What Usain Bolt did next: Olympic legend on his greatest achievement and life after athletics
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With his broad grin and relaxed, languid running style, Usain Bolt often looked like he was going for a jog in the park rather than competing as the fastest man in the world.
Few athletes have been so dominant in their sport that they have time to pose and smile for the cameras mid-race, but Bolt wasn’t like other sprint stars.
The viral image of the Jamaican grinning as he approached the line in his 100m semifinal at Rio 2016 encapsulated the joy he brought to athletics every time he stepped onto the track.
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Bolt’s list of achievements in the sport is almost as long as his stride. There are eight Olympic golds — which also made him the first sprinter in history to win gold medals in the 100m and 200m at three consecutive Games — 11 World Championship golds and world records in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay that no athlete has since come close to touching.
Now 34 and retired from athletics since 2017, Bolt has had time to reflect on a remarkable career. Of his numerous accolades, however, there is one that stands out well above the rest for the Jamaican
“It’s always going to be the [Olympic] gold medals,” without hesitation Bolt tells CNN Sport. “I think that’s what really stamped my authority on the sport, you know what I mean, I showed my dominance throughout the years.
“Yeah I’m very proud of being the fastest man in the world, but it takes so much to do three back-to-back Olympic and win those, so for me I’m most proud of my gold medals.”
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The image Usain Bolt smiling mid-race went viral.
These days, the debate around breaking track and field world records is often accompanied by discussions on how big a role is being played by developments in shoe technology.
Bolt says he isn’t worried should his records eventually be broken with the help of such technology, rather than pure physical prowess.
“The fact that everyone will know why, then it doesn’t bother me,” he explains. “As I said, I’m happy to be the fastest man in the world, but it was always the gold medals that really mattered to me because that’s how you really prove yourself, you know what I mean.
“There are so many people that could say: ‘I’m a former world record holder,’ but there are not a lot of people who can say: ‘I won — well, just me — three Olympic gold medals back-to-back.’
“So for me, this is why I pushed myself so hard to dominate, because I know at any point in time somebody can just break your record and then if you put so much on that, then what do you have left?”
A winning bet
He might have broken world records and won numerous gold medals, but that didn’t stop Bolt from indulging his love of fast food.
In his 2013 autobiography “Faster than Lightning,” Bolt estimates he ate 1,000 McDonald’s chicken nuggets during his 10 days in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics Games. Remarkably, those 5000 calories and 300 grams of fat per day powered him to three gold medals and three world records.
Around the same time, Bolt made a bet with coach Glen Mills and agent Ricky Sims, who were both adamant the athlete’s fast food cravings meant he would develop “a big gut” within two years of retirement.
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Usain Bolt is the only athlete to win three consecutive 100m and 200m Olympic golds.
Much to their disappointment, Bolt still maintains his lean athletic physique three-and-a-half years after retiring. So have Mills and Sims paid up?
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“No!” he laughs. “We had a back and forth because they were saying: ‘Oh, it [the bet] was three years. I was like: ‘No, it’s two!’ So it was a back and forth and then we just said forget it because they didn’t want to pay after two years because they’re like: ‘Oh, I’m still in shape.’ So they weren’t happy!”
Just like the rest of us, athletes get cravings for their guilty pleasure foods. However, as with everything, it’s all about eating in moderation, especially when you’re no longer training for hours on end every day.
“For me, you kind of learn and understand that exercise is very, very important, even just walking just to keep yourself healthy, you know what I mean,” he says.
“Over the years, I’ve learned so much about weight and just nutrition, so I understand the necessary steps I need to take to make sure I’m healthy. I’m having a family and I want to make sure I’m around to see them, you know.”
Life after athletics
Life for Bolt looks a lot different now than it did four years ago.
In May, he became a father for the first time after his partner Kasi Bennett gave birth to a baby girl, who they fittingly named Olympia Lightning Bolt.
The majority of his day is spent with Olympia and Kasi, before he finds the time to squeeze in a workout to “keep the weight off.”
