48 Fun Facts About Usain Bolt

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?

Bolt ran 19.19 seconds in the Berlin 2009 World Championship 200 m final, taking 0.11 s off the 19.30 he had set at the Beijing Olympics a year earlier.

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

Bolt won the 100 m and 200 m double at three consecutive Games — Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016 — a feat no other sprinter, man or woman, has matched.

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

Bolt was born in Sherwood Content, a small town in Trelawny parish, where his parents Wellesley and Jennifer ran the local grocery store and he played 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?

A nervous Bolt put his shoes on the wrong feet before the 2002 World Junior 200 m final in Kingston, noticed in time, and won in 20.61 — at 15 the youngest world-junior gold medallist ever.

How tall had Bolt grown by the age of 15?

By 15 Bolt already stood about 1.95 metres (6 ft 5 in), towering over his peers; that height later produced the huge stride that let him cover 100 m in around 41 steps.

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

Prime Minister P. J. Patterson recognised Bolt's talent and arranged for him to move to Kingston to train with the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association at the University of Technology; Bolt turned down US college scholarships.

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?

Glen Mills took over in 2005 and coached Bolt until his 2017 retirement; Mills wanted him to move up to 400 m and only agreed to the 100 m once Bolt broke the Jamaican 200 m record.

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

Bolt was eliminated in round one of the Athens 2004 200 m, running only 21.05 seconds while hampered by a hamstring injury that had troubled him all season.

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

Bolt's 19.75 in Kingston in 2007 beat Don Quarrie's 19.86, the Jamaican record since 1971, by 0.11 seconds, and his coach honoured their bargain by letting him race the 100 m.

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

Bolt ran 9.72 at the Reebok Grand Prix in Icahn Stadium, New York, in only his fifth senior 100 m; runner-up Tyson Gay said 'it looked like his knees were going past my face'.

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

Asafa Powell had set the 9.74 record in Rieti, Italy, in September 2007; the fellow Jamaican later ran the anchor leg on Bolt's Beijing 2008 relay team.

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?

IOC president Jacques Rogge said the celebration was 'not the way we perceive being a champion'; 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?

Fully automatic timing became mandatory for world records in 1977; Bolt's 9.69 and 19.30 in Beijing made him the first man since then to hold both sprint records at the same time.

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.

In which city did Bolt set his 100 m world record at the 2009 World Championships?

Bolt set the 100 m world record in Berlin's Olympiastadion in August 2009, in a final billed as 'Das Duell' with Tyson Gay — the stadium where Jesse Owens had starred in 1936.

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

Berlin's mayor Klaus Wowereit presented Bolt with a three-ton, 12-foot section of the old Berlin Wall, saying he 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?

Bolt was disqualified for a false start in the Daegu 2011 100 m final, the highest-profile casualty of the one-false-start rule introduced in 2010; he went on to win the 200 m there in 19.40.

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

Yohan Blake, Bolt's training partner, won the Daegu 2011 final in 9.92; he beat Bolt again at the 2012 Jamaican trials before taking silver behind him in both sprints in London.

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

Bolt won the London 2012 100 m in 9.63 seconds, an Olympic record, then defended his 200 m title in 19.32 ahead of Yohan Blake and Warren Weir in 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?

Bolt won the Beijing 2015 final in 9.79 to Justin Gatlin's 9.80, a margin of one hundredth of a second, after an injury-hit season in which Gatlin had run the year's fastest times.

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

Bolt won the Rio 2016 100 m in 9.81 seconds, ahead of Justin Gatlin's 9.89, for a third straight Olympic 100 m title; he never lost an Olympic final.

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

Bolt finished third in 9.95, taking bronze behind Justin Gatlin (9.92) and Christian Coleman (9.94) in his final individual race at the London 2017 World Championships.

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

Bolt pulled up injured with a hamstring cramp on the anchor leg and fell to the track as Great Britain won the London 2017 relay; he had already skipped 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.

In 2009, aged 23, Bolt was appointed to which Jamaican national honour?

Bolt was conferred with the Order of Jamaica in October 2009, at 23 its youngest-ever member; a statue of him was later unveiled at the National Stadium in Kingston in December 2017.

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

The pose is known in Jamaica as 'To Di World'; Bolt first struck it after his Beijing 2008 wins, and a silhouette of the gesture became his personal logo.

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

In Faster than Lightning Bolt wrote that scoliosis has left his right leg half an inch shorter than his left, forcing constant core work to keep the curvature from causing injuries.

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

Bolt is a lifelong Manchester United supporter who has said many times that playing for United is his dream; he came on for a United legends side against Barcelona at Old Trafford in September 2017.

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

Bolt began training with the Central Coast Mariners on his 32nd birthday in August 2018, scored twice in a friendly, and left in November after contract talks; Perth Glory's Andy Keogh likened his first touch to 'a trampoline'.

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

Bolt played about 20 minutes as a forward for Strømsgodset against Norway's under-19s in June 2018, wearing the number 9.58; he had earlier trained with Borussia Dortmund.

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

Puma signed Bolt as a teenager after his 2002 world junior title and sponsored him throughout his career; he wore golden Puma spikes inscribed 'Beijing 100 m Gold' in the 2008 Olympic final.

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

Bolt Mobility launched shared electric scooters in 2018 with Bolt starring in its debut commercial; it later promised a tiny electric car, the Bolt Nano, before abruptly shutting down in 2022.

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

Bolt's account with Kingston firm Stocks and Securities Ltd, which had shown about $12.8 million, was found in January 2023 to hold only around $12,000 after a fraud that also hit other clients.

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

Bolt and Kasi Bennett named their first child Olympia Lightning Bolt; she was born in Kingston on 17 May 2020 and Bolt revealed the name on Instagram a few weeks later.

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

Around 2010 Bolt admitted he stayed up late playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 online and could not help himself, a hobby he listed alongside dominoes and cricket.

Which high school did Bolt attend when his sprinting talent was first spotted?

Bolt attended William Knibb Memorial High School in Trelawny, where a coach noticed his speed; he took 200 m silver at the 2001 national high-school championships in 22.04 seconds.

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

Bolt ran 9.98 under the closed roof of Warsaw's National Stadium in August 2014, an indoor world best; it was his only individual race of an injury-hit season dominated by Justin Gatlin.

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.

Which Kingston track club did Bolt train with from 2005 until his retirement?

Bolt trained at Racers Track Club in Kingston from 2005 until retiring in 2017, alongside Yohan Blake; rival MVP Track Club produced Asafa Powell and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

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

I Am Bolt, directed by brothers Benjamin and Gabe Turner, was released in November 2016 following his Rio triple; Faster Than Lightning was instead his 2013 autobiography, written with Matt Allen.