By Jilly Beattie
The world’s fastest man Usain Bolt has just one regret - not being even faster.
The eight-time Olympic gold medalist who has been clocked running at nearly 28 miles an hour, was desperate to slip under 19 seconds in a final 200m race.
He didn’t do it.He says no one can do it and what’s more today he says he just doesn’t care any more.
He said: “I have only one unfulfilled ambition and that’s making a return under 19 seconds in the 200. That’s my unfulfilled ambition and it’s going to stay unfulfilled for me. I couldn’t do it. No one can do it.
“But it’s OK. It doesn’t make me feel dissatisfied... it’s just something that I wanted to do. It’s not like, oh my God, I got to do this. If I didn’t it, it would’ve been game over.
“So I faced it and I’ve retired now but I know need to continue working out.
“I took some time off over Christmas but I really need to get back into it and I’m just trying to motivate myself now. My New Year’s resolution is to start training again and make it work and get back in shape.
“To be honest I go a bit flat mentally if I’m not physically training - definitely. I get sleepy, it’s weird. Because normally I’m up and about and not taking time off, but when I’m not training that much I think I’m extra lazy so I sleep a lot and feel tired. The less I train the less energy I have.”
Bolt may be nursing an unfulfilled ambition and struggling with his New Year’s resolution, but in true Bolt style, he has moved on and is now in The Bahamas testing a possible new career.
With tens of millions tucked away after his successful athletics career and huge sporting endorsements, Bolt is going to try his hand at being a poker professional.
Now an ambassador for PokerStars and teaming up with Jumanji star and comic, Kevin Hart, Bolt flew into The Bahamas at the weekend to take part in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure tournament staged at Atlantis - one of the major annual events on the world’s poker map.
But that winning swagger fans love so much is nowhere to be seen, because this is a new Bolt, unsure, nervous and facing being outstripped.
He said: “I’m 50/50 whether I’m actually going to play. I’m not the best poker player but I’m in training, I dabble around at my friends’ houses and I’ve never really played for proper money, we just use normal chips and stuff like that.
“I wouldn’t ever have put in any big stakes so it’s kind of scary, it’s kind of scary to know what sort of money these guys are playing for in the big leagues. It’s millions. And millions.
“So yeah, it’s a big deal and I’m earning, trying and I’m playing much more since I started working with PokerStars, so it’s all good.
POKER STARS BET ON ATLANTIS FOR VENUE
Poker players from across the world have gathered in The Bahamas for a nine-day high stakes tournament.
The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure runs to January 14 at Atlantis.
Competitors and fans can watch more than 30 tournaments on the schedule - including the return of the $10,300,000 Main Event.
For players like actor and comedian Hart, who earned $60m last year, the chances of losing big are a risk.
And with players who qualified by winning a place after buying into a $55 games, the chances can be even more exciting with everything to play for.
The PCA was set up in 2004 quickly became one of the major annual events on the world’s poker map.
Professional players from North America and beyond meet with celebrities and ordinary poker players and fans from across the globe.
“For me it’s always good to branch out because people always tell you to stick to what you know, but that way you never test yourself or learn new things.
“But my friends play poker and I always played a bit, I dabbled so when I was approached by PokerStars, I was like, you know, why not?
“A number of people questioned why I’m doing this but I just said, why not? It’s something that’ll be good for me, poker is something big and it’s a good thing to get the brand out there so I decided to go for it.
“For me, it’s all about a bit of fun, enjoying life and also when I heard Kevin Hart was involved, I thought that’s going to be good fun. To get the opportunity to work with Kevin is a big deal for me.
“I’m a huge fan and I follow him and watch him and now I get to do a lot of challenges. We did an ice bath challenge and just stepped into it while he stood on the outside. Well I had an advantage, it’s what I do for training. I’m used to it.”
He says those ice baths taught him a lesson, that if the challenge is one you want, it’s worth taking a deep breath and making a plan.
