A young star

Born in a small town in Jamaica, Usain Bolt was a track prodigy. Though he stands at 6 feet 5 inches, Bolt defies conventional wisdom that very tall sprinters are disadvantaged as fast starters. Bolt won the 200m event at the 2002 world junior championships at 15. He competed in the 200m event at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, but was hit by a hamstring injury and failed to advance.

Olympic success

In 2007, he earned a silver medal in the 200m event at the world championships. After persuading his coach to let him try the 100m, he ran 10.03 seconds in his first professional race. In May 2008, he broke the world record in the 100m, running 9.72 seconds.

Bolt became the first man since American Carl Lewis in 1984 to win the 100m, 200m, and 4 × 100m relay in a single Olympics. He was also the first ever to establish world records (9.69 seconds, 19.30 seconds and 37.10 seconds, respectively) in all three events. However, his teammate failing a drug test caused Usain to lose his medal for the relay event.

Bolt also won gold medals in all three events at the 2009 world championships, setting new world records in the 100m (9.58 seconds) and 200m (19.19 seconds). Due to his speed, Bolt has the popular nickname of “Lightning Bolt”.