Usain Bolt

Jamaican Usain Bolt is an Olympic legend who has been called “the fastest man alive” for smashing world records and winning 9 gold medals as the world champion at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Games. But how much do you know about him? Read on and find out!

Usain Bolt was born in Jamaica on August 21, 1986. Usain was an excellent cricket player and sprinter from an early age. Bolt's natural speed was noticed by coaches at school, and he began to focus solely on sprinting with the coach Pablo McNeil. As early as aged 14, Bolt was amazing fans of sprinting with his lightning speed, and he won his first high school championships medal in 2001, taking the silver in the 200-metre race.

At the age of 15, Bolt took his first shot at success on the world stage at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Kingston, Jamaica. He won the 200-metre dash, making him the youngest world-junior gold medallist ever. That same year he was given the International Association of Athletics Foundation’s Rising Star Award and was given the nickname "Lightning Bolt."

He joined the Jamaican Olympic team in 2004 but didn’t win any medals because of an injury. In 2008, Bolt announced that he would run the 100-metre and 200-metre events at the Beijing Summer Olympics. In the 100-metre final, Bolt broke the world record, winning in 9.69 seconds. When you watched the race, you could see he slowed down to celebrate before he had even finished. He went on to win three gold medals and break three world records in Beijing.