Inspirational Story: The Slow Process of Being The Fastest

                Usain Bolt is currently the fastest man on earth, and in space! He ran like he’s flying with how fast he is, yet he made it seems like it’s a piece of cake. People are easy to judge Usain by saying that he is very talented, but not many people realize his slow process of being the fastest. “The work is behind the scenes. Competition is the easy part. Behind the scenes is where the work is done.” –Usain Bolt. Keep reading for an inspirational story of the one and only, Usain Bolt.

                When he was a child, Usain’s days were spent running around the fields of Jamaica. His parents support him because they wanted Usain to enjoy and have the best childhood he can have. Even as a child, Usain was very athletic. Little Usain enjoyed playing cricket, football, and other sports that includes running. At first, Usain’s mom was worried of little Usain, as he is diagnosed as hyperactive. But when she sees that little Usain was laughing, smiling, and having fun in his childhood, all her worries were washed away. “When I was growing up I was always outside, that was my biggest problem. My momma said, ‘No, sit down and stay inside! But you should go and have some fun.’” –Usain Bolt. Sports, especially running, started to get serious and competitive when a coach discovered about Usain. His coach was aware of Usain’s talent and trained him to become a sprinter. He became the school’s best runner at 12, and took his first shot at the world stage at 15 and became the youngest world-junior gold medalist.

Did you know what motivated Usain to be a runner? His first motivation to be a runner is buying a washing machine for his mom! His mom hated doing laundry manually but didn’t have a washing machine. Because of that, Usain decided that he will get enough money from being a runner so that he could buy his mom a washing machine. 18 months later, he broke 2 world records at the Beijing Olympics, won 3 gold medals, and became the fastest man alive! But because he is the fastest, doesn’t mean that he will stop training and forever be the fastest. In fact, he is always racing against himself and pushing himself to be better. “You really have to push yourself now. Step up a level, and every year you got to keep trying to step a level up. So it’s talent on one end, but you got to work to get it there.” –Usain Bolt. In his country, Jamaica, Usain Bolt is really admired as the fastest man alive. To Jamaicans, Running is like what soccer is to Brazilians. After getting his mom a washing machine, his country’s hope and expectations for him became his next motivation. Usain Bolt never stops working hard. Injuries did happen, but it never stopped him from working as hard as he could. “You got to learn how to lose before you can learn how to win” –Usain Bolt.

His achievements in the Olympic history is unbelievable. He made history in the Olympics as the first man to win the 100 and 200-meter races, 3 Olympic gold medals (2012), and set 3 world records in the Olympics. In 2016, he also won 3 gold medals in 3 races which gave him the nickname “triple-triple”. Out of the many world records he broke, that was just a few of them. “I had to remind myself, now listen to me. You have a goal for yourself and if you don’t win this year, all that you have done doesn’t really matter, and that’s one of the things that kept me going.” –Usain Bolt.

What a lot of people don’t realize is that Usain Bolt lifted the weight of his country’s hopes and expectations for him. But he turned that pressure into motivation, and that is one of the things that kept him winning. But the more he wins, the more he broke world records, the pressure becomes heavier for him. This resulted in a ridiculous amount and intensity of training that Usain Bolt had to go through, to the point that his own dad didn’t want to see Usain do his training because it was heartbreaking, it’s not rare that Usain vomited during his training. Out of all the training, he also can’t or must eat certain things as a result of his very strict diet.“It’s hard, it’s like hard work. It’s day in and day out sacrifice. Day in and day out just… dyin’. I don’t want to go today but you got to go. And it’s so hard, and a lot of people don’t know.” –Usain Bolt.

To me, Usain Bolt is like an iceberg. The majority of people only see how high the tip of his amazing records, but not the depth of his struggles. Not rarely do we see books, ads, and even articles that will tell us how to succeed fast, which seems too good to be true because it is. Even Usain Bolt, the fastest man alive, experienced the slow and painful process to success. Now, he is retired, and there is many people in Jamaica wanting to be his legacy. Even the fastest man alive needs to slow down, take a break, and live life. “I’m just happy. This part of this chapter is closed.”-Usain Bolt. “It takes 10 years of work for an overnight success”. A lot of people assumes that success comes to those born with talent or good luck, but what frustrates me is that not enough people realise that the most hard-working person will definitely beat the most talented person. Usain Bolt is one of, if not the hardest working athlete in the world. So fellow readers, thank you so much for reading this story, and I say to you “goodbye!” right now with the empowerment to remember to work hard.