The Man of Speed: Usain Bolt

This was it. The finals of the 100m at the 2017 World Championships in London. The last time we'd see a legend do what he is best at on the tartan track. The runners were ready on their marks, an eerie silence falls upon the stadium. Blam! And they're off! Most eyes are on the blur of black, yellow and green in the inside lanes. Less than 10 seconds later, the cheers are a mix of hurrahs and sighs. The legend didn't win.

Cut to his next appearance, the last time we'll see him gunning for glory, the 4x100m relay finals. He looks set to bid farewell on a high and recover from his earlier disappointment. But oh no! He's backing off!! He's limping!! He's on the ground! He's injured! Unbelievable! In his farewell race, he's pulled a muscle.....and the rest of that night fades away. But the legend? Oh no. He will not fade away. Nor will his legacy. Not in this time. Maybe not for a long time. After all, he is the man of speed. He is, Usain Bolt.

That was how the world bid farewell to the man who has dominated the sport for almost a decade. He will be revered for what he did for the majority of his career that we as spectators got to witness on our screens, as one of the most energetic and charismatic personality in sports and track athletics.

Let's just take a quick look through his known history and some of the Bolt's greatest achievements, shall we? In chronological order then and with a bit of background. Usain Bolt was born on 21 August 1986 in a small town in Jamaica called Sherwood Content. Always active in sports, particularly cricket and football, it wasn't until he reached high school that his potential for track athletics was spotted. From there Bolt was under the coaching of Dwayne Jarrett and former Olympic sprinter Pablo McNeil.

He made his debut on the global stage at the 2001 IAAF World Youth Championships in Debrecen, Hungary where he failed to qualify for the finals but did post his personal best times in the 200m event. From there he went to participate in the regional CARIFTA games where he set championship records in both the 200m and 400m events. This success came after mild controversy wherein Bolt was hiding in the back of a van as part of a prank and was detained by the local police.

By the time he was 15, he was already a looming figure at a height of 6ft5in. After his success at CARFITA, then Jamaican Prime Minister arranged for Bolt to move to Kingston so that he could train with the Jamaican Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA).

You'd be wrong to think that Bolt went on building momentum with win after win as he went through the stages of his career, very wrong indeed. In fact, for a good part of his career in the Junior and Senior championships, he wasn't even focussing on the 100m sprint. Instead, his coaches were prepping him for the 200m and 400m events. His rise and early career were pockmarked by injuries that kept the teenage Bolt from maximising on his potential. At his 2004 Olympic debut in Athens, a leg injury hampered his 200m run and was eliminated in the first round. After much recovery and training, Bolt felt confident in the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki but unfortunately, he was struck by injury again, this time in the 200m finals. A change of coaches and variations in his exercise routines saw the Jamaican improve and attain more medals, even achieving a personal goal of the time - running the 200m in a sub 20-second time. He finally reached this milestone at the 2006 Athletissima Grand Prix in Lausanne, Switzerland where he won a bronze medal.

But this man was destined for the 100m and he felt it, but his then coach Glen Mills was sceptical about it. He believed that the young Jamaican was better suited for middle distances, citing Bolt's difficulty in getting a smooth start out of the blocks and habits like looking back at his competitors in sprints. Nevertheless, Mills agreed to let Bolt run the 100m sprint if the athlete could break the 200m national record. So, Usain, in the Jamaican C'ships, ran a time of 19.75 seconds to break the 200m Jamaican record that had gone unbeaten for 36 years. Mills then complied with Bolt's demand and entered the youngster into the format at the 23rd Vardinoyiannia meeting in Crete where he won the gold medal and set a personal best of 10.03s. Building on this achievement, Bolt went on to win two silver medals at the 2007 World Championships in Japan - one in the 200m and the other in the 4x100m relay.

Those silvers definitely gave a boost to Usain as the teen began to take his training more seriously and continued to develop in the 100m format. It paid off in 2008, even before the Beijing Olympics. At the Reebok Grand Prix held in the Icahn Stadium in NYC, Bolt set the new 100m World Record on 31 May 2008 with a time of 9.72 seconds.

Following this were the 2008 Beijing Olympics which is really where Usain Bolt truly emerged on the global stage and marked the start of his dominance in the world of track athletics. The 100m final is something I remember quite distinctly as I happened to watch it live on TV while being at a relative's place for some occasion. I was just flipping through the channels when I stumbled onto it and decided to watch it. Those were some of the most exciting 30 seconds of my life at that point (including the intros, the run and the record setting times). Usain was so far ahead of his rivals that he appeared to have been celebrating even before the finish line and had started to slow down. Even then, this man managed to set the new fastest world and Olympic time of 9.69 seconds. Absolutely stunning! He then went on to win and set new records in the 200m as well with a time of 19.30 seconds.

The records and Golds at the highest levels kept on coming as the age of Usain Bolt began and here's a quick runthrough below:
2009
Gold at World Championships, Berlin - 100m; 200m; 4x100m relay
100m WR - 9.56 seconds

2011

At the Daegu finals DQed from 100m finals, but won the Gold in 200m and 4x100m relay

2012

Retained all three of his titles at the London Olympics

2013

Triple Gold again at the Moscow World Championships

2014

Wins the Gold in the 100m at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games

2015

Wins the triple Gold yet again, at the Beijing World Championships

2016

Rio, his last Olympics, Bolt secured the triple-triple, barely defeating his American rival Justin Gatlin.

And the World Championships in London this year, Usain Bolt's farewell competition didn't quite end with the kind of high that the fans of the sport were likely to be hoping for. He may have hobbled off the track, but he left still standing mighty tall as a man who will always be remembered as one of the greatest.

Usain Bolt was also known for his iconic signature celebratory move as seen below:

He's also had some memorable quips and some of them did stick with me:

• If you're the Olympic champion then they have to wait four more years to get you again.
• I really want to try soccer after I retire because I've watched football over the years and I think I could be a good contender. (EPL, La Liga or French Ligue?)
• A lot of legends, a lot of people, have come before me. But this is my time.
• My brother is really, really slow. (Classic sibling burn)
• Easy is not an option...No days off...Never quit...Be fearless...Talent you have naturally...Skill is developed by hours and hours of work.

It's hard to cover the life of a legend in just one post, but this isn't a feature as such. These are just a few of the interesting stories and the highlights of his career's accolades. There are also the tales of his celebratory escapades which offer plenty of entertainment. Usain Bolt is unlikely to be one to stay off the radar though and I look forward to seeing him in some form of European sport soon enough in both competitive or non-competitive forms. After all, he's still just 31 years old. To be a living legend by 31...that's something ain't it?

Thanks for what could have been the most exciting decade of track sports in my lifetime. You really are a lightning bolt, in speed and in personality.