Usain Bolt Faster Than Lightning shows us the genesis of the world’s number one runner

Usain Bolt Faster Than Lightning
Published by Harper Sport
291 pages

Usain Bolt Faster Than Lightning is an autobiography about how the fastest man in the world, Usain Bolt, grew up and what he had to go through to become one of the top runners in the world.

Bolt grew up in a small village in Jamaica. He lived with his mom, sister, grandpa and his dad who was really hard on him. His grandpa died due to a heart attack when Bolt was only 10 years old. His dad had a passion for cricket which he also passed on to Usain.
Bolt started racing in the under the age of 16 category 200-metre race. At 15 years old, Bolt won the 200-metre race in the Junior World Championship in Kingston, which is when his career started to pop off. He started getting recognized by the fans in the area and brands like Puma, who signed him when he was just a teenager and this inspired him to be a better runner and work harder.

Coach Glen Mills was like a second father to Bolt, coaching Bolt since he was a teenager, teaching him a lot and staying by his side: “He was the one for making me a legend on the track.” Bolt was really competitive in school, perhaps an influence of his father who was the hardest on Usain, wanting him to be successful. As a result, Bolt was good in school and was competitive in everything he did.

Usain hated getting second place in a race. If he did, he wouldn’t sleep the night after–he would think of what he could have done better. After a race if he didn’t come first he would go to the gym and workout for hours. He always wanted to get better so he worked harder and harder each day.

Bolt broke two world records. In 2004, he broke the junior world record in the 200 metres at the Carifta Games with a time of 19.93 seconds. Also The 4×100 metres world record was broken by his Jamaican team. Bolt won the Rising Star award in 2002 and was voted three times for the International Laureus World Sportsman Of The Year. Usain Bolt was making really good money as a teenager. Most athletes don’t even get sponsored as a teenager.

Usain Bolt’s life story is similar to that of basketball star Lebron James. James got drafted in high school by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Before he was drafted, Nike offered him $90 million for seven-year contact. James signed a lifetime deal with Nike and he is set to make $1 billion. He got the rookie of the year, which is like Usain Bolt’s Rising Star award. They both had to deal with a grandparent’s death at a young age.

In my opinion, this is a 4-out-of-5 star book. It is really detailed and I learned about Bolt’s daily life. The book really shows how Bolt went from being made fun of at school to being one of the most impressive athletes in the world. What we can learn from this book is that your age doesn’t matter, you can still work hard and things will eventually come your way. Usain Bolt would never give up, He would learn from his mistakes and work harder the next day.