Usain Bolt has revealed the secret behind his decision to forge a career as a 100m sprinter – and make history as the world’s fastest man.
In the latest episode of the Ready Set Go podcast, alongside Justin Gatlin and Rodney Green, the Jamaican icon was asked why he chose to focus on 100m over other distances.
“It was just a bet,” Bolt explained.
“A bet that created history,” Green exclaimed.
Bolt continued: “We were talking about what we needed to do, and he said I needed to get into the gym and I also needed to run another event.
“I was like, ‘Coach, I’m not doing 400 metres’, and he said, ‘No, you have to do 400 metres because it’s going to help your 200 metres‘.
“I said, ‘Alright, let’s make a bet. Let me run one 100 metres; if I run fast, I run 100 metres; if I run slow, I run the 400 metres’.
“But he thought I was going to run slow.
“I’ll never forget that Wallace Spearmon and I were actually in that race in Greece. Wallace and I were talking and we said if I can just get 10.1 seconds, I think that’s quick enough.
“He said, ‘If you can run 10.1, that’s excellent’. I ran 10.3. Then it was 9.8, 9.7—you know what I mean; everybody was running a regular 9.9. It wasn’t consistent.
“he was like, ‘Okay’, and that’s how I got into it,” Bolt explained. “If I had run 10.2, I would be running 400 metres.”
“That’s crazy,” Justin reacted. “That one moment in time when the gun went off, if you had been at 10.2, we’d have been seeing a 400-metre Bolt.
“I would have been good, but I hate the training,” Bolt said.
“I wouldn’t have gotten the 100, though. My coach wouldn’t allow me. You would have never seen me in a 100m; it would have just been 200 and 400.”
“Your medal count could have been so different,” Green said.
“Even at 19.3 or 19.1 where you were, I feel like you could have jumped into a couple of those 400 metres and made a real difference.”
Gatlin asked: “What motivated you to get back to the 100 metres and become the Bolt that you are?”
Bolt replied: “I’ve never said this before, bro, the only reason is I just never wanted to run the 400 metres. I didn’t care about anything, but the fear of the 400 metres I just didn’t want to do it.
“The 200 is my favourite, I love it. When I started running, I used to run 100 metres, but I was so slow out of the blocks, I would never make it through the semi-finals.”
The Jamaican sprinting superstar is widely regarded as the greatest of all time.
He burst onto the world stage with breathtaking performances at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where he triumphed in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay, all while shattering records.
This incredible achievement was matched in the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics, where he earned the prestigious “triple-triple” of gold medals.
Bolt’s world records in the 100m (9.58 seconds) and 200m (19.19 seconds) stand as powerful testaments to his extraordinary speed.
His reign extended to the World Championships, where he amassed an impressive collection of gold medals.
His retirement in 2017 marked the end of an era, leaving behind a legacy of record-shattering performances.
