13] Bolt won his first annual
high school championships medal in 2001, taking the silver medal in the
200 metres with a time of 22.04 seconds.
[13]
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.
[24]
Early competitions
Performing for Jamaica in his first Caribbean regional event, Bolt clocked a personal best 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.
[26]
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.
[27]
Bolt still did not take athletics or himself too seriously, however,
and he took his mischievousness to new heights by hiding in the back of a
van when he was supposed to be preparing for the 200 m finals at the
CARIFTA Trials. He was detained by the police for his practical joke,
and there was an outcry from the local community, which blamed coach
McNeil for the incident.
[24]
However, the controversy subsided, and both McNeil and Bolt went to the
CARIFTA Games, where Bolt set championship records in the 200 m and
400 m with times of 21.12 s and 47.33 s, respectively.
[26] He continued to set records with 20.61 s and 47.12 s finishes at the
Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships.
[28]
Bolt is one of only nine athletes, (along with
Valerie Adams,
Veronica Campbell-Brown,
Jacques Freitag,
Yelena Isinbayeva,
Jana Pittman,
Dani Samuels,
David Storl,
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.
[24]
Rise to prominence
The
2002 World Junior Championships
before a home crowd in Kingston, Jamaica, gave Bolt a chance to prove
his credentials on the world stage. By the age of 15, he had grown to
1.96 metres (6 ft 5 in) tall, and he physically stood out among his
peers.
[13] He won the 200 m, in a time of 20.61 s,
[29] 0.03 seconds slower than his personal best of 20.58 s set in the 1st round.
[30] Bolt's 200 m win made him the youngest world-junior gold medalist ever.
[31]
The expectation from the home crowd had made him so nervous that he had
put his shoes on the wrong feet. 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.
[32] 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.
[33][34]
The flow of medals continued as he won four gold medals at the
2003 CARIFTA Games, and was awarded the
Austin Sealy Trophy for the most outstanding athlete of the games.
[35][36][37] 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 head wind.
[38] 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".
[39] Bolt had also impressed the athletics hierarchy, and he received the
IAAF Rising Star Award for 2002.
[40]
In his final Jamaican High School Championships in 2003, he broke
both 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.
[13] While Bolt improved upon the 200 time three months later, setting the still standing
World youth best at the
2003 Pan American Junior Championships, it remains the No. 2 youth time.
[41] The 400 time remains No. 6 on all time youth list, only surpassed once since by future Olympic champion
Kirani James.
[42]
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.
[13][43]
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.
[39]
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".
[39]
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.
[44]
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.
[13]
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.
[39][45] However, he suffered a bout of
conjunctivitis before the event, and it ruined his training schedule.
[13]
Realising 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.
[45]
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.
[40]
For more information please visit : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usain_Bolt
