<p>The strut was unmistakable, his long legs shimmied down the track as if cued in on a tune. The smirk dripping with the cockiness of a winner. The swagger was complete, in your face. Usain Bolt is singular.</p>.<p>World champion, flying machine, nonconformist, philanthropist, the epithets are many to describe the ace sprinter. With a haul of 18 golds in Olympics and World Championships combined, the world record breaker has been a habitual offender since he blazed on to the scene big time in the 2008 Summer Games.</p>.<p>His personal best of 9.58 seconds in the 100-metre dash at the Berlin World Championships where he stretched the limits and fired up the imagination of the humankind, “Just how quick can lightning Bolt strike?”</p>.<p>He could have clocked better, many have speculated. He is one of the slowest off the blocks, his gangly 6’5” frame takes longer to unfold. He doesn’t own the first 50 metres, but by then his long legs and large wingspan propel him into a whirlwind that sees him finish the race in scant 40 to 41 prodigious strides. All this when he seems to shut down his engine some 20 metres from the line, his arms flailing to his sides even as he glances around to check if somebody’s catching up with him (as if it’s even necessary) and thumps his chest. All this, remember, before he hits the finish line, it, surely, must be slowing him down, perhaps. “People have said I could have run 9.60. I have not seen the replays yet, so I can’t really say,” he said at a presser in Beijing 2008 while munching a power bar “That’s just me. I like to have fun,” Bolt, his Jamaican cap askew, said of his shenanigans during the race. Now that defines the man, the free-spirited soul he is. </p>.<p>And this spirit resonates through his charities as well. The Usain Bolt Foundation works to nurture talented Jamaicans excel in their chosen disciplines, his sponsors, Puma contractually sends sporting equipment to his alma mater, William Knibb Memorial High School for others to follow in their hero’s footsteps. His ad campaigns are shot in his homeland to boost local enterprise. His wildlife conservation efforts in Kenya are laudable, the human “cheetah” has adopted an abandoned cheetah cub and pays for its upkeep. He sure knows how to give back to the community.</p>.<p>The dasher with the Midas touch and a golden heart has finally hung up his golden spikes. The signature Lightning Bolt pose that lit up all his outings, his aeroplane impression, the showman had all the histrionics in his kitty to match the theatre of a world-class sporting extravaganza. People around the world would definitely take a collective gasp as it would find him missing in action on the tracks at Tokyo, 2021. The 100m pantomime, the blue riband event that it is, might never be the same again.</p>
<p>The strut was unmistakable, his long legs shimmied down the track as if cued in on a tune. The smirk dripping with the cockiness of a winner. The swagger was complete, in your face. Usain Bolt is singular.</p>.<p>World champion, flying machine, nonconformist, philanthropist, the epithets are many to describe the ace sprinter. With a haul of 18 golds in Olympics and World Championships combined, the world record breaker has been a habitual offender since he blazed on to the scene big time in the 2008 Summer Games.</p>.<p>His personal best of 9.58 seconds in the 100-metre dash at the Berlin World Championships where he stretched the limits and fired up the imagination of the humankind, “Just how quick can lightning Bolt strike?”</p>.<p>He could have clocked better, many have speculated. He is one of the slowest off the blocks, his gangly 6’5” frame takes longer to unfold. He doesn’t own the first 50 metres, but by then his long legs and large wingspan propel him into a whirlwind that sees him finish the race in scant 40 to 41 prodigious strides. All this when he seems to shut down his engine some 20 metres from the line, his arms flailing to his sides even as he glances around to check if somebody’s catching up with him (as if it’s even necessary) and thumps his chest. All this, remember, before he hits the finish line, it, surely, must be slowing him down, perhaps. “People have said I could have run 9.60. I have not seen the replays yet, so I can’t really say,” he said at a presser in Beijing 2008 while munching a power bar “That’s just me. I like to have fun,” Bolt, his Jamaican cap askew, said of his shenanigans during the race. Now that defines the man, the free-spirited soul he is. </p>.<p>And this spirit resonates through his charities as well. The Usain Bolt Foundation works to nurture talented Jamaicans excel in their chosen disciplines, his sponsors, Puma contractually sends sporting equipment to his alma mater, William Knibb Memorial High School for others to follow in their hero’s footsteps. His ad campaigns are shot in his homeland to boost local enterprise. His wildlife conservation efforts in Kenya are laudable, the human “cheetah” has adopted an abandoned cheetah cub and pays for its upkeep. He sure knows how to give back to the community.</p>.<p>The dasher with the Midas touch and a golden heart has finally hung up his golden spikes. The signature Lightning Bolt pose that lit up all his outings, his aeroplane impression, the showman had all the histrionics in his kitty to match the theatre of a world-class sporting extravaganza. People around the world would definitely take a collective gasp as it would find him missing in action on the tracks at Tokyo, 2021. The 100m pantomime, the blue riband event that it is, might never be the same again.</p>