I Am Bolt Page #8

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I vomited daily because I was

pushing myself to the ultimate level.

Being great isn't good enough sometimes.

You have to be better than great

and failure is just not an option.

At some point, and under those sort

of circumstances, you're just racing.

You're just racing like we did

when we were kids,

just, "I am not gonna allow you

to beat me today."

Everybody who was anybody in that race

was on my left,

so I didn't have to look right.

I was, like, you know what, everybody's

on one side of me. This is great.

On your marks. One deep breath.

The moment of truth has finally arrived.

CThe fastest group of sprinters

that has ever taken the line

in a 100-meter Olympic final.

God put me on this earth to run,

and that's what I'm gonna do.

Bolt not very quickly out of the blocks,

Powell was the quickest,

but Bolt just coming into his stride

alongside Gatlin.

I saw Usain in the peripheral vision.

"Damn, he's coming. He's coming fast."

When I seen those strides

coming through, bam, bam, bam, hitting,

I said, "Oh, God."

In that split second he just fly past.

And here comes Usain Bolt,

he's pulling away. 9.64!

The champion becomes a legend.

Why did we ever doubt

the brilliance of Usain Bolt?

Beijing was, you know, off the planet,

but actually it was London, I think,

that established him for all time.

I don't think I can remember anybody

since Muhammad Ali

that has just grabbed the stage

in any sport in the way Usain has.

So, on the day, 100 is for my coach,

that's how we do it,

100 meters for my coach,

the 200 is for me,

so he didn't say absolutely nothing

to me when it comes to the 200 meters.

He was like, "Go get 'em, champ."

Came out. I know I had more energy

because I had more confidence,

so everything was smoother, I was happy.

I remember doing some stride out

and Warren Weir was in front of me,

and I said to Warren,

"I'm gonna run past you pretty fast."

"Do not try to run me down. You run

your own race and you'll be fine."

- Shh.

- On your marks.

Everyone was like, "Yo, are you ready?

Feel like you're ready?"

I'm, like, yo,

I'm so ready for these finals.

I remember coming off the corner.

I looked. I could see him.

I was, like, "Usain, you cannot let

Blake come off this corner before you."

It was like I found another gear

cos I started digging.

When I got to the finish line,

I remember Blake doing something

at the national trials,

he went like this after the race,

and when I was going through the line, I

went like this and I was looking at him.

I was letting him know that,

listen, I'm still number one.

You're my teammate, and I respect you,

but I'm the greatest.

You know, I was a bit naive. I was young.

It was a bit of, you know,

rivalry between me and Bolt.

We tried to play that down

and just go on the track and have fun

and, you know,

he was just the better man on the day.

And then we found out

that Warren actually came third.

And then it was like

an even bigger celebration now

because it was one, two, three.

It was a great feat for my coach,

and Jamaica was going ecstatic

because of one, two, three.

You should have heard them.

You've got Tyson Gay versus Yohan Blake

and Blake's winning this one.

Here comes Usain Bolt,

and Usain Bolt is moving away.

36.85!

World record for Usain Bolt and Jamaica.

So there's two screens. One here,

and there's one across the road.

- I'm gonna try experience it myself.

- Always epic.

I can just imagine the energy.

- Just seeing that, full stop.

- Loud.

Everybody just stop in one place.

Would be nice.

Usain Bolt has represented Jamaica

in a modern era.

In a time when there was nobody

bearing the banner of Jamaica

and carrying Jamaica on them shoulder,

and he did all up.

When you see him live and what he do,

and what he does on the spare time,

definitely the new generation

of Jamaica, you know,

so you can still be yourself

and achieve what you need to achieve

without losing who you are,

without losing your identity.

That's what I respect most about Usain.

Him keep it real, you know,

as them sayin'.

I think Bolt is a shining example

of the best that we can be as Jamaicans.

Out of the belly of rural Jamaica

to becoming a face recognized

in any corner of the world.

It's absolutely a phenomenal feat.

Yo! Yo, yo, yo, yo!

A Jamaican hero and always our hero.

He's well beloved by everybody

all over the world,

especially Jamaica,

cos we are proud of him.

So we're now start of July.

It's the Olympic trials for Jamaica.

Every athlete has to qualify here,

so normally it's top two, top three

gets selected on the team.

Two weeks ago

we had a Racers Track Club meet.

Usain won the 100 meters there

and he looked very comfortable.

He's down at the line and still had 9.88.

Bolt made that look pretty easy.

In lane four, Asafa Powell.

Yohan Blake.

Usain Bolt.

The season's gone pretty well for Usain.

He hasn't ran really fast yet,

but you would say if he ran full out

and that the race went well,

he could run 9.70 right now.

But, of course, he has to do it.

Set.

Yesterday they get us all up,

we had to get us all up,

and they send us out there and,

as professionals, I'm not used to that.

The first race was at seven

and I was in the last heat,

and I was out there just watching

the races, you know what I mean,

trying to stay warm,

and then my race false started.

And when I actually ran the race,

I felt my hamstring like

in the Cayman Islands, I had that issue,

and I feel it was the fact that we were

out there so long and I got cold and...

So it was just...

I was just annoyed and frustrated

about the whole organization

of the meet and the trial,

so I'm not happy and I complain.

I'm used to being sent out

at a timely fashion.

- How was your semi today?

- It's not so bad.

- I think it's easily a ten.

- Ten-one?

The guys were going for under nines?

I've not... Listen, I'm not pulling past

anybody. We'll see what they do.

So the good thing about Usain

is he likes to give me a couple

of watches to take away each time.

This one I think I'll have this time.

- Lies.

- Thank you, sir. Looks good on me.

Yep, someone leaves them in hotel rooms

every now and again.

Was one, bruv, one.

- Jesus, man, one watch.

- Yup.

Usain Bolt!

In lane number one,

his time 10. 15 seconds as well...

- Coach. It's 50/50, you know.

- You feel it again?

Yeah, but this time

I'm trying not to push as hard.

It don't make sense to push it.

I'm over by the warm-up area.

But...

I need you to...

I need to get a waiver, because

Usain can't run cos of this hamstring.

What the plan, Coach?

Me call Dr. Bruce,

tell him to come over. Relax.

Last night, him aggravate it,

so I'm concerned it's getting...

it's deteriorating, so...

I wanna pull him from the final,

from the race.

So, according to the rules, you have

to report it to the medical team.

Unfortunately, Usain had to pull out

of the final of the 100 meters

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