Usain Bolt Biography

Biography Usain bolt

Usain Bolt born 21 August 1986 is a Jamaican sprinter. He is the reigning Olympic champion over 100 meters and holds both world and Olympic 100 meters records with a time of 9.69 seconds. Bolt is also the world junior record holder in the 200 meters (19.93 seconds), and Jamaican national record holder in the 200 meters (19.67 seconds). His name and achievements in sprinting have earned him the media nickname "Lightning Bolt".


Early life

Bolt was born in Trelawney, Jamaica, to Jennifer and Wellesley Bolt.

Bolt's talent for athletics was evident even as a child, impressing in the annual,

national primary schools' meeting for his parish. Upon his entry to William Knob Memorial High School,

Pablo McNeil and Dwayne Barrett coached Bolt, encouraging him to focus his energies on track and field. The school

had a history of athletic success with past students including Michael Green. Bolt won his first annual high school championships medal

in 2001, winning the silver medal in the 200 meters with a time of 22.04 seconds.

Performing in his first Caribbean national event, Bolt clocked a personal best of 48.28 seconds in the 400 metros in the 2001 CARITAS games,

earning himself a silver medal. The 200 meters also yielded a silver as Bolt finished in 21.81 seconds.

Bolt made his first appearance on the world stage at the 2001 OAF World Youth Championships in Doreen,

Hungary. Running in the 200 meters event, he failed to qualify for the finals but he still set a new

personal best of 21.73 seconds. Bolt really made his mark in 2002, winning both 200 and 400 meters events in the High School Championships,

CARITAS Games and Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships. Bolt smashed the championship records for both 200 and 400 meters in the 2002

CARITAS games with a 21.12 seconds finish and 47.33 seconds respectively. More 200 and 400 meters records fell in the face of the

prodigious sprinter with 20.61 seconds and 47.12 seconds finishes at the CAD Junior Championships.

Rise to been a star

The 2002 World Junior Championships, in front of a home crowd in Kingston, Jamaica, offered Bolt a chance to showcase his

talent to the world. By the age of 15 Bolt had grown to an intimidating 6 foot-5 inches (1.95 m) tall

and he physically stood out amongst his peers. Size was not the only distinction as he outran the competition in the 200 meters,

winning gold for his 20.61 seconds performance and setting a new personal best. Bolt also shone in the Jamaican sprint relay team,

getting two silver medals and setting two national junior records in the 4x100 meters and 4x400 meters with 39.15 seconds and 3:04.06 minutes

respectively. Bolt's 200 meters win made him the youngest world junior gold medalist ever.

The flow of medals continued as he won another gold at the 2003 World Youth Championships. He set a new championship record in the 200

meters with 20.40 seconds, paying no heed to a punishing 1.1m/s head wind.

Bolt turned his main focus on the 200 meters and the move proved fruitful as he equaled Roy Martin's world junior

record of 20.13 seconds at the Pan-American Junior Championships.

In his final Jamaican High School Championships in 2003 Bolt's times were unprecedented. The competition was no problem

for the prodigy from Falmouth as he finished the 200 meters in 20.25 seconds, casting the previous record aside by a margin of 0.57 seconds.

The 400 meters bore similar results as he breezed past the finish line in 45.30 seconds to beat the old record of 46.17 seconds.

As the reigning 200 meters champion of both the World Youth and World Junior championships, Bolt aimed to take a full sweep of

the World 200 meters championships in the forthcoming Senior World Championships in Paris. However, Bolt missed out on the achievement as

he was struck down with a bout of conjunctivitis before the event, ruining his training schedule and causing him to withdraw.

Professional athletics career

Under the guidance of new coach Fits Coleman, Bolt turned professional in 2004 and his performances continued to impress,

beginning with the CARITAS games in Bermuda. He became the first junior sprinter to run the 200 m in under 20 seconds,

breaking Roy Martin's world junior record by two tenths of a second with 19.93 seconds. Bolt headed to the 2004 Athens Olympics

with confidence and a new record on his side. However, he was blighted with a leg injury and he was eliminated in the first round of the 200 meters with

a disappointing 21.05 seconds.

Bolt's confidence had taken a knock and 2005 held mixed results. He scored his 200 meters season's best at London's Crystal Palace in July,

running 19.99 seconds. Misfortune awaited Bolt at the next major event the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki.

Bolt qualified comfortably with runs under 21 seconds but he suffered an injury in the final, finishing last with a time of 26.27 seconds.

Eighteen-year-old Bolt still had not proved his mettle in the major world athletics competitions but his performances showed his potential.

