Usain Bolt Biography

At the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games, Usain Bolt, a Jamaican sprinter attracted everyone's attention by his outstanding performance in the men's athletics. He won three gold medals in the 100 m, 200 m and 4x100 m events, and set a new world record, finishing the race at 9.69 s, 19.30 s, and 37.10 s respectively. The 4x100 m record was made with his Jamaican teammates Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, and Asafa Powell. He is the first sportsperson to win gold medals in all the three events at the same Olympics, and break the world record set by Carl Lewis in 1984. Due to his great achievements, he is nicknamed as 'Lightning Bolt' or 'Bolt from the blue'. He is also famously known as the 'World's Fastest Man'. Usain Bolt biography reveals the facts about his early life, his career and achievements.

Early life: Usain Bolt was born on August 21, 1986 to Jennifer and Wellesley Bolt. His birthplace is a small town known as Sherwood Content located in the Trelawny parish in Jamaica. He also has two siblings, a sister named Sherine, and a brother named Sadeeki. In his childhood, Usain Bolt was interested in playing cricket and soccer with his brother. He also said that if he wasn't a sprinter, he would have been a fast bowler. He attended Waldensia Primary and All-age School and William Knibb High School. While at Waldensia School, Bolt was honored as the fastest runner over 100m distance. When he entered the William Knibb High School, his cricket coach, impressed by his height and speed, insisted that he should try track and field events. Dwayne Barrett and Pablo McNeil, a former 100 m Olympic athlete, guided him about improving his athletic abilities. In 2001, Bolt won his first silver medal in the 200 meters with a time of 22.04 seconds at the annual high school championships. Although he was a gifted sprinter, he never actually considered it seriously in his initial career.

Early competitions: Usain Bolt displayed his personal best of 48.28 seconds in the 400 meters and won a silver medal in the 2001 CARIFTA Games, a Caribbean regional event. He also finished 200 meters in 21.81 seconds and achieved a silver medal. Bolt's debut in a world level competition was at the 2001 IAAF World Youth Championships in Debrecen, Hungary. He didn't qualify for the finals of the 200m event, but he set his personal best of 21.73 seconds. He set the record of 20.61 seconds and 47.12 seconds finishes at the Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships, respectively. Then, Bolt moved to Kingston with the support of P.J. Patterson, the Prime Minister of Jamaica then, who saw the potential that this young athlete possessed.

Rising star: At the age of 15, Bolt won a gold and two silver medals at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Kingston. He was a subject of attraction due to his exceptional height of 6'5" and his extraordinary performance. He set his new personal best of 20.16 seconds in the 200 m. Bolt also displayed a shining performance in the Jamaican sprint relay team, achieving two silver medals. He set national junior records in the 4x400 m and 4x100 m by finishing in 3:04.06 minutes and 39.15 seconds, respectively. He won a gold medal at the 2003 World Youth Championships and set a new record of 20.40 seconds in the 200 m. In his final Jamaican High School Championships in 2003, he broke the records in both the 400 and 200 meters, with 45.30 seconds and 20.25 seconds, respectively.

Professional athletics career: Usain Bolt became a professional athlete in 2004 under the guidance of his new coach Fitz Coleman. He started with the CARIFTA Games in Bermuda, where he was the first junior sprinter to run the 200 m in less than 20 seconds and broke the world junior record of Roy Martin. Bolt lost the opportunity to compete in the 2004 World Junior Championships due to a hamstring injury. However, he was selected for the Jamaican Olympic Squad; but was eliminated in the first round of the 200 meters due to a leg injury.

In 2005, Bolt got a fresh start under the guidance of his new coach, Glen Mills. He scored the season's best finish of 19.99 seconds for the 200 meters at the London's Crystal Palace in July, the same year. Bolt reached the top 5 on the world rankings in 2005 and 2006. He set his new personal best at the 2006 Grand Prix in Lausanne, Switzerland, setting the record time of 19.88 seconds. Bolt got his first major world medal at the IAAF World Athletics Final in Stuttgart, Germany. He won a bronze medal by finishing in a time of 20.10 seconds. He achieved his first senior international silver medal in the IAAF World Cup in Athens, Greece. In 2007, he finished the 200 m in 19.75 seconds at the Jamaican Championships and broke the record of Don Quarrie by 0.11 seconds. He won silver medals in the 200 m and 4x100 m at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan.

On May 31, 2008, Bolt established a new world record at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York. He ran the 100 m event in 9.72 seconds and broke an earlier record of 9.74 seconds set by Powell. At the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, he set the Olympic and world records for the 100 m, 200 m, and 4x100 m by finishing in 9.69 seconds, 19.30 seconds, and 37.10 seconds respectively. On August 16, 2008, Bolt won the 100m Olympic final in 9.69 seconds. Thus, Bolt individually, set 2 records at the same event.

After achieving a great deal of success in the 2008 Olympics, Usain Bolt continued to make a mark in the 2009 Berlin World Championships, marking his personal best for 100 meters in 9.58 s and winning a gold medal for it. Not only this, he broke his own 200 m record made in 2008 by 0.11 seconds, this time bringing it down to 19.19 s. Due to his remarkable performance, he was also honored the IAAF World Athlete of the Year in both 2008 and 2009. In 2010, although he couldn't make any new world records, Bolt comfortably won the 2010 IAAF Diamond League. Bolt wanted to break the 300 m record set by Michael Johnson in the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava, however he couldn't do so due to an injury in his Achilles tendon. After the recovery from the injury, which took a month, he came back to the track field and comfortably won the 100 m at the Athletissima meeting in Lausanne. He also defeated Asafa Powell in Paris at the Meeting Areva. However, he lost the race to Tyson Gay at the 100 m finals at the DN Galan. The year 2011 was a mixture again. In the 2011 Daegu World Championships, Bolt was eliminated in the 100 meters finals because of a false start. However, he did win the 200 meters in 19.40 s. He also won a gold medal in the 4x100 meters relay, setting the world record of 37.04 s along with his Jamaican team which included Yohan Blake, Michael Frater, and Nesta Carter.

Usain Bolt has continued to display his wonderful performance in several world championships. Not only this, despite being just 25 years old, he has also officially trained the great soccer sensation Cristiano Ronaldo to help him run fast. Despite his great achievements, he is modest about his success and down-to-earth. He is criticized for his laid-back attitude and practical jokes, but who cares? He still continues to marvel us all with his magnificent speed and performance. He will undoubtedly continue with the same magnificent performance in the upcoming competitions. He is undoubtedly the fastest man on earth, but if you think you have seen enough, wait..., more surprises and more records are coming your way from the "Lightning Bolt"!