Bolt says he has also been hard at work with post-career endeavors, including work with new sponsors.
The sprint star and former USWNT player Abby Wambach are the faces of Gatorade’s new campaign, which pays homage to the classic “Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better” commercial, originally featuring Michael Jordan and Mia Hamm.
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Usain Bolt and Kasi Bennett welcomed their first child in 2020.
While some athletes struggle to come to terms with retirement, Bolt is very much enjoying his.
The build up to Tokyo 2020 is unlike anything he has experienced for almost two decades — it’s the first Olympics ‘Lightning Bolt’ won’t be competing at since the Sydney Games in 2000 — but there will be no wishing he was back out there on the track again.
“I’m definitely excited to just be in the stands,” he says. “I’ve never got an opportunity to really watch Olympic Games, to either go [watch] swimming, the soccer or just to see all the events. So I’m excited to actually get the chance to really experience Olympics like a true fan.”
Since Bolt stepped away from athletics, the sport has been trying to find the next generation of athletes to be its torchbearers. Unfortunately, as it did with other sports around the round, the coronavirus pandemic curtailed the athletics season and, eventually, forced the Tokyo Games’ postponement until 2021.
Given the impact of the stunted schedule on most athletes, Bolt believes it’s only fair to allow them a prolonged period of preparation before burdening them with being the sport’s next leading lights.
“You know, normally I would always say who I think, but now I just sit back and watch,” he says. “Especially after the pandemic, a lot of people have sat out the season without getting a chance to compete even once.
“So now that the fact that it’s going to start, I’m just going to watch see how the season goes and then I can say: ‘You know what, this person looks like they were serious. They kept themselves in shape during the pandemic.’ So we just have to sit and watch and see what happens.”
Usain Bolt reveals he considered coming out of retirement
Sprinting legend Usain Bolt has revealed that he considered coming out of retirement but opted to not do so after receiving a bit of advice from his track coach.
Bolt’s career had a disappointing end as he faced a hamstring injury in the last 50m of the 4*100m race at the 2017 World Championships.
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IAAF Diamond League Herculis meeting – 100m Men – Louis II Stadium, Monaco – July 21, 2017. Prince Albert II of Monaco congratulates Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt.
“I talked to my track coach. And he was like, ‘No, you’re not doing it. People that retire and come back — it doesn’t always work out,” CNN quoted Bolt as saying.
“For me, in the end I knew it was time because the drive wasn’t there. But every time I watch track and field I miss it. And every time I go to the track to see my coach and I watch him training I go, ‘Did I make the right decision?’ … But every time I train with them I think, ‘Ah yeah I made the right decision. I don’t miss this,” he added.
Bolt won last of his eight gold medals in 2016, but a relay gold from the 2008 Olympics was stripped from the Jamaican team as Nestor Cator tested positive for a banned substance.
The ‘fastest man on earth’ has now chosen to sit on the sidelines to watch the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
“I’m going to go and watch, I’m excited for the first time to sit and watch it and see the energy of people. I have seen track and field throughout my life, I’ve always watched track and field and I always know what’s going on with track and field. But I didn’t see Michael Phelps swim live,” Bolt said.
Since retiring, Bolt has had a stint as a footballer with Australia’s Central Coast Mariners.
Bolt won three golds at consecutive Olympics between 2008 and 2016 in the 100 and 200 meters and ran his world record times of 9.58 and 19.19 in Berlin in 2009.
Usain Bolt In Numbers — Why the Jamaican Is the Greatest
A glorious sporting career has come to an end. Usain Bolt, an eight-time Olympic champion, the fastest man in history, retired after the IAAF World Championships in London.
He is a sprinter who has broken records and left a legacy. We look into the numbers which made the 30-year-old Jamaican the greatest sprinter to have lived.
All four of the fastest 100m times in history belong to Bolt. Known in his early years as a prodigiously talented 200m runner, he burst onto the 100m scene by breaking the world record in New York (9.72) in 2008. Eleven weeks later, in Beijing, he improved on his time, clocking 9.69 as he claimed his first Olympic title.