BOLT LAUGHS OFF ROYAL WEDDING REPORTS
Usain just laughs off rumours with no foundation and says: “Very little annoys me, apart from people not leaving me alone.
“If someone annoys me and asks stupid questions of me, just randomly trying to talk to me, about stupid stuff I’m like I don’t have time for this.
“Like people keep telling me I’m going to Prince Harry’s bachelor party and wedding. It makes me laugh. I’m not. We’ve met a few times and we say ‘what’s up’ but that’s it.That’s just people wanting to make it something it’s not - that’s just not real.
“I don’t mind people coming up to me and wanting to have a chat, I really don’t mind that. But it’s the people who want to carry on a conversation about nothing and they keep on and on and on., that, that gets me annoyed.
“But I’m not rude to them, I rely on my friends to get me out of it. I always try to be my best and that’s easier with my friends around. I give them a wink, or give them a signal to get me out of here.”
Bolt explained: “I know I’m the fastest man in the world but in order to do that I had to learn to slow down.
“My coach Glen Mills taught me that. I’d say he’s the person who has had most influence on me. I really have to give it to him. I mean, my dad Willis, started off really helping me but my coach really was there for me. He taught me everything about track and field and helped me with life lessons too.
“One thing he always tried to tell me is that I need to take my time through life. He taught me that I do not need to rush anything, apart from moving after the starting pistol goes off.
“Because I used to be the type of person who would go fast in everything. I always want to do everything in a rush. But now I take everything more slowly but also I think hard about what I’m doing at all times.
“Naturally, I’m an impatient person but over time I sort of understood what he was saying. I’m very impatient - very, and to win I had to change.
“I’m surrounded by good people. And my agent Ricky Simms is Irish and we get on great. we get on with the Irish very well. It’s an island thing.
“But it was Glen who helped me to relax, he taught me to understand that the fast pace is not always the right pace and sometimes you’ve just got to slow it down.
“My impatience doesn’t come from anxiety, I’m not anxious, it’s just how I am as a person. I mean I’m always on time, always, if I say yo, see you at 10 o’clock, I’ll be there at 10 o’clock and probably before it.
“I take that seriously. It’s from my upbringing. My dad, Willis, is a stickler for time keeping, that’s how he is, he’s always on time. He’d rather be five hours early than a minute late. That’s how my dad has always been and it’s habitual for me to be the same.
“That’s how I was brought up and so it’s a natural thing for me. If I was late my dad would be upset with me. Anything he’s doing I have to be early for it - anything.
“My mum Jennifer is fine, but our relationship is different. She’s the only person who can really make me cry. If mom’s not happy, I’m not happy. If my mom gets sick or she so not happy, it upsets me and yeah, it makes me cry.
“My dad is a good guy too and for him it’s about the rules. If I was late for anything he would be disappointed in me because being late is not an option, it’s about manners, good manners and respect.
“My dad is a good guy, if you have manners and respect he’ll like you not matter who or what you are, anything else he can handle. But respect and manners - it’s the only way for him and I get it.”
Bolt says the one other things that gets under his skin is people assuming he is arrogant.
He said: “People do assume that I’m cocky until they meet me.
“When they see me on the track after a race having fun, they’re like, look at him showing off. But they haven’t put in the work and this is what my fans like and I have to do what my fans like.
“A lot of people who have met me and they’ve told me, you know what? I thought you were cocky but you’re a nice person. And I’m like, how did you come by that?
THE BEST OF BOLT - HIS FAVOURITE THINGS
“My favourite movie is Dead Pool. I’m an action kind of guy... this is full of action but it’s funny.
“My lifetime hero is Mohammed Ali. He was a great man, he gets my in my heart, I lived the confidence that he had. He had real belligerence and he made it fun and exciting. It was such an attractive quality, and one loved that about him.
