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The fastest man who ever lived has put his hand up to compete in his first ever Commonwealth Games this year. Usain Bolt, the 100m and 200m world record holder has signed on to compete for Jamaica in the 4x100m relay.
Bolt is literally a walking headline and one of the world’s truly transcendent sports stars currently in their competitive prime.
Why do I make ‘must watch’ status?
Bolt literally blazed his way onto the world stage with a remarkable Beijing Olympics. Go and watch some of his events on Youtube, we’ll wait for you.
Bolt won the triple at Beijing and London Olympics, taking gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay at each meet.
The Beijing 100m final is one of the most incredible sporting events to watch in history. Bolt appears to start slowly but powers ahead in the middle of the race and gets so far ahead he begins to celebrate with over 20 metres to go, yet still sets a world record! He is winding down with a fifth of the race to go against the fastest men in the world!
Ever since then he has continued to stun watchers and elicit awe from even the most seasoned of athletics competitors and viewers.
During his 9.58 second 100m world record race it is estimated Bolt’s top speed would hit 44.7 km/h and average 37.5 km/h across the whole race.
Many YouTube results under a ‘Usain Bolt’ search have been viewed millions of times, some more than 10 million times. It is a truly incredible experience to watch this man run. Some people have even questioned whether he is actually pushing the limits of human performance.
What am I competing in?
Bolt has made himself available for the 4x100m relay.
Who’s my competition?
If Bolt was able to compete in the 100m sprint, his nearest competition would be Yohan Blake, who has set some searingly fast times down into the 9.7s and once at 9.69sec. Blake is a fellow Jamaican, highlighting how deep that nation’s running talent goes. Unfortunately, Blake will not be available for the games.
But in the relay event there is essentially no one at the Games with the ability to challenge the Jamaicans, they have the fastest man in the world on their team.
England took the relay gold at the Delhi Commonwealth Games with a time of 38.74, which would have earned second-last place in the London Olympics relay final, ahead of only the Canadians who were disqualified. Jamaica won that race with a time of 36.84.
But we already know who’s going to win when Bolt races. The fun is in his sheer speed and showmanship – including that patented celebration, “the bolt”.
Form heading into the Games?
Usain Bolt hasn’t done a lot racing recently. His most recent ‘race’ was against a bus in Buenos Aires, Argentina in December 2013 (he won, comfortably). Previous to that he won the 100m at the final Diamond Series event in Belgium in September and in August won World Championship gold in the 100m and 200m events in Moscow.
The thing to remember with Bolt is if he makes himself available there isn’t really a question about form. A huge amount of injury speculation followed him into the London Olympics where he answered by stepping up a blitzing the field to gold, again.
Recently Bolt’s twitter feed has featured images of him in training, based on the sight of him on his back recovering it seems he is taking his conditioning seriously right now, an ominous sign for his competitors.
Off the track
Usain Bolt is known for his love of dancing and partying. He famously parties after all of the big events he wins (including reported dalliances with female members of the Swedish Olympic team after London 2012), often these turn into lengthy stays away from the track and people wondering how seriously he takes his sport – before he comes back and duly wins again. He often shows off his skills as a DJ and and MC when he makes appearances at clubs.
Bolt often spends time with stars from other sports, including football with Manchester United stars such as Ryan Giggs. He also had a brief flirtation with playing in the Australian cricket Big Bash League a couple of years ago when he was here on holidays.
Recently a pair of Bolt’s signed racing shoes was stolen from a property in England. Bolt appealed on Twitter for their return and Scotland Yard launched an investigation into their whereabouts. It turns out a pair of his used racing spikes are worth upwards of 20,000 pounds; such is the international fame of the man.
Fast Facts
Name: Usain Bolt
Event: Athletics (4x 100m relay)
Turned professional: 2004 and set a Junior World Record in the 200m
Notable achievements: Six Olympic Games gold medals, eight World Championships gold medals, two World Championshps silver medals.
World Records:
Social following: 3.37 million followers on Twitter at @usainbolt and 1.15 million followers on Instagram at usainbolt
Instagram: http://instagram.com/usainbolt
Twitter: https://twitter.com/usainbolt
This article was first published on the Tenplay website here.