On the night track turned to Jamaica once again to find the World's Fastest Man, the greatest Jamaican sprinter was in a sky box in the stadium — his presence literally hovering over a sport that hasn't been the same since he left.
Oblique Seville might be the new 100-meter world champion. Usain Bolt remains the only track star of this century whose fame cascades well beyond sports.
Eight years since his retirement, nobody has come close to matching his times or his presence. In an interview before Sunday night's races at the track worlds, he said he feels great about that, because “that's what I worked for.”
“When I was competing, I was working to break the benchmark,” he said. “Now that I've retired, it's a great feeling to know that I'm the benchmark if you want to be the best, you want to be a legend. I wanted to set high standards and I did. I'm happy about that.”
The numbers tell part of this story: Eight Olympic gold medals. Eleven gold medals at world championships. Three world records — 9.58 seconds in the 100, 19.19 in the 200 and 36.84 in the 4x100 relay — that still stand.
No runner has come within .12 seconds of either of his individual marks since he retired.
Asked why that is, despite a world in which shoe and track technology gives runners a bigger boost than 15 years ago when he was in his prime, Bolt offered a window into why he remains his sport's most engaging ambassador.
“Do you really want the answer? We're just more talented,” he said. “You look at it. I'm just saying, you can't run faster (just) with brand-new spikes.”
Speed, though, is only part of Bolt's story. It was his ability to use the platform to entertain and bring people together — a skill that couldn't be overlooked in an era when the Olympics needed a recharge — that made Bolt one of track's most important characters.
From his trademark bow-and-arrow pose to his leisurely victory laps around the track with the reggae music blaring — from his mile-wide smile to the joy he so effortlessly exuded despite the excruciating nature of his work — he elevated the sport into a personality-driven lovefest and gave people a reason to watch.
“It's the personality,” he said. “I think a lot of people, they try to be fun but it comes off different. It's just having a good time. If you try too hard, it's not going to be the same. But I was just having a good time. That's how I looked at it. I tried to engage with fans and that's why they gravitated to it.”
Sunday marked Bolt's first appearance at an Olympics or worlds since he exited the sport after the 2017 championships in London.
He is now the father of a 5-year-old daughter, Olympia Lightning Bolt, and 4-year-old twin sons, Saint Leo and Thunder Bolt. To them, Bolt is just Dad. But the greatest sprinter of all time said their view might change at the next world championships — two years from now in the place where his career lifted off like a rocket: Beijing.
“I'm excited because I get to bring my kids and I can tell them, ‘Listen, this is where it all happened,’” he said of the 2008 Olympics where he set three world records and won three gold medals. “I've shown my kids videos and stuff like that. They'll be 6 and 7, and they'll kind of understand the moment, and I can explain to them what their dad has done over the years.”
