How brilliant Bolt changed the face of the sport for ever
Five experts look at the impact and legacy of sprint legend who will bow out at World Championships in London Plus Ben Bloom counts down his 10 greatest races
The commentator Brendan Foster, BBC commentator and founder of the Great Run Company
One of the most notable things Usain Bolt has done is the manner in which he has transformed the appearance of the start line. There was a period just before he appeared on the scene where you had Maurice Greene, Tyson Gay and others, and it was all heavyduty, hard, boxer-type approaches with harsh faces on the start line. It was a tough world and you entered at your own risk.
Bolt just took the lid off that. He started smiling and now they all do it.
So, he has even made the start line a more attractive place for people to want to be. If you look at the Rio 2016 Olympics, so many of the guys were trying to mimic his gig.
He has genuinely made it look more fun and because all the kids in the world were watching him, he has made athletics look more fun. He has been a complete revelation.
In time, someone will run faster than him, but I do not think anyone will do it with such style and panache. If you are a kid at an athletics club and your coach tells you to train hard, they are correct. But you have also got to enjoy it and I think that is what Bolt has shown. We cannot thank him enough for that.
When you watch the 100metres now, instead of feeling tense you get a smile. For me, that has been the fantastic thing he has done. Everyone watching is not only waiting to see what he does on the track, but also on the start line and after he has crossed the finish line.
From a commentator’s point of view, he has certainly made everyone look for the book of superlatives. I remember the first time we saw him in 2004 after he had won the World Juniors and Colin Jackson said to me: “This kid’s pretty good you know.” Well, the superlatives have kicked on a bit since then.
He has also enabled the commentary to be done with a smile and a quip. He has softened the hard, brutal approach that had drifted into sprinting. He has been a tonic that we will miss greatly.
The money man Nigel Currie, sports marketing expert
Athletics is one of those strange sports that is actually a number of sports rolled into one – some are more high profile and others less so.
It is vital that the top events have high-profile personalities and the blue riband event is the men’s 100m. Bolt came along at a time when things were not particularly good, with a series of athletes who had been the fastest man in the world and then tested positive for drugs. So, he was this beacon who stood out and has turned into a fantastic personality and superstar. He has gone a long way in helping the sport maintain its credibility and profile.
There has never been an athlete who has transcended the sport like Bolt and, in the modern era, nobody has earned the sort of money that he has. The fastest man in the world is who all the marketing people look to. There is a chance that when he disappears the money will go with him because the marketeers are backing an athlete who has a proven record, standing head and shoulders above everyone else. You cannot just say that the next bloke who comes along will take all of that on. It is all about individuals and personalities and he came along at the right time.
He has been a hero for the sport, so it will be a blow to athletics when he goes. But that is one of the downsides of a sport made up of individuals. In football, for example, Steven Gerrard retires and somebody else steps in because it is a team game. The chances of finding another Bolt are slim.
The rival Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, British 100m sprinter and European 4x100m champion
From a sprinter’s perspective, Bolt has added a sense of execution that was not there before. Obviously, there was Maurice Greene, who excelled in the drive phase and always turned up when it mattered.
But Bolt is phenomenal in the sense that when it comes to the major championships he is his own person. He has always been able to just do whatever is necessary – and not only to win, but also to entertain. In that sense, you have just got to bow your head.
When Bolt runs a fast time, everyone goes with him. One thing we have all learnt from him is that you cannot limit yourself. But not only that, enjoy not limiting yourself and enjoy running fast.
He has made you realise that you do not have to compete in just one particular way – there are different ways to run fast. Obviously, he has a vibe that different people react differently to. I am someone who is quite happy, but I started off feeling the need to be more serious. As I have
taken more time, I’ve seen him and thought ‘you know what, this guy is still calm and relaxed’. He enjoys it and lives in the moment, so seeing him like that has allowed me to enjoy the moment. I can go into a race with a certain relaxed mindset, still knowing I can hit the track hard.
The whole scene of sprinting has changed since Bolt came along because of the continents that the guys come from. Previously, you would always have the
Brits and the Americans, who would like to have their chit-chat and talk down to people. But now you also
have the Caribbean and African vibes so everything is more chilled. That has definitely changed within the call room.
The boss
Seb Coe, IAAF president
Usain has changed the face of our sport. He is more than just a generation super star.
Not in my lifetime can I think of anybody other than Muhammad Ali who has captured the public imagination both within the sport and beyond the sport. His contribution has been mammoth.
‘When you watch the 100m now, instead of feeling tense you get a smile. That is a fantastic thing’
You do not replace Usain Bolt. You do not replace him because there is no other athlete who can win at the Olympic Games three times in a row or win world titles or break world records in the way he has. Usain Bolt is not just about medals and records – he enthralled and engaged the public and such athletes appear only a few times in our lifetime.
His extraordinary career is coming to a close and we are very excited that it will close fittingly in a World Championships stadium in London.
He may retire from the track but he will still be part of the sport of athletics for many years to come.
The journalist Ben Bloom, Telegraph Athletics Correspondent
There is a game we curmudgeonly athletics journalists play at every Usain Bolt press conference that involves guessing how many questions it will take until someone asks about Manchester United.
There is another that involves guessing how many questions it will take until someone asks about chicken nuggets. And there is another that involves how long it will be until someone in attendance asks for a selfie.
Because that is what a Bolt press conference is like – so chocked full of pizzazz, showmanship and colour that it long ago transcended the world of athletics.
Take the Rio Olympics, for example, where the traditional Jamaican press conference was ditched in favour of a Bolt spectacular. Held in the largest theatre in South America it featured cocktail makers, a DJ spinning tunes, a Japanese journalist stunned into silence after receiving a signed pair of Bolt trainers, and finally the main man himself twisting his hips on stage accompanied by a dozen scantily clad Samba dancers.
In many ways athletics has become the Bolt show. It is likely that more people worldwide know his name than the combined names of every other athlete on the planet.
And Bolt gives his adoring fans what they want – the singing, the dancing, the smiles, the theatre … and, of course, he always wins.
But once the cameras are turned off and the gaze of the outside world disappears, we journalists are privy to another side of Bolt – one that prevails for the bulk of the time. While he does truly love partying – of that there is no doubt – he is at heart a laid-back, relaxed creature.
Accustomed to posing for pictures wherever he goes and fielding every query imaginable, there is weariness to his answers – a sense that he does not want to be in the limelight for 24/7.
At home in Kingston, Jamaica, he is able to attend local classes at his gym without commotion, treated like any other member.
It is this life that he will return to once these World Championships are over and athletics is bereft of the biggest star it has ever had.
The showman who is finished with the charade.