50 Fun Facts About Usain Bolt

Usain Bolt is the world record holder in the 100 m, the 200 m and which other event?

He is also an eight-time Olympic gold medallist and widely regarded as the greatest sprinter of all time.

What is Bolt's 100 m world record, set in 2009?

It was the biggest improvement on the record since electronic timing began.

What is Bolt's 200 m world record, also set in 2009?

It shaved 0.11 seconds off the 19.30 he had run at the Beijing Olympics the year before.

Bolt is the only sprinter to win the Olympic 100 m and 200 m titles at how many consecutive Games?

The "triple-triple" of Beijing, London and Rio was later reduced when the 2008 relay gold was stripped for a teammate's doping.

In which small Jamaican town was Bolt born on 21 August 1986?

His parents ran the local grocery store, and he grew up playing cricket and football in the street with his brother Sadiki.

A coach in which sport at Bolt's high school first urged him to try athletics?

Bolt himself said that as a child he never really thought about anything other than sports.

As a teenager Bolt was detained by police for what prank before the CARIFTA Trials?

The community blamed his coach Pablo McNeil, but Bolt went on to set championship records at the Games anyway.

What did the nervous 15-year-old Bolt do before winning the 200 m at the 2002 World Juniors?

He noticed in time, won, and vowed never to let pre-race nerves affect him again; he was the youngest world-junior gold medallist ever.

How tall had Bolt grown by the age of 15?

His height made him physically stand out among his peers, and later helped produce his enormous stride.

Which former Jamaican Prime Minister arranged for the young Bolt to move to Kingston to train?

He trained at the University of Technology, Jamaica, and later refused every American college scholarship offered to him.

In 2004 Bolt became the first junior to break 20 s for 200 m, with what time?

He held the world under-20 and under-18 records for the distance until Erriyon Knighton surpassed them in 2021.

Which coach began working with Bolt in 2005 and guided him through his entire record-breaking career?

He wanted Bolt to move up to the 400 m and only let him try the 100 m after Bolt broke the Jamaican 200 m record.

At the Athens 2004 Olympics, his Games debut, how did Bolt fare in the 200 m?

Hampered by a leg injury he ran only 21.05 seconds.

Whose 36-year-old Jamaican 200 m record did Bolt break in 2007 to earn the right to run the 100 m?

His 19.75 beat the mark by 0.11 seconds, and his coach kept his side of the bargain.

Where did Bolt set his first 100 m world record, 9.72, on 31 May 2008?

It was only his fifth senior race over the distance; Tyson Gay, second, said "it looked like his knees were going past my face".

Whose 100 m world record of 9.74 did Bolt take in 2008?

The compatriot had set it in Rieti, Italy, the previous year, and later anchored Bolt's relay teams.

Bolt won the Beijing 2008 Olympic 100 m in 9.69 despite doing what before the line?

Analysts at the University of Oslo estimated he could have run about 9.55 had he not eased up.

Which IOC president condemned Bolt's chest-slapping Beijing celebration as disrespectful?

Bolt replied: "I wasn't bragging. When I saw I wasn't covered, I was just happy."

Whose 200 m world record of 19.32, set at Atlanta 1996, did Bolt break in Beijing?

Johnson had predicted Bolt would win gold but that his record would survive; Bolt ran 19.30 into a headwind.

Bolt's Beijing double made him the first man to hold both sprint world records since what became mandatory?

He was also the first sprinter since Don Quarrie to hold the 100 m and 200 m records simultaneously.

Why was Jamaica stripped of its Beijing 2008 4 × 100 m relay gold in January 2017?

The team had run 37.10, a world record at the time.

Bolt's still-standing 100 m world record came in the 2009 World Championship final in which city?

The race was billed as "Das Duell" against Tyson Gay, in the stadium where Jesse Owens had starred 73 years earlier.

What unusual gift did the host city's mayor present to Bolt after the 2009 World Championships?

Klaus Wowereit said Bolt had shown "one can tear down walls that had been considered as insurmountable".

What happened to Bolt in the 100 m final at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu?

It was the highest-profile casualty of the new one-false-start rule, and Kim Collins called it "a sad night for athletics".

Who won the 100 m in Daegu after Bolt's disqualification?