He has dipped under 10 seconds in the sport’s blue riband event 52 times — putting him fourth on the sub-10 seconds all-time list. But Bolt, who last lost in 2013, is a man who peaks for championships. Three of his quickest times have been achieved on his way to winning either Olympic or world gold.
His times have been in decline over the years and the days of him breaking world records are clearly over. The gold-medal winning times aren’t what they used to be, either — from 9.58 in Berlin to 9.81 in Rio last year.
In winning 100m bronze in London, his final solo race, he finished in 9.95 seconds. It was only the third time he had gone under 10 seconds this year.
Men of Bolt’s size aren’t usually speed freaks. His frame is meant to be an obstacle in an event which requires explosive power out of the blocks.
“We never saw prior to Usain Bolt a sprinter who is 6’5 running the 100m,” former Olympic champion Michael Johnson tells CNN Sport. “Typically, that type of athlete would not be able to get out of the blocks and get through the drive phase in the first 30m or so when short, powerful, massive pressure and power is what’s required.”
With his height and weight, the world record holder would not look out of place on the basketball court. He is notably taller than his rivals, as well as the greats of the past. Christian Coleman, the world silver medalist stands at 1.75m, while the new world champion Justin Gatlin is 1.85m.
Scientists have been studying the secret of Bolt’s supersonic speed for years. He hit a top speed of 44.7.8 km/h between 60m and 80m during his world record 100m sprint in Berlin and is almost as explosive as smaller sprinters in the early stages of a 100m race.
Once out of the transition phase, his height comes to his advantage — the Olympic champion needs only 41 strides to cover 100 meters while other elite runners need 43 or 45. And once he has reached top speed, he is able to maintain his momentum more efficiently than others, which is crucial in a race won not by the person speeding up at the end but slowing down the least.
Bolt — who since 2008 has contributed to 40% of the country’s medals at Olympic Games and World Championships — is as cherished as the late singer Bob Marley in his homeland.
Over 30,000 watched him run his last race on home soil in June. But the world record holder is also universally loved. Not only is he one of the wealthiest sportsmen on the planet — according to Forbes he is 23rd on the list of the highest-paid athletes in 2017 — but he is also one of the most popular too, with over 7m Instagram followers and 4.7m on Twitter.
Usain Bolt talks Tokyo Olympics, fatherhood and U.S. sprinter Noah Lyles’ potential
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How Usain Bolt is handling his first Olympics as a spectator?Â
It’s a strange feeling, he admitted.
“I do miss competing,” Bolt told USA TODAY Sports, “but the training keeps me away. The fact that I know the work that you have to put in to be at peak shape.”
Bolt retired from Olympic competition following the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, capping one of the most dominant stretches for a sprinter in the history of track and field. From 2008 to 2016, he won 11 world titles and eight Olympic gold medals, and swept the 100-meter and 200-meter sprints in three consecutive Games.
In retirement, however, Bolt’s longtime training regimen has been replaced by other interests. The 34-year-old is a budding musician, hoping to bring Jamaica’s dancehall genre to an international audience. He’s a new father, raising his 10-month-old daughter. And he’s looking forward to watching the Olympics, just like everyone else.
© Usain Bolt celebrates winning the gold medal in the men’s 200m in the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games.
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![Usain Bolt holding a sign: Usain Bolt celebrates winning the gold medal in the men's 200m in the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games.]({"default":{"load":"default","w":"80","h":"48","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB16rY1w.img?h=476&w=799&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1909&y=1052"},"size3column":{"load":"default","w":"62","h":"37","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB16rY1w.img?h=371&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1909&y=1052"},"size2column":{"load":"default","w":"62","h":"37","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB16rY1w.img?h=371&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1909&y=1052"}})
“I’ve been competing for years. I never got a chance to cheer for my teammates,” Bolt said. “So it’s something that I’m excited to watch, but I still miss the competition a little bit.”
