THE BEST OF TIMES

The fastest man in the world has hung up his spikes. We take a look at what makes him so special

IT WAS meant to be his golden swan song, the night the fastest man on earth bowed out from the world stage in a blaze of glory in his last 100m individual event at the world championships in London. In the end he managed only a bronze. The gold went to roundly booed US former drug cheat Justin Gatlin (35) in a time of 9,92 seconds. Bolt crossed the line in 9,95 seconds.

Even though he didn’t win, the night was still all about the towering Jamaican. After congratulating Gatlin, Bolt donned the Jamaican flag and proceeded on a victory lap around the supercharged stadium, packed to the rafters with adoring fans cheering their hero on.

Only 124 men have ever broken the 10 second barrier in the 100m and of those the lofty Bolt, a boy born with scoliosis (curvature of the spine) stood out head and shoulders above the rest.

Bolt (30) has dominated the 100m event over the past 10 years, cementing his place in history by achieving the triple treble – winning the Olympic 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay races three consecutive times. And it’s not only the 100m distance he mastered. “Lightning” Bolt has also set and continually defended the world record in the 200m, a discipline he’s excelled in since he was a boy.

Now that it’s time for the great man to hang up his spikes, what does he plan to do next? “It’s going to be hard,” Bolt said in a interview before the race. “Track and field is everything to me. I’ve been doing this since I was 10 years old. It’s been a rush.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do. This is why I think I’m going to play football, change it up, get a different rush.

“We’ll see where life takes me. I might go into acting, do some action movies. That would give me a rush. You never know.”

Bolt as an action hero! Watch this space.