advertisement
Usain Bolt took an emotional final bow on the track at the end of the World Championships in London on Sunday, before declaring that, definitely and definitively, there was no way he would ever return to sprinting.
After embarking on a special lap of honour, Bolt was asked by reporters already missing him whether he might ever change his mind.
24 hours earlier, the 30-year-old Jamaican's matchless sprint career had ended painfully on the last leg of the 4 x 100 metres relay final as he crumpled to the ground in the London Stadium with a hamstring injury.
Bolt, who admitted that it had been a terrible end of a "stressful" championship for him after also losing his 100 metres crown, said he had felt consoled on Sunday when someone told him "Muhammad Ali lost his last fight too – so don't be too stressed about it".
Already looking forward to an exciting future, he said that his management camp was talking to IAAF President Sebastian Coe, about what he might be able to do for the sport in an ambassadorial capacity.
"So we'll see how that goes," Bolt smiled about the man who has put him through a lifetime of pain.
And the great man even had reporters laughing when he gave them a vision of what a 50-year-old Usain Bolt might end up doing.
It was a wonderful night of celebration for athletics' greatest entertainer, with Bolt honoured one last time at the stadium where he achieved the second of his three Olympic sprint doubles.
Coe and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, presented him with a piece of the 2012 track as a memento before he embarked on his celebration lap, slowly soaking up all the non-stop cheers from the 56,000 full house – all to a Bob Marley soundtrack.
He went over to the 200 metres and 100 metres start lines, knelt down and crossed himself.
"I was saying goodbye to my fans but to my events also," he said, admitting he had been close to tears.
Before he had set off on the lap, he had told the crowd he just wanted to entertain and put on a show.
He did just that before also getting a rare round of applause in the press room from "some of you guys who wrote bad things about me".
Asked what he hoped his legacy would be, he paused for a moment before saying:
He was also adamant that he would "preach" to youngsters about avoiding the evil of performance-enhancing drugs.
"The sport hit rock bottom last year and the year before, and now we're on the way back up," he said.
And his immediate aims? In typical Bolt fashion, he just smiled and declared: "The first thing I'm going to do is have some fun. Have a party and have a drink. I need to chill."
(With inputs from Reuters)
(Love your mother tongue? This Independence Day, tell The Quint why and how you love your bhasha. You may even win a BOL t-shirt! Sing, write, perform, spew poetry – whatever you like – in your mother tongue. Send us your BOL at bol@thequint.com or WhatsApp it to 9910181818.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)