Bolt said the COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult to predict what might unfold at this summer’s Tokyo Games, which are slated to begin July 23. He’s not sure who might win the sprinting events he long dominated, just because so many competitions have been canceled over the past year.
But when asked about American sprinter Noah Lyles, who won the 2019 world championship at 200 meters, Bolt called him “somebody to watch.”
How Usain Bolt is handling his first Olympics as a spectator?
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Usain Bolt overruns across the pitch during a friendly trial match between the Central Coast Mariners and the Central Coast Select in Gosford, Australia, Friday, Aug. 31, 2018. Bolt, who holds the world records for the 100- and 200-meter sprints and is an eight-time Olympic gold medalist, is hoping to earn a contract with the Mariners for the 2018-19 season in Australia’s top-flight competition.
“For me, he looks like he wants to do great things. He’s pushing himself,” Bolt said of Lyles. “He talks the talk, but I’m looking forward to seeing how he’s going to match up – because he’s proven that he has the speed, just throughout the circuit and the way he’s running.”
Bolt spoke to USA TODAY Sports on behalf of Gatorade, which is unveiling a new beverage that contains 10 grams of protein to aid in the recovery process.
The past year has been an eventful one for Bolt, who dabbled in professional soccer after retiring from track in 2017. His daughter, Olympia Lightning Bolt, was born on May 17. A little more than three months later, days after celebrating his 34th birthday, he tested positive for COVID-19.
Bolt described the diagnosis as a bit nerve-wracking because of the horror stories that were circulating at the time, and what the virus is capable of. But he said he had minimal symptoms and felt fine after a 14-day quarantine.
And although some athletes have expressed hesitancy about COVID-19 vaccines, Bolt said he’ll “definitely” get one when it’s made available to him in Jamaica.
“For sure,” he said. “I have a daughter, so I’m thinking about the future and everything. I have to think about my little one, to make sure she’s safe.”
That’s not all Olympia has prompted him to think about. Bolt said he has already found himself thinking about his daughter’s future, even years down the road.
Will Olympia want to attend a college in the U.S.? Will she want to run track, just like her dad? And if so, Bolt wonders, would he want to coach her?
“I would just explain to her how track and field is, because it’s tough,” he concluded. “It consumes your time a lot. You have to work hard. So I would explain to her what it takes to be a track athlete, and then she can decide for herself if she wants to do it or not.”
World Athletics Championships Oregon 2022 15 Jul – 24 Jul 2022
Usain BOLT
Athlete Profile
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- COUNTRY
Jamaica
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- DATE OF BIRTH
21 AUG 1986 ATHLETE’S CODE
14201847
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Outdoor
| Discipline | Performance | Wind | Venue | Date | Records | Results Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 Yards | 9.14 | -0.2 | Mestský Stadion, Ostrava (CZE) | 31 MAY 2011 | 0 | |
| 100 Metres | 9.58 | +0.9 | Olympiastadion, Berlin (GER) | 16 AUG 2009 | WR, AR, NR | 1356 |
| 150 Metres | 15.28 | -0.9 | Melbourne (AUS) | 11 FEB 2017 | 0 | |
| 200 Metres | 19.19 | -0.3 | Olympiastadion, Berlin (GER) | 20 AUG 2009 | WR, AR, NR | 1352 |
| 300 Metres | 30.97 | Mestský Stadion, Ostrava (CZE) | 27 MAY 2010 | NR | 1259 | |
| 400 Metres | 45.28 | National Stadium, Kingston (JAM) | 05 MAY 2007 | 1160 | ||
| 4×100 Metres Relay | 36.84 | Olympic Stadium, London (GBR) | 11 AUG 2012 | WR, AR, NR | 1318 | |
| Medley Relay | 1:46.59 | Stockholm (SWE) | 25 JUL 2006 | 0 | ||
| 4×400 Metres Relay | 3:01.10 | Philadelphia, PA (USA) | 24 APR 2004 | 1174 |
| Achievements and titles | |
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| Personal best(s) | |
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Medal record
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