Sprinting superstar bows down. His retirement will leave a void in the world of athletics
When Jamaica's Usain Bolt burst onto the world stage, he was hailed as athletics’ new hope, and boy, did he deliver. Winning nine gold medals in the Olympics, although he was to lose one due to a teammates’ doping offence, Bolt quickly established himself as the flag-bearer for a sport that was dogged by constant doping issues. The 100-metre sprint became his own. Bolt still holds the world record at 9.58 seconds, which he set in Berlin during the 2009 World Championship in Athletics — he averaged a speed equivalent to 37.58 kilometres per hour and hit an unbelievable top speed of 44.72 kilometres per hour. Some human performance experts believe that his performance is at the extreme of what the human body can do. Winning the gold medal at the Beijing, london and Rio Olympic games, he also made the 200-metre run his own. Alongside American swimmer, Michael Phelps, Bolt must be considered as one of the greatest individual Olympic male performers of modern era. The track and field discipline never truly recovered from the doped-up era, highlighted by Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson’s run in the Seoul Olympics in 1988 and that decimated public confidence in the sport. later reports of systematic doping by some Eastern Bloc countries from Europe and even by athletes in the Western world, who were only caught as the World Anti-Doping Authority developed newer and better tests to keep up with the cheaters eroded confidence further. Indeed, Justin Gatlin, who beat Bolt at his last individual race in london, has twice been suspended for drug use. Even though Bolt himself considers Gatlin ‘clean’ today and having served his time, he still has not won over crowds in the stadium. Bolt’s success also supercharged the sport in the Caribbean islands and led to a whole generation of champion sprinters, both men and women across the region. He also inspired countless children across the world to follow in his (very fast) footsteps. Hopefully, children in India can be inspired by him too.
Unfortunately, the enduring image of Bolt from these recently concluded championships will be that of him pulling up lame during the last leg of the 4x100 metre relay. But there is little doubt that the Jamaican brought a bit of his joie de vivre to the sport. And then there was his famous ‘lightning Bolt’ celebration. Always laughing and smiling, Bolt brought in his laid-back Jamaican attitude to the sport. While the world knows him as a sprinting superstar, he might have also been the next West Indian fast bowler and he is close friends with his (much slower) countryman Chris Gayle. After his retirement, he will leave a void in the world of athletics and with doping still rife in the sport, even in India, it remains to be seen whether the sport can produce the next Usain St leo Bolt. We thank him for his sheer speed, dedication and bringing sporting joy to millions. We wish him a fulfilling retirement.