Usain Bolt’s reveals first sporting passion: “It was all I knew as a child”
The legendary Olympian is the most successful sprinter of all time but his interests as a child were away from the track.
For at least a decade, Usain Bolt was one of the most talented, successful and prominent athletes on the planet.
With nine gold medals from three Olympic Games he is widely considered the greatest sprinter of all time. But Bolt was not a prodigious talent who was trained from a young age to become an elite sprinter. Instead, he was drawn to team sports as a young child.
Bolt’s love for soccer is well-documented and he did used to play a lot in his youth. However he has now revealed which sport was his true favorite growing up.
“I would have definitely been a cricketer if it weren’t for my speed. It was my cricket coach who suggested it,” Bolt explained.
“I was a fast bowler and my coach saw me running and said: ‘Why don’t you try athletics?’ I gave it a try and I was really good at it. I had a lot of talent and I kept practicing."
Bolt added: “Without that suggestion I probably would have stayed in cricket because my father was a big fan and it was all I knew as a child.”
Speaking at the event, Bolt was then asked for his favorite three cricketers of all time: “Virat Kohli, who is definitely quite fast. Also Brett Lee and I would say Jonty Rhodes, who was one of the best players in history.”
“I grew up watching a lot of cricketers. Like I said, the ones I mentioned, and also Courtney Walsh, Ambrose, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara... I grew up watching all these players over the years. I was a fan of all of them.”
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