Bolt: 'I wanted to set high standards, and I did'

TOKYO — On the night athletics turned to Jamaica once again to find the world's fastest man, the greatest Jamaican sprinter was in a hospitality box in the stadium — his presence literally hovering over a sport that hasn't been the same since he left.

Oblique Seville might have been crowned the new 100-meter world champion at last month's World Athletics Championships in Japan, but Usain Bolt remains the only track star this century whose fame cascades well beyond sports.

Eight years since his retirement, nobody has come close to matching his times or his presence. In an interview before the final round of races at the track worlds, he said he feels great about that, because "that's what I worked for".

"When I was competing, I was working to break the benchmark," he said. "Now that I've retired, it's a great feeling to know that I'm the benchmark if you want to be the best. You want to be a legend. I wanted to set high standards, and I did. I'm happy about that."

The numbers tell part of this story: He has eight Olympic gold medals, 11 gold medals at world championships and three world records — 9.58 seconds in the 100m, 19.19 in the 200m and 36.84 in the 4x100m relay — that still stand.

No runner has come within .12 seconds of either of his individual marks since he retired.

Asked why that is, despite a world in which shoe and track technology gives runners a bigger boost than 15 years ago when Bolt was in his prime, he offered a glimpse why he remains his sport's most engaging ambassador.

"Do you really want the answer? We're just more talented," he said. "I'm just saying, you can't run faster (just) with brand-new spikes."

Speed, though, is only part of Bolt's story. It was his ability to use his platform to entertain and bring people together — a skill that couldn't be overlooked in an era when the Olympics needed a recharge. It made Bolt one of track's most electrifying characters.

From his trademark bow-and-arrow pose, to his leisurely victory laps around the track against the backdrop of blaring reggae music — from his mile-wide smile, to the joy he so effortlessly exuded, despite the excruciating nature of his work — he elevated the sport into a personality-driven lovefest and gave people a reason to watch.

"It's the personality," he said. "I think a lot of people, they try to be fun, but it comes off different. It's just having a good time. If you try too hard, it's not going to be the same. But I was just having a good time. That's how I looked at it. I tried to engage with fans and that's why they gravitated to it."

Last month's world championships marked Bolt's first appearance at an Olympics or worlds since he exited the sport after the 2017 championships in London.

He is now the father of a five-year-old daughter, Olympia Lightning, and four-year-old twin sons, Saint Leo and Thunder. To them, Bolt is just Dad. But the greatest sprinter of all time said their view might change at the next world championships two years from now, in the place where his career lifted off like a rocket: Beijing.

"I'm excited, because I get to bring my kids and I can tell them: 'Listen, this is where it all happened,'" he said, referring, of course, to the 2008 Olympics, where he set three world records and won three gold medals.

"I've shown my kids videos and stuff like that. They'll be six and seven, and they'll kind of understand the moment, and I can explain to them what their dad has done over the years."

Agencies via Xinhua