Usain Bolt

Usain Bolt Biography

Usain Bolt is a Jamaican athlete, one of the great prodigies of the history of Athletics. Bolt was born on August 21, 1986, in Sherwood Content (Jamaica), his birth name Usain ST Leo Bolt. He grew up with his parents: Wellesley and Jennifer Bolt and brothers Sadeeki and Sheríne. His family managed a store located in the rural area in which Usain spent his time playing cricket and football with his brother. When he entered Waldensia Elementary School, he began to showcase his athletic careers.

As a child, his physical growth was spectacular, which, together with an unbalanced diet, caused him to deviate from the spine. Even so, Usain stood out from his peers due to his extraordinary running speed, winning on numerous occasions the annual school event of the parish of Trelawny. At the age of twelve, he became the fastest runner in his school at 100 meters level.

When he entered high school “William Knibb” he remained focused on sports. His speed on the field was already observed by his cricket coach, who recommended him to practice athletics. The former Olympic athlete Pablo McNeil, along with Dwayne Barrett, began with his training and motivation to develop his skills in this modality. In 2001, he won his first medal, in the collegiate high school event, taking the silver medal in the 200 m with a record of 22.04 seconds. From that moment McNeil became his coach and a good friend.

Usain Bolt was a naughty young man who, despite his abilities, hardly trained and escaped to play cricket or other sports such as football or basketball. In the same year (2001) he began to participate in international events; like the “Carifta games” where he was part of the Jamaican team registering a personal record of 48.28 seconds in the 400 meters flat and won the silver medal, repeating the same prize in the 200m with a record of 21.81 seconds.

Later he had his first experience in a world event during the “Junior World Championship” in Debrecen (Hungary) and although he did not qualify in the 200 m level, he implanted a new personal mark of 21.73 seconds.

“you can not put any limits, there is nothing impossible”.

Due to the lack of discipline and their children’s behavior, the coaches arranged for him to settle in Kingston, together with Jermaine González, to train at the Amateur Athletics Association of Jamaica, at the facilities of the Technological University.

The Junior World Athletics Championship of 2002, which took place in Kingston, Jamaica, gave Usain Bolt the opportunity to show his qualities internationally, with only 15 years of age. In this competition he won the 200m competition with a time of 20.61 seconds, this victory established him as the youngest to achieve a gold medal in the junior category.

From that moment, Usain Bolt became a professional athlete. His life was more organized and with a lot of discipline in his training. The medals continued to accumulate, he won four gold medals at the Carifta games of 2003 and was awarded the “Austin Sealy” trophy for the most outstanding athlete in the games. He also won another gold medal in the “Youth World Athletics Championship 2003” setting a new tournament record in the 200 m with a time of 20.40 seconds.

Bolt professionally started in 2004, under the direction of his new coach named Fitz Coleman, in this new stage his first competition was in the Carifta games of Bermuda where he established himself as the first sprinter in the junior category to run the 200m under twenty seconds, so he conquered a new record with time of 19.93 seconds, being awarded again with the “Austin Sealy” trophy as the best athlete of the event.

In 2005, he started with his new coach Glen Mills, which would add a change of attitude with respect to athletics. Mills knew of Bolt’s potential and set out to modify any type of behavior far from his profession, in addition, he took it to consult with the German doctor Muller-Wolhfahrt for the treatment of scoliosis. Since then he was recovering and started the preparation for the following season.

After successes and misfortunes, Bolt regained his level little by little and became one of the top five athletes in the world between 2005 and 2006.

In 2006, he set new goals, as well as gain more experience.

At the Olympic Games in Beijing 2008, he won three gold medals and other world records in three events in which he participated (100m, 200m, and 4x100m), becoming the fastest man in history. In the 100 m level, he easily surpassed his opponents and had an incredible time of 9.69 seconds. When he returned to his country he was cheered by the public and received the Distinguished Service Order from the Government of Jamaica in recognition of his achievements in the Olympic Games. He was also recognized as the “Athlete of the Year” in the male branch by the IAAF and received a special award for his feats in such games.

At the Berlin World Cup in 2009, Usain Bolt preferred to focus on his specialties, then, after his overwhelming triumph in Beijing continued to win victories and world records. He started competing in the 400m with the aim of improving his speed. He won two races, one of them in Kingston, in the record of 45.54 seconds. After canceling a race in Jamaica, he said he was ready to compete in a 150m urban race in the city of Manchester (England), Bolt took the victory in 14.35 seconds, the best record in history in that race. With all these results he could qualify for the World Championship in Berlin. In the World Championship, he passed the elimination rounds of the 100m and imposed the best mark for the race before the final with a record of 9.89 seconds, achieving his victory with a time of 9.58 seconds, a new unique record that earned him his first world title. He also won in the 200 m with another world record of 19.19 seconds, 0.11 less than the previous one. On the last day of the world championship, the mayor of Berlin, Mr. Klaus Wowereit, posed with Usain in a simple ceremony saying that the athlete was an example of “How can you break down the barriers that are considered insurmountable?”

In the Olympic Games of London in 2012, on the 5th of August in the final event and during the competition the Olympic record was broken with a time of 9.63 seconds, it was his first race in Europe and he won the gold medal in the category of 100 m event held at the headquarters of the Olympic Stadium in London. At the Moscow World Championship in 2013, he won three gold medals: in the 100m with a time of 9.77 seconds; in the 200m he reached the unprecedented mark of three consecutive victories in world championships and in the 4 x 100 he contributed to the third consecutive victory of Jamaica. In the Olympic Games of Rio de Janeiro in 2016, he won his first gold medal, and the Jamaican won with a record of 9.81 seconds that is enough to leave behind his rivals.

In the 200 meters also won with a mark of 19.78 seconds and in the relay race 4 × 100 was awarded again the gold medal. On February 14, 2017, Usain Bolt and the gymnast Simone Biles were recognized “Laureus Awards” in the category of best athletes of the year. The sprinter Usain Bolt, after putting his name at the top in the history of athletics announced that the London World Championship 2017 will be his last great competition at professional level, the nine-time gold medalist in just four-year-olds will say goodbye to the tracks in the city where he set the Olympic record of the 100m flat with a time of 9.63 seconds, which is still valid to date.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS IAAF

Athlete of the Year: 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016.
Track and Field Magazine Athlete of the Year: 2008 and 2009.
Athlete of the Year in Sports Outside the United Kingdom by the BBC: Years 2008 and 2009.
Laureus Award: years 2009 and 2010.