Usain Bolt will be gone in a flash – blink and you’re going to miss Jamaican 100m king
World record holder who ran 9.58sec in 2009 hangs up his spikes after 4x100 metres relay in London week on Saturday
BLINK and you’ll miss him — and miss him the world of athletics most certainly will.
Usain St Leo Bolt hangs up his spikes for the final time after the 4x100 metres relay at London’s Olympic Stadium a week on Saturday.
It is unlikely his sport will ever see his like again.
The fastest man on the planet, and perhaps the most charismatic track-and-field athlete of all time, concludes his all-conquering career at these World Championships.
After this Saturday’s 100m final and the relay a week later, the 30-year-old Jamaican will adopt his ‘Lightning Bolt’ pose — presumably after two more gold medals.
That would take his World Championship total to 13 in six appearances at the event.
His world 100m record of 9.58sec was set at the Worlds in Berlin in 2009 but his false start in Daegu, South Korea, two years later was the frustrating ‘Usain Blot’ on the near-flawless copybook of his peak years.
We were truly wakened to the Jamiacan's extraordinary powers at Beijing in 2008 when Bolt clocked 9.69sec - a world and Olympic record.
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That remains his third best time behind the 9.63sec run at London 2012.
Bolt has, relatively speaking, been on the wane, moving slowly down the scale towards the 9.81sec it took to win gold at last summer's Rio Olympics.
Bolt remains a truly special force.
London will be saying farewell to a true legend of world sport — so whatever you do, don’t blink.
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