Bolt soon recovered and continued to improve, reaching the world top 5 rankings in 2005 and 2006.He ran 19.88 seconds, a new personal best,

at the 2006 Grand Prix in Lausanne, Switzerland, finishing behind Xavier Carter and Tyson Gay to earn a bronze medal.

Bolt claimed his first major world medal two months later at the IAAF World Athletics Final in Stuttgart, Germany.

Bolt passed the finishing post with a time of 20.10 seconds, gaining a bronze medal in the process. Further 200 meters honors on both the regional

and international scale awaited Bolt in 2007. In the Jamaican Championships he ran 19.75 seconds in the 200 meters, breaking the

36-year-old national record held by Don Quarried by 0.11 seconds. He built on this achievement at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan,

finishing behind American Tyson Gay to win a silver medal.

Move in to 100 meters

Bolt decided to experiment with sprinting distances and entered to run in the 100 meters event at the Jamaica Invitational.

On 3 May 2008 Bolt ran 9.76 , then the second fastest legal performance in the history of the event, behind compatriot Asafa Powell.

Later that month, on 31 May 2008, Bolt ran 9.72, establishing a new world record in the 100 meters at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York,

breaking the 9.74 seconds record set by Powell. This was made even more remarkable by the fact that this was only his 5th senior run over the distance.

On the 13 July 2008 in Athens, Greece, Bolt once again broke the 200 meters national record by running 19.67 seconds.

As the new 100 meters world record holder, Bolt arrived at the Beijing Summer Olympics as the favorite in both the 100 and 200 meters.

On 16 August 2008, after having finished comfortably his 100 meters quarter finals and semifinals in 9.92 and 9.85 seconds respectively,

Bolt won the Olympic 100 meters final in 9.69, well ahead of second place finisher Richard Thompson, who finished in 9.89 seconds,

shattering his own world record. Not only was his mark made with no tailwind, indicating the quality of his performance, but he appeared to

slow down and celebrate near the finish line after looking to his right and realizing he had secured the gold medal after he had run past the 80-metre line.

In addition, his left shoelace came undone.

He is coached by Glen Mills and currently attends the University of Technology, Jamaica.

Endorsement deal

After winning the 200 m title in the World Junior Championships in front of his home crowd in Jamaica in 2002,

Bolt was quickly signed up by Puma, in the process becoming one of the company's leading athletes.

To promote Bolt's chase for Olympic glory in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, Puma has released a series of videos showcasing

Bolt's world record setting run in the Reebok Grand Prix to his preparations for the Olympics. During the Beijing 2008 100m final,

Bolt wore golden Puma spikes that read 'Beijing 100m Gold'.

Personal bests
Date Event Venue Time (seconds)
16 August 2008 100 meters Beijing, China 9.69 World Record
13 July 2008 200 meters Athens, Greece 19.67 – National Record
5 May 2007 400 meters Kingston, Jamaica 45.28




Carl Lewis Claims Usain Bolt could be a drug


United states sprinting great C. Lewis has expressed his doubts as to whether the performances of Usain Bolt have been drug free.

Lewis openly questioned the Jamaican drug testing programs in an interview with the mag Sports Illustrated
claiming they are not as tough as the tests in the USA.

The reality is that if I were running now and had the performances I had in my past I would expect them to say something, Carl states.

I would nott even be offended at the question.

When people ask me about Bolt I say he could be the greatest athlete of all time but for someone to run 10.03
one year and 9.69 the next if you do not question that in a sport that has the reputation it has right now you are a fool.

Lewis says Usains Bolt's performances strikes him as being too good to be true.

Let me go through the list: Ben Johnson Justin Gatlin Tim Montgomery, Tyson Gay and the two Jamaicans 6 people have run under 9.80
3 have tested positive, and one had a 1 year out.

"Not to Usain is doing anything, but he is not going to have me saying he is great and then 2 years later he gets popped.
If I don't trust it, what does the public think"

"No one is accusing anyone, but don't live by a different rule and expect the same kind of respect," Lewis explained.

Over his career, Lewis won an amazing ten Olympic medals 9 of which were gold over 4 Olympics.
He also won eight gold medals at World Championship levels.

Lewis is reported to have tested positive to banned stimulants three times before the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, which was later overturned.

"That was an issue where people tried to make something out of nothing," Lewis explained.

"It got thrown out. They said I tested for stimulants found in over-the-counter cold medications. That's it. I did nothing wrong."

Lewis is sceptical of the athletes performances are set to shake-up the sporting world but the 47-year-old remains defiant, given
his history on such matters.

People forget that I was the first one to speak out, and I got crucified, Lewis said.

A year late, I was a prophet. The athletes have to say, 'No, this isn't right.' They know who's on it.