Image Credit: Ramachandra Babu/Gulf News
With or without the treble-treble — becoming the first person to win a hat-trick of gold medals in the 100-metre, 200-metre and 4x100-metre relay in three consecutive Olympics — Usain Bolt is still the greatest track-and-field star of all time.
The 29-year-old Jamaican sprinter burst onto the scene and ruled in an era when sport was at its most cynical, following a spate of high-profile doping incidents.
American athlete Marion Jones had just been stripped of five Olympic medals, the year before Bolt won his opening hat-trick, all in world-record times — itself an unprecedented achievement — at Beijing in 2008.
And by the time his second triple haul came about in London 2012, American cyclist Lance Armstrong was being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles.
If ever sport needed a saviour to carry it through its darkest hour, it was now, and Bolt duly served as the paragon of virtue.
Even now, amid allegations of state sponsored doping cover-ups by the Russian government, Bolt still stands as that last major bastion of integrity on which fans can continue to put their faith.
Never was this wider morality play of good-versus-evil made more apparent and poignant than when a half-fit Bolt denied his nearest rival, American and former drugs cheat Justin Gatlin — who was in spectacular form — the top spot in the final of the 100-metres at last year’s World Athletics Championships in Beijing.
There was a real fear, given Bolt’s reduced form, that a tainted and underserving Gatlin would finally dent Bolt’s near-perfect record in the World Championships and steal his title as the world’s fastest man.
With the exception of the 100-metre final in Daegu in 2011, when Bolt was disqualified due to a false start and his compatriot Yohan Blake went on to win, Bolt has never lost either of his three disciplines at the World Championships in the four editions of the biennial event from 2009 to 2015.
Maintaining that near-flawless record at a time when he was arguably at his lowest ebb, fitness-wise — and with him having just announced his intention to retire after the 2017 World Championships — undoubtedly gave him the motivation he needed, coming into his final foray at the Rio Olympics this summer. And it will forever serve as his greatest moment, over and above racking up a potential nine gold medals or not.
Whatever happens in Rio, with him having already secured 100-metre and 200-metre gold medals, and heading into today’s 4x100-metre final, Bolt’s legacy is already cemented. Victory in his last race will just be the finishing touch.
Next year’s World Championships in London pending, he leaves still holding a world record of 9.58 seconds in the 100-metres, making him the fastest man ever timed, with additional world records of 19.19 seconds in the 200-metres and 36.84 in the 4x100-metre relay.
It remains to be seen how long those records will stand and who will fill the enormous void left behind by his retirement — not just in athletics but across sport as a whole. But one thing is for sure, no one will ever again grace the Olympic Games with as much charisma and charm.
If his enormous six-foot-five-inch frame and utter dominance at a time of such darkness haven’t ruled him unforgettable, then it’s because of his trademark ‘lightning bolt’ celebration and happy-go-lucky demeanour.
The way he pulls up with ease before the finish line, despite being such a renowned poor starter, and then effortlessly turns to his opponents with that showboating grin, hasn’t — as it perhaps could have — been interpreted as arrogance.
If it was anybody else, perhaps from anywhere other than the laid-back and loveable Jamaica, Bolt would have probably been vilified for poor sportsmanship.
But given his likeable nature — which is free of all inhibitions, enabling him to dance and pose away for endless selfies — Bolt has enamoured himself to the world and largely been granted the benefit of doubt.
Just as he was as a child, growing up with his brother and sister in rural Trelawny, where his parents ran a humble grocery store, Bolt has never taken himself too seriously.
Renowned even back then for his lack of dedication to training and a penchant for practical jokes, Bolt has always made things look easy, leading many to ponder what sort of times he could have set if he hadn’t always slowed and gloated before the finish line!
That was of course him trying, however. He just made it fun and it’s that type of showmanship that is so sorely lacking in modern sport — and will be so dearly missed once he hangs up his running shoes.
Bolt has continually said throughout the Games in Rio that completing the ‘treble-treble’ will put him in the same breath as Muhammad Ali and Pele — and it will be hard to disagree with him.
No one has ever dominated track and field — in the way that Ali did in boxing and Pele in football — quite like Bolt has. And although now it may be hard to imagine him in the gold-tinted sepia tones of history, time will only enhance his greatness.
