The legendary American sprinter Usain Bolt has revealed that he would have wanted to compete against Olympic 100-meter winner Noah Lyles in his day.
Between 2008 and 2017, the 38-year-old Jamaican, who is the fastest man alive, was a dominant force, winning 11 world titles and Olympic gold medals.
Although Bolt’s records in 100m and 200m are yet to be broken since setting them in 2009 at the Berlin World Championships in Germany, Bolt feared and hated training.
Bolt ended up retiring in 2017 after a fulfilling career, although he exited the stage after a nagging injury aged just 31. Eight years later, ‘Lightning Bolt’ reveals how he misses competition.
Bolt is the only sprinter to win Olympic 100m and 200m titles at three consecutive Olympics (2008, 2012, and 2016). He also won two 4 x100 relay gold medals.
He gained worldwide fame for his double sprint victory in world record times at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which made him the first person to hold both records since fully automatic time became mandatory.
Noah Lyles has taken the spotlight since Bolt retired. At 27, the American is yet to hit dizzying heights expected of him despite claiming his first Olympic gold medal in Paris last year.
His personal best of 19.31 seconds in the 200m is the American record, and makes him the third fastest of all-time, still short of Bolt’s world record of 19.19 seconds.
The Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist completed a sprint treble by winning gold medals in the 100-meter, 200-meter and 4×100-meter events at the 2023 World Championships.
