Usain Bolt Profile

Going For Gold Again!

Also knowns as ‘lightening bolt’ or ‘lead foot Usain Bolts attempt to break his own 100m world record of 9.58 seconds will probably be the single most watched event of the 2012 Olympics. Londonmost’s Chris Howe takes a look at the life of the fastest man on earth

Jamaica’s Golden Boy

Usain Bolt was born on 21 August 1986. in the small town of Sherwood Content in the agricultural and manufacturing centre Trelawny, Jamaica. Bolt was raised by his parents Wellesey and Jennifer Bolt with his sister Sherine and brother Sadeeki. His family were in a fairly comfortable financial position as his parents ran the local grocery store. As a young boy, Bolt was fond of the West Indies favourite sport, cricket as well as soccer (he is an avid supporter of Manchester United and Real Madrid) without declaring an interest in athletics yet. The first showings of his potential as a runner were spotted at his Primary schools meeting for his parish. Bolt was a confident and fun loving teenager who was popular amongst his family and classmates. Bolt was so hyperactive as a young boy that it actually lead to his parents being concerned for his health but the doctor assured them he was just a healthy, happy boy. At Waldensia Primary and all age school Bolt really started to get people’s attention as at the age of just 12 years old he became the schools fastest 100 metre sprinter.

Bolt was still a keen cricket fan (he later said he had wanted to be a fast bowler) as he entered William Knibb High school and it was during this time that his coach suggested he should use his god given speed for track and field events. Jamaican sprinting legend the late Pablo Mcneil took Bolt under his wing and convinced the 14 year-old to give up his first love of cricket to pursue a career in athletics. The William Knibb Memorial school had a track record for producing top class sprinters such as Michael Green a former Commonwealth silver medallist in the 100 metres. Bolt enjoyed a fruitful partnership with Pablo Mcneil who was occasionally frustrated at Bolt’s lack of dedication to his training and his love of practical jokes and mischief. Bolt claimed his first Annual High School Championships medal in 2001 and started performing for Jamaica in the same year securing a personal best of 48.28 seconds in the 400 metres. Bolt managed to land another silver in the 200 metres with an impressive time of 21.81 seconds.

Bolt’s first appearance at the World Youth Championships came in Debrecen, Hungary in 2003, where he ran in the 200 m but surprisingly he failed to qualify for the finals. The 15 year-old Bolt continued with his mischievous behaviour and took it to new heights as he caused controversy by hiding in the back of a van when he supposed to be training for the 200 Metres in the CARIFTA games. However it was at this same competition that Bolt overcame the consequences of his juvenile actions and went on to break the Championships record with 21.12 in the 200 metres and 47.33 in the 400 metres. many commentators feel that it was at these championships that we saw the birth of a true great in the athletics world. By the age of 15 Bolt had grew to 6FT inches giving him a significant advantage over his competitors at the time. Bolt’s record win of 20.61 seconds in the 200 metres of the World Junior Championships made him the youngest world-Junior gold medalist in the history of the competition. The 15 year-old also enjoyed major success with the Jamaican sprint relay team.

Bolt’s star was on the rise and he along with Jermaine Gonzales was sent to train with the Jamaican Amateur Athletic Association by the Jamaican Prime minister at that time, P.J. Patterson. The 16 year-old Bolt continued to progress and in the 2003 World Youth Championships his improvement continued as he won yet another gold. Bolt’s performances were not going unnoticed and one former Gold Medalist in particular took notice of him. American Michael Johnson was still the 200 Metres World record holder in 2003 and he was keen to take some of the pressure off the young man’s shoulders. Johnson said:” It’s all about what he does three or four years down the line.”

The IAAF gave one of Jamaica’s proudest sons the recognition he deserved as they presented him with the 2002 Rising Star Award. Bolt decided to focus his attentions on the 200 metres and shocked the athletics world when he broke Roy Martin’s World Junior record of 20.13 seconds in the Pan-American Junior Championships. American, Martin was a star of the 1984 and `1988 Olympic games and for Bolt to surpass his record showed that this boy had the potential to be the very best in his field. He was running times that even the top senior sprinters could not match and the presses attention was beginning to heat up.

