A Letter to you from...

“There are better starters than me, but I’m a strong finisher”

Every time you struggle in life, read this,

I was born on August 21st, 1986 in Jamaica. I was one of three children born to Jennifer and Wellesley Bolt. Our parents managed to make ends meet by managing a shop where mostly grocery was sold.

I tried playing cricket but coach later figured out I was a better athlete than a cricketer. I was good at running, but in most cases many are good at running. But what mattered most is the amount of effort and time I put in to practice. I participated in a 200m event in school and finished it in 22.04 seconds.

Then I was coached by a former sprinter named Pablo McNeil, who had even previously participated in Olympics. The first major international sporting event which I participated in was the ‘IAAF Wo r l d Yo u t h Championship’, held in 2001 at the Hungarian city of Debrecen. I failed to win. But I managed to finish the event in 21.73 seconds, which was my personal best at that time.

I then went on to participate in the ‘ 2002 World Junior Championships’. In this international event, held at Kingston, Jamaica, I managed to win the 200 metre event, by completing the race in just 20.61 seconds.

When you see me win at Olympics, you never would have imagined the journey I had to pursue and the training I went through every single day.

I performed well in ‘ 2003 CARIFTA Games’.

During the ‘ Jamaican High School Championships’, which was also held in 2003, I re- wrote the previous records of the 200m and 400m running events by completing both events in 20.25 seconds and 45.35 seconds respectively.

2004 was one of the eventful years of my career. This was the year I participated in the ‘ 2004 CARIFTA Games’, ‘ 2004 World Junior Championships’ and the famous ‘2004 Athens Olympics’.

Although I was praised for my remarka- ble perfor mance in the CARIFTA games event, I failed to do well in the 200m Olympic qualifier event, due to an injury I suffered. It’s a dream I’ve been thinking about and working for from a young age, when I couldn’t qualify the emotional stress and suffering was far more than physical pain I was going through. I teamed up with a new coach named Glen Mills, in 2005. He tried his best to make me more professional than I was earlier. Under Glen’s mentorship I registered a win in a 200m event, where I finished the contest in 19.99 seconds. I was really looking forward to the ‘2006 Commonwealth Games’, but had to back out of the event since I severely hurt my hamstring. Although most of 2006 had been a relatively sour for me in terms of his career, I emerged victorious at the ‘IAAF World Athletics Final’ event held in Germany that year. I then travelled to the city of Osaka, in Japan, to participate in the ‘ 2007 World Championship’. Although I managed to cover a distance of 200m in 19.96 seconds, my performance was overshadowed by Tyson Gay’s exceptional 19.76 second feat. It was all fine, because who deserves to win will always win.

Everything boils down to how much effort I’m willing to put in to go that extra mile and achieve my dreams. The euphoric feeling of being almost there but not close enough kept driving me to do better.

Competition is the easy part. Behind the scenes is where all the work is done. Everything’s done to get to that one race that you need to run. I think a lot of peo- ple just see you run and they say, ‘Oh looks so easy, effortless.’ But before it gets to that point it’s hard, it’s hard work. It’s day in day out sacrifice. Day in and day out. Just during this time when you run you just want to stop yourself and give up and say, The hell with this I just want to go home. The day when you get up and you know what you have in training today. There’s going to be pain there. Like, Oh god I don’t want to go today but you got to go.

Many people doubted me. They thought I lacked sufficient experience to participate in the ‘Beijing Summer Olympics’, which was to be held in 2008. I knew what I can do so it didn’t bother me what other people think or their opinion on the situation.

I silenced my critics by qualifying for the 100m final event.

My dream came true when I achieved path- breaking success winning the 100m final, by completing the race in a mere 9.69 seconds and eventually became a worldrenowned icon. I also won the 200m final with a new Olympic record of 19.30 seconds. I won my third gold medal at 2008 Olympics in 4x100m relay.

I’ve trained so hard, shed blood sweat and tears only to realize my full potential. Just to kill the doubters with my success and bury them with my happiness.

When you achieve the impossible, you’re on top of the world. The happiness seems to radiate out of you and your heart just cannot be caged in your ribs. The physical pain and pressure and turmoil just fades away because at the end it was all worth the fight.

At the 2 0 0 9 B e rl i n Wo r l d Championships, I created world records in both the 100m and 200m events. I won the 100m race with a timing of 9.58 seconds and 200m race with a timing of 19.19 seconds. I also won a gold medal in 4x100m relay race but the Jamaican team failed to do better than our own world record.

At the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, I was eliminated from the 100m finals due to a false start. Everyone fails at what they do best. Sometimes we need to lose in the midst of winning to put us back to where we were, just to feel the torturous emotion of losing.

I came back strongly to win the gold medal in 200m with timing of 19.40 seconds. Our Jamaican team mates then partnered to set a world record time of 37.04 seconds in 4x100m relay.

I participated in the ‘ 2012 Summer Olympics’ and created history to become the first man to successfully defend both the 100 m and 200 m Olympic sprint titles.

Hard work will always pay off, that’s how this universe operates.

I also won the 4x100m relay race and achieved the ‘ Double Triple’, raising my overall Olympics medal tally to 6 gold medals. I won the 100m race in 9.63 seconds and 200m race in 19.32 seconds.

At the 2013 World Championships in Moscow, I was able to win in 100m and 200m, with a timing of 9.77 seconds and 19.66 seconds, respectively. I also won the gold medal in the 4×100 metres relay final and became the most successful athlete in the 30-year history of the world championships.

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, I was coming back from a hamstring injury and didn’t participate in 100m and 200m race. I participated in the 4x100m relay and helped my team win gold. Our physical body sometimes reminds us to rest and give ourselves some credit for all what we go through. Injuries are a part of that reminder.

At the 2 0 1 5 B e i j i n g Wo rl d Championships, I won the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay race with the timings of 9.79 seconds, 19.55 seconds and 37.36 seconds, respectively. I also joined Carl Lewis and Maurice Greene on a record three 100 m world titles and recorded my fourth consecutive win over 200 m at the World Championships.

At the 2016 Rio Olympics, I won the gold medals in all the three events and took my overall Olympics medal tally to 9 gold medals. I won 100m in 9.81 seconds, 200m in 19.78 seconds and 4x100m relay in 37.27 seconds.

It was a long journey and I’ve tried my best to note down my failures and successes at length.

Whether running is your solace and your dream, whether achieving the impossible and going that extra mile in whatever the field you want is what you want, just push yourself beyond the limits. Limits are what you create for yourself. Be your own version of lightning Bolt,

Usain Bolt Written By Devuni Goonewardene Email any Feedback, comments or queries to devuni@gmail.com