Jamaica's Usain Bolt is generally considered the fastest man alive. Since he's a world-renowned
runner, you'd think you'd hear more about Bolt, but he seems to have fallen further
out of the spotlight with each passing year. Here's whatever happened to Usain Bolt.
Usain Bolt, the world's fastest man, has a history of crushing it at the Olympic Games. To date,
Bolt has competed in four separate Olympics, which means he remained one of the fastest
sprinters in the world for over a decade, and has a total of eight gold medals. Unfortunately,
the human body and mind can only take competition of this caliber for so long,
and Bolt ran in his last summer Olympics at the 2016 Games in Rio. Bolt started his Olympic
career at 17 years old and ended it right around his 30th birthday, and he went out with a bang.
Even for the greatest of athletes, there finally comes a time when they have to
hang up their equipment for good. In 2017, the great Usain Bolt retired,
and his final competition wasn't a pretty one.
Bolt had been competing in World Championships, as he tended to do quite often throughout his
career. According to PBS, he'd won 11 World Championships up to this point,
and nobody expected him to take anything but the first-place slot. However,
in his final 100-meter race, Bolt came in third, beaten by Justin Gatlin and Christian Coleman.
In the team relay, Bolt did substantially worse, barely crossing the finish line,
and even then, he needed help to do it. It was an inauspicious end to an incredible career.
"Oh my God, if I miss up now, it's not going to look good on me."
Professional athletes are known for getting professional-grade injuries,
and some of them battle more physical obstacles than others. As PBS noted,
Bolt had struggled with back problems and scoliosis throughout his career,
which has the potential to cause movement impairments, and on rare occasions, paralysis.
But the night of his final competition, Bolt was plagued by a different injury.
While running the team relay in the 2017 Track and Field Championships,
Bolt went down, and he went down hard. Bolt had been pushing hard,
gaining the lead, when he started awkwardly hopping and shouting in pain.
The world's fastest man then fell to the ground. He refused to leave his final race
without crossing the finish line though, and with the help of his teammates, he hobbled across it.
At first, the runner believed it was a simple hamstring cramp that struck at
a most inopportune moment, but he later learned he'd actually torn the muscle.
Bolt told The Independent shortly after his injury that the competitors
weren't allowed to jog around and keep their muscles warm before competing,
which has long been known to lead to injuries in the athletic world. With a worn body and
having been "cold" during his races, it's no wonder Bolt didn't compete at his usual level.
Bolt went into retirement after the 2017 Championships in London. It wasn't solely because
of the injuries he'd endured, but something he'd been planning before he stepped foot on the
track for that particular race. Bolt, of course, wouldn't stay away from competition completely.
Just a year after his hamstring injury, he was trying out for and subsequently playing
with Australia's Central Coast Mariners soccer team. He played his first game in August 2018,
but it reportedly didn't go as well as hoped. He fumbled an easy goal and
seemed a little awkward on the field, but his speed made him exceedingly difficult to cover.
The soccer career didn't last as long as his previous athletic career,
unfortunately. In November, the same year as his soccer debut,
Bolt left the team over a contract dispute, and as of early 2019, the runner-turned-soccer
player had said he was finally finished with sports, and probably retired for good.
Following passions is what being alive is all about, and there are plenty of
professional athletes who have moved on to other realms of fame and entertainment.
We've seen professional fighters become actors, football players write books,
and runners, like Usain Bolt, start cutting music tracks.
Bolt's music career really started in early 2021 when the former athlete dropped his
first single with Nugent "NJ" Walker. The world-class-athlete-turned-musician
plans to make it big, and released his debut album in September, 2021.
The former athlete's genre of choice is Jamaican dancehall, which is kind of like dubstep. Despite
wanting to reach musical stardom, Bolt isn't rushing into it too quickly. He says he's letting
the music come as it pleases rather than trying to spam singles. This, the sprinter believes, is the
key to succeeding, which he's determined to do.
Somehow, amid the multiple career paths, the injuries, and the fame,
Bolt has found the time to have a family. In total,
Bolt has three children with his partner, Kasi Bennett. Their first child was born in 2020,
a daughter with the delightfully pertinent name Olympia Lightning Bolt. In the spring of 2021,
Bolt's family welcomed twins, Thunder and Saint Leo. No one can deny that Bolt has a world-class
sense of humor having given his children the names Lightning Bolt and Thunder Bolt.
Usain Bolt is often revered not only for his abilities in athletics but
for his shining personality. Bolt is also an extremely charitable person,
which is made evident by the Usain Bolt Foundation, founded in 2011.
Since the foundation came into existence, it's accomplished a ton of good works. In March 2021,
the foundation donated $40,000 worth of laptops to rural Jamaican schools. In 2020, they donated
over $2 million in school supplies. They've also donated equipment to medical facilities,
given out gifts to children during the holidays, sponsored the Jamaican Special Olympics team,
worked on climate change programs, and much more. They don't seem to be held to one specific issue
like many charitable foundations, but instead, the organization seems to tackle whatever cause is in
front of them at any given time. Bolt isn't just a figurehead for the organization either.
He's seen at each of his foundation's events. It's just proof that even though
the great Usain Bolt might not be competing these days, he's still doing great things.
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