Bolt returned to compete in his Jamaican High School Championships in 2003 and he unsurprisingly smashed the records for both the 200 and 400 metres , securing times of 20.25 seconds and 45.30 seconds respectively. Bolt was becoming an incredibly popular figure on his native Carribean Island but a concern was raised by the countries public defender Howard Hamilton that if he continued in this fashion at such a young age he risked ”Burnout”. The Jamaican was still a young man who wanted to enjoy his adolescence and so he grew frustrated with the strict regime that athletes must adhere to. Bolt began eating junk food and using his height to play basketball rather whilst neglecting the athletics track. Bolt became a regular in Kingston’s club scene and lapped up the adulation synonymous with celebrities from a small island. His lifestyle meant that Bolt had to become heavily reliant on his natural ability to win races.

Bolt was eagerly anticipating the Senior World Championships in Paris as he was looking to complete a clean sweep of gold medals having won in the World Youth and World Junior Championships that year. Unfortunately though misfortune would strike as Bolt suffered a bout of conjunctivitis before the tournament and the JAAA refused to let the 17 year-old sprinter compete in the French capital. The JAAA felt that Bolt was too young and naive to compete much to the dismay of Bolt. He may have had to suffer the disappointment of missing his first senior World Championships but the year of 2003 finished on a high note as Usain received the IAAF Rising Star Award for the second consecutive year. In 2004 at the age of 17 Bolt turned professional and was now under the guidance of new coach and his Jamaican compatriot Fitz Coleman. With his 18th birthday approaching, Bolt arrived at his first ever Olympic games in the summer of 2004. The destination was Athens and Bolt was brimming with confidence having broken the 200 metres World Junior Record with a time of 19.93 seconds in the CARIFTA games in Bermuda.

Bad luck struck Bolt once again as he was slowed down by a leg injury and failed in the first round with a poor time by his standards, 21.05 seconds. Bolt was offered the opportunity to train in the United States which many young athletes would snap up given the facilities available for young athletes but he rejected the glamour of the States and instead decided to return to his homeland of Trelawny in Jamaica to train.

In 2005 Bolt changed coach yet again and was now under the tutelage of Glen Mills. Mills recognised Bolt’s incredible potential and was determined to change his dysfunctional attitude towards his career. Bolt began to feel that his outlook and attitude was improving under new management and was optimistic of making his mark at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki. Bolt was going tremendously well until he became injured during the final of the 200 metres meaning he finished in last place with an understandable time of 26.27 seconds. He was starting to feel dejected as misfortune haunted him two years in a row at major Senior Championships. Injuries were preventing the world from seeing this amazing athlete win in a major tournament and in November 2005 he was involved in a car accident which set him back even further.

In March 2006 Bolt failed to compete in the Commonwealth Games and he was given new training methods to improve his flexibility by coach Mills and his manager Norman Peart. Bolt and his coaches began to look at having him compete in longer distance running like the 400 Metres and set himself the target of sprinting in the 400 metres by 2008. Bolt was to win his first World major medal as he took the bronze in the final of the 2006 IAAF Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. although he only won the bronze, this achievement was viewed as a significant milestone for the Carribean teenager. Bolt was eager to race in the 100 metres but Glen Mills said that he could only compete in the 100M if he managed to break the Jamaican record for the 200 Metres. The record was 36 years old but Bolt beat the time held by Don Quarrie and set a new record with a time of just 19.75 seconds.

In Bolt’s first competitive 100 metres race at the 23rd Vardoniyianna meeting in Crete. Bolt recorded a personal best of 10.03 seconds and won the gold. This very satisfying victory made the 20 year-old sprinter even more enthusiastic to add the 100 Metres event to his repertoire.

He finally made a World Championships event in 2007 as he competed in Osaka, Japan and felt ready to win major honours. Bolt would finish second in the 200 Metres behind American favourite Tyson Gay who set a new World Championships record, a time of 19.76 seconds. Bolt’s time was impressive in its own right as well as he secured a time of 19.91. Although he failed to win any gold medals at the major tournaments in 2007, the Jamaican’s coach Mills was optimistic as he saw the young man’s technique and balance improve, skills that are pivotal in the success of any professional sprinter.

In May 2008 he was to take part in Kingston, Jamaica’s Invitational event which saw him alert the Athletics world with a fantastic time of 9.76 seconds in the 100 Metres. 9.76 seconds was the second fastest time in the history of the event and had only been bettered by the 9.74 time set by Bolt’s compatriot Asafa Powell in Italy. Legends of the sport were in shock and full of praise for Bolt’s performance especially considering he had only been running the 100 Metres for the past year. Michael Johnson, who had followed Bolts career closely some time began to predict that the Jamaican had the potential to be one of the all time greats. Just over 3 weeks later Bolt set a new world record with a time of 9.72 seconds in New York’s Reebok Grand Prix. What made his achievement even more incredible was the fact that it was only the fifth time that he had ran the 100 Metres at senior level. Reigning world champion Tyson Gay knew that his crown was in danger and commented after the race :”It looked like his knees were going past my face.”