The compatriot beat Bolt again at the 2012 Jamaican trials before taking silver behind him in London.

What time did Bolt run to win the 100 m at the 2012 Olympics?

It was an Olympic record, and he defended his 200 m title too, leading a Jamaican podium sweep.

By how much did Jamaica lower the 4 × 100 m relay world record to 36.84 in 2012?

Bolt, Nesta Carter, Michael Frater and a fourth Jamaican knocked two tenths off their previous mark from 2011.

At the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, Bolt beat Justin Gatlin in the 100 m by how much?

Gatlin had dominated the sprints during Bolt's injury-hit season, holding seven of the year's ten fastest times.

What time did Bolt run to win his third Olympic 100 m title in Rio in 2016?

He finished his Olympic career with a 100 percent win record in finals.

Where did Bolt finish in his final individual race, the 100 m at the 2017 World Championships in London?

Justin Gatlin won in 9.92 and Christian Coleman took silver in 9.94, a hundredth ahead of Bolt.

How did Bolt's very last race, the 2017 World Championship 4 × 100 m relay final, end?

He had already opted out of the 200 m at those championships.

How many World Championship gold medals did Bolt win in total?

He swept the 100 m, 200 m and relay at every championship from 2009 to 2015, bar the Daegu false start.

Bolt was the first athlete to win how many World Championship titles in the 200 m?

The 200 m is his most successful event, with three Olympic titles as well.

At 23, Bolt became the youngest member so far of which national honour?

A statue of him was unveiled at the National Stadium in Kingston in December 2017.

Bolt was named IAAF World Athlete of the Year in 2008 and again "for the second year running" in which year?

He went on to win the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award four times and was named in Time's 100 Most Influential People in 2016.

Bolt's signature "lightning bolt" pose is also known by what Jamaican name?

Some trace it to dancehall moves of the era, though sprinter Bernard Williams had done similar celebrations earlier.

Bolt revealed in his autobiography that he suffers from scoliosis, which has what effect?

The curvature of the spine did not stop him becoming the fastest man in history.

Which Premier League club has Bolt repeatedly said he dreams of playing for?

He was the club's special guest at the 2011 Champions League final and also grew up supporting Real Madrid.

In 2018 Bolt trained with, and was offered a contract by, which Australian A-League club?

He began training there on his 32nd birthday and left in November after contract talks; a Perth Glory forward said his first touch was "like a trampoline".

Usain Bolt played as a forward in a friendly for which Norwegian club against Norway's under-19s?

He had also had a trial with Borussia Dortmund as part of his football ambitions.

Which sportswear brand signed Bolt after his 2002 world junior title?

The company sends kit to his old school every year, and he wore golden spikes reading "Beijing 100 m Gold" in the 2008 final.

Bolt Mobility, the company Bolt co-founded in 2018, launched what kind of product?

He appeared in its debut commercial and the company promised a device called the Bolt Nano; the firm shut down in 2022.

Roughly how much was left of Usain Bolt's $12 million-plus retirement account after the 2023 Kingston fraud?

The account with Stocks and Securities Ltd had previously shown $12.8 million.

What did Bolt and his partner Kasi Bennett name their first daughter, born in May 2020?

The couple later had twin sons.

Which video game series did Bolt say he stayed up late playing online, unable to help himself?

He later told the BBC that Mario Kart and Mortal Kombat helped him through his Olympic career.

Where was Bolt a student when a cricket coach first spotted his speed and pushed him to athletics?

Puma still sends sporting equipment to the school every year as part of Bolt's sponsorship deal.

In which city did Bolt set an indoor 100 m world record of 9.98 seconds in August 2014?

It was his only individual race of an injury-hit 2014 season, during which Justin Gatlin dominated the sprints.

What did Bolt and Kasi Bennett name the twin boys born to them in June 2021?

Saint Leo is Bolt's own middle name, given to him by an aunt; the twins followed daughter Olympia Lightning.

How many times has Bolt been named Laureus World Sportsman of the Year?

He took the award in 2009, 2010, 2013 and 2017, and was three times BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year.

What is the title of the 2016 documentary about the sprinter, directed by Benjamin and Gabe Turner?

Faster Than Lightning was instead the title of his 2013 autobiography, written with Matt Allen.