“My favourite actress has to be Angelina Jolie... I’ve met her. She’s lovely, so yeah, I’ll put it out there, I’ll put it out in the universe. She’s my favourite actress.
“I’m an action packed kind of guy and Jason Stratham is my favourite actor. I met them both and it was pretty cool. But yeah, Angelina! I’m just putting out there.
“My worst attribute would be impatience.
“The best thing I like about myself is my height. I like my height. And girls like my height.
“My most treasured item has to be my PlayStation. I’d never get rid of my PlayStation. I’m a gamer. Since I started playing the games, I’ve always been playing them. I love being a gamer.
“The people,who makes me laugh the most are all the friends I hang out with including NJ who I’ve I’ve hung out all my life. They don’t treat me like a star, they just treat me like Usain.”
“You can never assume and you should never assume something about someone in life especially if you have never met them. When you talk to the person and you think they’re an asshole, well OK. But otherwise don’t judge first. Meet them and then decide.
“Again it comes from my parents. My upbringing has been very steady and my parents would kick my ass if I changed.
“I’m 31 years old and even today my dad looks at me sometimes and I can see the look in his eyes if something goes wrong. He might say something I disagree with and he looks at me with that expression... I have to say, dad you can’t whip my ass, calm down.
“But yeah, he still has that look from when I was young. He’s still my dad and I’m still his little boy. So I try to avoid anything like that.”
His dad’s expectations were a grounding Bolt says helped make him successful and understand how to appreciate success.
He said: “I’d say the happiest moment of my life was when I was 15. I won the World Juniors in Jamaica and I still think that was one of my greatest moments. I was really happy with that.
“That feeling was amazing, it’s hard to replicate that feeling. It’s so hard. Everything else is about being happy in front of people but your first big success, well it’s amazing.
“I was under so much pressure because it was in Jamaica and it was the only gold medal for my country at that time. It was just a joy - a real joy, I was just a kid, only 15. It changed my life, it changed my world.
“Suddenly life was different. Everyone wanted my autograph, everyone wanted to touch me. It was a very different feeling for me to experience that. It was brilliant.
“After that I knew my life philosophy was that anything is possible. That’s what I surround myself with, anything is possible, don’t forget that.
“At 15 I knew the possibility of me winning was there. I was in the top three and I knew I was going to get a medal but I didn’t know if I was going to actually win.
“But I did. But the challenge after that was doing it again, winning again. If I had gone back to the world juniors I would have won but I strained my hamstring about two months before and I couldn’t compete. I was running fast and everything was going really well but then I had a problem with my back and I was just a kid and growing and developing fast too.
“So one piece of wisdom to give a ten-year-old today is go and have fun in what you do and remember - anything is possible.
“You know I’ve seen so many people doing things that I know they’re not happy about and that’s bad - you know jobs they hate, things they keep doing forever when there’s no fun in it.
“That’s why I stopped track and field. You know, I’ve done all I want and it’s not as much fun as it used to be.
“At the start I had a lot of fun and the training was something I really loved and enjoyed and I was laughing all the time. And winning is fun. But keeping on top is not so fun, it’s the hardest thing.”
And having fun and enjoying life is vital to Bolt’s philosophy but it was his dad who ensured he was in on the right track to success in the first place. Bolt Snr made the decision to dump a potential career in cricket for the thrills of track competition.
He explained: “It was a life changing moment when my dad made the decision for me not to play cricket. I remember when I went to high school it was a choice between cricket and track and field.
“I was in love with cricket at the time and my dad was like, no son it’s track and field.
“What that’s about is the politics of cricket. So like with Australia and other countries, if you’re good enough you get on the team but in Jamaica it’s the same 20 odd people all the time no matter what’s going on.
“When I asked dad why track and field and not cricket he said I could a star in my own right, that I’d never have to rely on anyone else to be my best self. Cricket is politics. Track and field, well as long as you’re doing what you’re doing, you’re fine.”
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