Simply put, Usain Bolt has been the face of the last three Olympic Games. Winning the 100m, the event’s blue riband event even once ensures Olympic immortality. To achieve it three times in a row at successive Games, plus win the 200m and 4x100m relays, he has a strong argument for being considered the greatest athlete of all time.
Bolt retired in 2017 with a world-record eight Olympic gold medals and 11 world championship gold medals in sprinting. “Lightning Bolt” shot to international fame in Beijing in 2008, when he was still only 33 years old. Add genuine charm and humour to the mix, and Bolt has been the Games’ superstar for the last decade and a half. Bolt retired in 2017 with a record eight Olympic and 11 world championship sprint gold medals.
“Lightning Bolt” catapulted to international stardom in Beijing in 2008 when he became the first guy to win both the 100m and 200m since American Carl Lewis in 1984. When he duplicated the feat in London – and then swept all before him for the third time in Rio – he became the only man to complete the sprint double twice.
In Beijing, the charismatic Jamaican smashed both the 100m and 200m world records, reducing them to 9.58 seconds and 19.19 seconds, respectively, times that have yet to be beaten. The quartet’s 2008 gold medal was withdrawn from them in 2017 after teammate Nesta Carter was found guilty of doping.
