After an incredible and record-breaking career in track and field, Usain Bolt is widely considered the best sprinter of all time. With a time of 9.58 seconds, established at the 2009 World Championships, Bolt continues to hold the record for the fastest 100-metre sprint. He also won eight Olympic gold medals.
With all his hard-earned success, he announced his retirement after suffering a hamstring injury near the conclusion of the 4×100-metre relay at the World Championships in 2017.
The chance to make his comeback
In a news report by talkSPORT, Bolt admitted that he was given the chance to get back on the track despite his retirement.
When Andy Goldstein asked if he had ever received a sizable payment to race once more, he said: “Yeah definitely. I think the CEO at the time, he’s with Adidas now, but at the time he was like, ‘Listen, we’ll give you a proper contract if you want to come back.’”
However, his coach did not agree with him coming back. Bolt added: “I talked to my coach [Glen Mills], my coach was like, ‘Absolutely not’. It was like two years after I retired, but my coach told me, ‘Listen, if you’re going to retire, that’s it. I’m not going to coach you again, this is it. There’s no coming back after this.’”
Bolt further explained: “So when I went to him he was like, ‘No, absolutely not.’ I was like, ‘You know what? I would do it,’ because when you go away from a sport, then you start missing it… So I’m like, ‘I think I might get into it again,’ and I went to [my coach] and he was like, ‘Nah,’ shut it down real quick.”
The athlete declared that he misses taking part in competitions. He stated: “I miss the competition… When I sit and watch the World Championships or the Olympics now, your blood starts to boil, you just want to be out there.”
Regardless of all these sentiments, Bolt is unlikely to come out of retirement and return to the field anytime soon.
Recently, Bolt revealed that he ruptured his Achilles. Bolt was leading the World XI at Stamford Bridge when he suffered a serious injury in the second half at Soccer Aid on Sunday (June 10).
Raptured Achilles but done know we a warrior 💪🏿 pic.twitter.com/vKYtHqOFTj
— Usain St. Leo Bolt (@usainbolt) June 9, 2024
Source: talkSPORT