World’s fastest man, Usain Bolt, races against a bus

Usain Bolt

In Buenos Aires, the world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt, raced against a bus – and won.

The bus had no chance against the Jamaican sprinter in the 80m exhibition race. Bolt appeared to take it seriously going in, then began to jog, only to pick up his pace again before crossing the finish line.

After beating the bus, Bolt then posed with the driver afterwards and also raced a 120m sprint against fellow Jamaicans.

Bolt, who won gold medals in two consecutive Olympic Games, in Beijing and London, said he had his eyes set on winning a third time in the Rio De Janeiro Olympics in 2016.

He said, “One of my main goals is to go to the Rio Olympics, as I was saying, to do it again. To defend my titles and it’s never been done three times so, for me, that’s me trying to set the bar as high as possible, just to push the barrier.”

The event was part of a number of spectacles being held as the ‘World’s Fastest Man’ tours the South American country.

Bolt holds three world records. In 2009, he galloped the 200m run at 19.19 seconds. Bolt’s 100m record of 9.58 seconds is just about four seconds short of the record held by the world fastest cheetah over the same distance.

 All hail the ‘Lightning Bolt’

Usain Bolt is the fastest man alive and the richest runner in the history of track and field with a personal net worth of $30m. He is world famous sprinter of Jamaican origin, with a net worth that grew by more than $20m in 2012. After winning the 100m and 200m men’s finals at the 2012 London Olympics, Bolt became the first sprinter to win back to back sprint doubles at the games. He is also the current world record holder and the current Olympic champion for the 100m, 200m and 4×100m relay athletic events.

Bolt was born on August 21, 1986 in Sherwood Content, a small town in Trelawny, Jamaica, where he grew up with his parents, Wellesley and Jennifer Bolt, along with his two siblings. Bolt grew up in a middle class background and enjoyed a stable childhood. Most of his childhood was spent in taking part in different games like cricket and football.

He is one of the few people to emerge triumphant in the junior, youth and senior levels of a track and field event. He is the first sportsman to break world records for three different sprint events in a single Olympic games. His exploits have earned him the well-deserved title of “Lightning Bolt”.

The success enjoyed by Bolt in his sporting career has turned him into a rich man. In 2012, Bolt made an estimated $20.3m in salary and endorsements. His biggest paycheck came from the German shoe company, Puma, which is paying Bolt $9m a year to wear their shoes at all times, on and off the track. That number is especially impressive when you consider that Nike’s biggest shoe contracts are usually no more than $1m per year for some of the world’s biggest athletes. But the investment has paid off for Puma, which has seen sales increase by $300m after endorsing the world’s fastest man. Bolt brought home additional millions from huge endorsing deals with Visa; Nissan; Gatorade; Telecom firm, Virgin Media; Swiss watch giant, Hublot; and Mobile gaming company, RockLive.

In 2010, Bolt released a best-selling autobiography, titled ‘Faster than Lightning’, that came with a multi-million dollar advance from publisher, Harper Collins. Bolt also commands appearance fees ranging from $250,000 to as much as $500,000 to compete at track and field events throughout the world. Amazingly, Bolt’s net worth is expected to explode even more in the coming years, thanks to his gold medal dominating performance at the last Olympic games. If Bolt stays on pace, he should be worth well over $100m by the time the 2016 Olympic games arrive.

 The fabulous wealth earned till date ensures the sprint legend enjoys a very luxurious lifestyle. He owns a luxury home at his native place in Jamaica. Recently, he acquired a Rum Cay Island ocean front property in the Bahamas, worth millions of dollars. Bolt has a penchant for very fast and expensive cars. He doesn’t own just one car, he owns a fleet of exotic vehicles.

He drives around in luxury cars like a BMW M3; a 2013 Nissan GT-R; and a Ferrari F430 Spider, priced at a whopping $217,000. He is known to hire private jets to fly him around the world.

Manchester United and Real Madrid are two of his favourite clubs. He has participated in charity cricket matches to raise money for noteworthy causes and enjoys listening to Reggae music in his spare time.

During a four-day trip to Kenya in 2009, Bolt adopted a baby cheetah, named ‘Lightning Bolt’. The world’s fastest man paid $13,700 to formally adopt the cheetah. The adoption process also meant that Bolt would be paying $3,000 a year to care for the cheetah being raised at an animal orphanage in Nairobi. Incidentally, cheetahs are the animal kingdom’s fastest sprinter.

When asked if he was afraid of cheetahs, Bolt said: “Yes, I was, but not anymore.”