As we know that Usain Bolt is the most successful athlete in the entire history right now I am running short of words to describe this famous person. He is like a god of his field.
Flip towards his record book, world records or best performances at premier meets like the Olympic Games or the World Championships, and you will find the Jamaican sprinter dominating the sprint section singlehandedly.
Looking back, here’s a compilation of Usain Bolt’s record breaking achievements on the world stage.
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Usain Bolt currently holds the world records for men’s 100m, 200m sprints and was part of the 4x100m world record-holding Jamaican quartet that included Nesta Carter.
Usain Bolt set the current 100m world record at the 2009 World Championships, clocking an astonishing 9.58 seconds for the feat.
Usain Bolt’s average ground speed was 37.58km/h, and he reach a top speed of 44.72km/h in the 60-80m stretch – numbers fitting for the world’s fastest man.
The Jamaican first held the 100m world record in 2008 at the Reebok Grand Prix in the Icahn Stadium in New York. He clocked 9.72 seconds to beat fellow Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell’s record of 9.74 seconds set at the IAAF Grand Prix in Rieti, Italy, a year earlier.
In New York, Bolt beat US sprinter Tyson Gay, the then reigning world champion, by over a second to win the gold medal.
Just months later in August 2008, he completed 100m in just 9.69 seconds in the Beijing Olympics and broke his own record. At the 2009 World Championships, Bolt was only putting his own record beyond the competition’s reach.
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By the time he retired in 2017, Bolt’s 9.69 seconds at the 2008 Olympics was his third-best time in the 100m.
Though Tyson Gay in 2009 and Yohan Blake in 2012 equalled Bolt’s 9.69 seconds from Beijing, Bolt’s 9.58 seconds at the 2009 World Championships and 9.63 seconds at the London 2012 Olympics - still the Olympics 100m record - remain untouched by any runner in any official competition till date. Though his achievements in the 100m made Bolt a superstar, the Jamaican’s pet event was the 200m. Bolt dominated that as well.
Like in the 100m, Bolt chose the 2009 World Championships in Berlin to set the 200m world record. The Jamaican won gold after clocking 19.19 seconds, bettering his previous record of 19.30 seconds at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The 4x100m men’s relay has been thoroughly dominated by Jamaican teams over the past two decades and Usain Bolt has featured heavily in their tremendous success.
The current 4x100m record in men’s relay was set at the London 2012 Olympics by the Jamaican team involving Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Nesta Carter and Michael Frater. It still stands as both the world and Olympics record.
For any track and field star, the Olympics and the World Championships are the holy grails and no one in history has even come close to dominating these events as Bolt has.
Bolt holds the 100m, 200m and 4x100m records in both the Olympics and World Championships. But these feats are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to illustrating the Jamaican sprinter’s sheer domination at these grand events.
After a disappointing outing at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Bolt won gold in the 100m and 200m in three Olympics - Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016 - a feat no other sprinter in history has ever achieved. The closest comparison, perhaps, will be the legendary Carl Lewis, who won back to back 100m golds at the 1984 and 1988 editions, whilst clinching a gold and silver in the 200m events.
In the Beijing 2008, he created world record in 100 and 200 meters he is only second one the who make in this record after Don Quarrie in 1976 to hold both world records simultaneously.
Bolt had also won the 4x100m gold medals in all three editions.
