Jamaica is a country with a population of just around 29 lakhs which is much lesser than many of our cities. Yet it has produced Usain Bolt, undoubtedly the greatest sprinter the world has produced till now. His name Bolt is very apt for his performances.
One cannot believe that at the world level a sprinter can be so dominant that the athlete coming second to him never ever had a semblance of a chance. He did suffer two losses in the 100 meters in his career by the US Tyson Gay and Justin Gatlin who did defeat him once apiece but that is about all. Such a performance in sprinting is simply phenomenal.
That Jamaica has tied with US at the just concluded world championships in terms of Gold Medals (6) is amazing and Bolt is the person who made that possible by winning 3 of the gold medals won by Jamaica. Bolt is 6 foot 5 in height and has started his sports career by playing cricket and football.
He has first competed in the Olympics in 2008 at Beijing at the age of 22 which is old for a sprinter. He won Gold Medals at all the 3 events he competed (100, 200 & 4*100 relay) at the Beijing Olympics and repeated the performance at the 2012 London Olympics.
In the world cup athletics he won two silvers at Osaka in 2007 but after 2008, there is no looking back for Bolt. He won gold in all the 3 events at Berlin in 2009. He would have repeated the feat in Daegu in 2011 but was disqualified for a false start in the 100 meters and thus could only win 2 Gold medals. He has now won the 3 gold medals at the World Cup at Moscow. He is now 27 years old. It is a wonder that he is able to outclass other sprinters who are much younger than him in the present world cup athletics at Moscow.
This is a phenomenal record and he remains unchallenged both at the Olympics and the world championships since 2008. Gold medal winners may put in a superlative performance and win races but Bolt simply demolishes the opposition.
At 27 he can be termed old for a sprinter and perhaps may not be able to carry on after the next Olympics in 2016. Even the great Usain Bolt cannot compete with age. Jamaica would miss him dearly after his retirement and so would the world. Jamaica has many great sprinters but none like Usain Bolt, at least not till now.
