Guess Which Popular Jamaican This Is?
This famous individual started out with a love for cricket and football, but even though he did not end up choosing either sport for a life-long career, he was destined for the world of athletics.
Now 37 years old, he started down the path of track and field when he was just 12 years old attending Waldensia Primary School and was supported by his mother, father, brother, and sister. He grew up in Trelawny, Jamaica in a town called Sherwood Content where his parents owned and ran the grocery store in the area.
After starting William Knibb Memorial High School, the teachers at the institution noted his excellence in track and encouraged him to continue the sport, then in 2002 at the World Junior Championships in Kingston, he won a gold medal, becoming the youngest world-junior gold medallist at the age of 15 years old.
He grew in his career to become a multi-Olympic gold medalist who earned the nickname Usain ‘Lightning’ Bolt.
Bolt broke his first record (Jamaican) in the year 2007 in the 200-meter, putting him on the map. The following year, the sprinting great took home three gold medals in the 100-meter, 200-meter, and relay races in Beijing.
This was also the year(2009) he broke the world record in the 100-meter finals with 9.69 seconds.
The 100-meter world record was broken again in 2012 by no other than Usain ‘Lightning’ Bolt with a running time of 9.63 seconds.
Five years later, after an impressive career on the track, the Olympic World Champion and eight-time gold medalist retired from athletics in 2017.
Although retired, Bolt continues to blaze a trail wherever he goes by dipping his fingers into several different pies, including his long-time loves cricket and football, and dabbling in music production, charity foundations, and construction.
In 2020, Bolt and his partner, Kasi Bennett, welcomed their first child together, Olympia Lightning Bolt, with Twin boys Saint Leo and Thunder Bolt coming a year later in 2021.
Like many other retired and active athletes, Bolt gives Back to the Jamaican athletics community through charitable foundations, the Usain Bolt Foundation, which seeks, “Creation of opportunities through education and cultural development for a positive change.”
