Interviewer: Just give us an insight. What is it like to be Usain Bolt?
Usain Bolt: Awesomeness.
People always say to me “oh it looks so easy”. I’m like “yeah but the work that I do”. “And I
know, but it's easy”. And I was like “no”. So, this is why I need to show people that it's not
easy. It's a lot of work, you just don't see it. And all the injuries and the stress that
I go through and what I’m thinking and all these things, I just want to share with the world. And
it's good to look back on it when you're retiring, you're old, and say “those were some good times.”
Usain Bolt is the fastest man alive. He ran
in various Olympics and became an Icon for his country, Jamaica, and the whole world.
The world needs role models, and Usain came at the right time.
But there was a time before fame, before success, when he was just a small boy
raised in the small village of Sherwood Content, 3 hours away from Kingston.
A secluded part of Jamaica, far away from the tourist circuit and the city center.
In this place where the rhythm of life seemed to move slower,
a boy was already running as fast as he could at the age of three.
The running continued throughout his growth years and the village
rooted for him as he became the youngest ever Junior Champion at the age of 15.
But before he reached the highest point of his life,
he had to hit the lowest. At his first Olympics in Athens, 2004, Bolt failed to pass the first round.
Disappointment washed over him and all of Jamaica,
as their collective dreams shattered in front of their eyes.
But not only was this a disappointment, but it was also a moment of truth.
The greatest failure one can have is the breaking point for their highest glories.
At that point when you can give up or keep going, the choice you make can change everything.
And at that moment the lightning bolt of Jamaica decided to keep going.
He decided he wanted to be the BEST.
And after more hard work and training that is exactly what he did.
Throughout the next years, he won a Triple Triple. Three gold medals in three Olympic games.
He left his mark on the world.
Usain Bolt: When I started out all I wanted was to be only 200-meter champion. That's all I wanted.
And then I started getting better and I started winning more. Then I figured out that I want to
be one of the best. And now that I’ve got here now, I feel amazing, you know what I mean.
Because all the hard work I’ve paid off. All the sacrifice that I’ve sacrificed.
It feels good to know that all of this is now good and you are one of the best.
To achieve great feats, it is necessary to make a great effort.
Success comes with a price. It is paid in awakened nights, exhaustion, and pain.
Success demands focus and concentration.
It demands you know exactly what you want and that you work hard to get it.
To be able to show great skill with ease you have to train incessantly. Repeat the same
movements again, and again, until it seems like you were born knowing how to do them.
But you weren’t. You just worked yourself out to perfection.
Usain Bolt: I think a lot of people just, they see you running and they say “oh, looks so, easy you
look effortless.” But before it gets to that point it's hard, it’s like hard work. Staying there,
out sacrifice, stay in the out l just dying. This time when you run and you just want to stop, you
just want to give up, like to tell “the hell with that, I just want to go home”. It's day when you
get up and know what you have a training today. You know it's gonna be intense, like “oh God,
I don't want to do this today”. But you gotta go and it's so hard and a lot of people don't know.
My coach always says in a couple of years we're not gonna have any
trouble because you're gonna take all of it home.
Interviewer: We are not used to seeing you suffering.
Usain Bolt: That's why you guys are here. To show the true story in it.
Interviewer: This here is a reality? Do you mean that the competition is not the reality?
Usain Bolt: Listen the work is behind the scene. Competition is the easy part. Behind the scenes,
that's where the work is done. Everything is done to get that one race that you need to run.
Interviewer: But how do you stay motivated when you really don't want to go into
training? Because you are the fastest man in the world. You're so much better than anybody else,
there must be moments where you just think “do I really need to do this?”
Usain Bolt: I talk to myself. Like I always tell myself, especially when I’m training
that I don't want to do anymore, I say “if you want to be a champion you got to go,
let's go, get up.” I always just, so I talk to myself like I’m talking to a person. Like
“if you're going to lose, you don't want to lose, so get up, right now,
let's go finish this program. I talk to myself and that's what, those are the things that motivate me
to get up and go because I know what I want. So I keep reminding myself what we're working towards.
Usain Bolt: This thing, you're doing it for yourself. You're not doing it for anybody else.
Yes, your family supports you, yes, your friends support you. But you're doing it
for yourself at the end of the day. And you're the only one who's going out there on the track
so you got to motivate yourself and you got to want it as much as everybody else on the track.
So, I've learned that, so it’s easier now. Certain people say this season all you saying is not
running as fast as you should. It doesn't bother me, because I've been through this already. And I
know what they're gonna say all the time. But I know what I'm capable of. I know what I can do.
Voice over: There is a point when moving becomes harder and breathing feels like a heavyweight.
Your body feels like a thousand pounds and your mind begs you to stop.
That’s exactly the worst time for you to stop.
That’s when you have to push yourself, just a little bit longer.
Just enough for you to find a new feeling, a new achievement.
Just enough for you to learn something new.
Become better.
And get closer to your dreams.
Usain Bolt: I’ve watched and I’ve seen different athletes over the years. Not only Jamaicans.
When they are training, they work. They try to overdo it. You got to work with what the coach
says. A lot of people, they run hard, hard, hard, hard, and then you can't finish the set. It's
never like that. One thing I've learned over the years for my coach, that last one is the
most important one. That's when you improve. So, if you run you got sixteen year and five
and he's tired, you're dying, you've got it even take one, take a little bit more time,
take one more minute and go. Because that's when you started improving. That's when the work
pays off now, cause your legs are dead and you gotta push your body. You got to overcome. It’s
like you're moving past a barrier or more moving step forward. A lot of people just
want to stop because they're dead tired but you gotta do that extra one that's when it improves.
Usain Bolt: I know what I need to do to execute right. So that's what I focus on.
But I don't try to think about it. I think when you start thinking about everything in your mind
at the start, we start saying “ah, I gotta make sure this, I gotta make sure that”. And the other
things start coming back and if you're not really focused then it’s going to throw you off the race.
And that's what happens to a lot of guys out there distressing so much they total just t lose it.
Usain Bolt: I don't get scared easy. When I... I may be doing half when in training but when
I go on that track, it's like I transform. The confidence I have when I'm out there is different.
No matter how far you think you are ahead of me I'm gonna catch you. That's all.
That's my mentality that I go there with. I'm never scared of anything, never scared of anyone.
It's all about business when I go again. And everything comes together when I'm on the track.
: Everything comes together when you achieve your dreams. Everything makes sense.
The feeling of victory can’t be surpassed by anything in life.
Nor the pain, nor the sacrifice, nor the exhaustion needed to get it.
It’s like being able to see things clearly for the first time.
Like feeling the wind gently on your face.
It’s like drinking water after walking days in the desert.
It’s what every heart needs to experience at least once in a lifetime.
It’s the feeling which calls to our soul every time we dream, in hopes we will go out and get it.
Usain Bolt: I’ve proven that with hard work anything is possible, you know what I mean.
My motto is anything is possible. I don't think limits. And for me, I was actually sitting down on
today and I was doing an interview and it was ironic that my motto says anything is possible
don't take limits and no one would ever feel like I'll be beaten at a championship. I feel that it
shows a higher level to the kids that, you know what I mean, continue trying in anything you
do. I mean I feel that I'm on the wrong end of this situation but I personally this is a good
message to the kids, that work hard, be strong and let's push on, you know what I mean. And for me,
if I can leave something like that to the younger generation, that with hard work no
matter what's going on you can be the best that you can be then that’s a good look to leave.