Many pundits felt that Bolt’s record breking run was the turning point and gave him a new psychological edge over Gay. Despite breaking the 100 Metres record just one month earlier claims were being directed at Bolt that he was a lazy athlete. Bolt refuted the comments and insisted that he had trained hard to achieve these accolades and that much of his party boy, laid back attitude was behind him. Bolt was relishing the opportunity to make his mark on the grandest stage of them all, the 2008 Olympic games.

Some critics felt as if the 21 year-olds lack of experience could count against him but Michael Johnson championed Bolt once again. insisting that he was the clear favourite to win both the 100 and 200 metre races. Bolt went in to the Beijing games as the 100 and 200 Metres record holder but Tyson Gay was detremined to upset the odds and regain his status as the World number one.

The Jamaican broke his own World Record in the 100 Metres by securing a phenomenal time of 9.69 seconds. Fellow Carribean Richard Thompson came second to Bolt but was well behind Bolt with atime of 9.89 seconds. Bolt was so far ahead that he began celebrating before the finish line and experts said that if he hadn’t he could have attained an astonishing time of 9.55 seconds. Usain was to set the games alight with another Wolrd record in the 200 Metres, a time of 19.30 seconds. When the clock struck midnight the sounds of Happy Birthday rung around the Stadium in Beijing as Bolt celebrated his win along with his 22nd Birthday. Bolt won his third gold medal with victory in the 4×100 Metres relay, his teammates Asafa Powell, Nesta Carter and Michael Frater must have been thrilled to have the best sprinter in history on the Jamaican team and the celebrations both in Beijing and back home In Jamaica were nothing short of monumentous.

The Sport had suffered a bad name with the High profile drug allegations and critics felt that Bolt’s achievements were overshadowning the controversy and bringing new glamour and fame back to the world of athletics. American runners Justin Gatlin and Marion Jones had brought shame upon the sport in the new millenium as they were stripped off their medals for taking banned substances. Bolt restored some credibility to athletics but some have questioned whether Bolt himself has taken any performance enhancing drugs as his displays on the track often defy belief. Bolt rubbishes such accusations though and his reputation has never been tarnished by the use of any banned substance. Bolt’s coach Glenn Mills told the Jamaican Gleaner: ”We will test any time, any day, any part of the body, he doesn’t even like to take vitamins. In reference to Bolt’s astonishing performance in the 100 metres at the 2008 Olympics, he said in his autobiography : ” I was slowing down long before the finish and wasn’t tired at all. I could have gone back to the start and done it all over again.”

Bolt began the 2009 season competing over 400 metres in an attempt to improve his speed even further. In April of that year the Jamaican suffered yet another car crash and sustained leg injuries but despite much concern over his condition Bolt managed to recover well after undergoing minor surgery. The 22 year-old bounced back and declared himself fit to compete in the Manchester City street race in which he broke yet another record. Bolt managed to win the 150 metre race in a time of 14.35 seconds. Bolt was still far from 100 percent fit but he took the 100 and 200 Metre titles at the Jamaican National Championships which meant he qualified for the 2009 World Championships in the German capital, Berlin. Former World champion Tyson Gay told the athletics worls that he believed he could smash Bolt’s incredible record in the 100 metres but the confident Bolt seemed unfazed by Gay’s claims and saw his countryman Asafa Powell as more of a threat in Germany.

Bolt was desperate to win his first World Championships gold and it seemed a long time coming but he would outdo his fiercest rival Gay and many started to question whether Bolt was human as he broke his own world record with an unbelieveable time of 9.58 seconds in the 100 Metres. Gay ran a good time of 9.71 seconds which may have been enough to retain his world title if he wasn’t competing against the super human that is Usain Bolt.

In the 200 Metres Bolt won the final by the biggest margin in World Championships history as his record breaking time of 19.19 seconds was .71 seconds quicker than his nearest rival. Bolt said his improvement in 2009 was down to quicker starts as he trained at reacting faster to the starting whistle. Former Olympic Champion, American Shawn Crawford was simply stunned by Bolt’s display in Berlin and commented:”Just coming out there, I felt like I was in a video game, that guy was moving-fast.”