has disclosed a rare condition he had during his days as an active athlete and how he overcame it to become one of the greatest sprinters in the world.
In an interview with , Usain Bolt revealed that he had scoliosis, a sideways curve of the spine which troubled him throughout his career but his hard work, motivation and sacrifice made every dream he had a reality.
The noted that also having a great team around him worked in his favour as he did not struggle with a lot since his team always got the job done. In his career, he managed to break world records and win titles and he is the current world record holder in the 100m (9.58 seconds) and 200m (19.19 seconds).
Usain Bolt has explained how Justin Gatlin indirectly motivated his victory at his final Olympic Games in 2016 in Rio.
“For me, it was talent, hard work, sacrifice, and team work…I had a great team around me. It was so much things together that made this possible and I think failure is a part of it…you have to fail and go through tough times to be stronger,” the eight-time Olympic champion said.
“I have scoliosis in my back so it was an issue that always bothered me throughout my career but it was something that I managed very well and it was just a tough time but I had the right team and I was dedicated and everything came together at the right time.”
added that throughout his whole life, he always wanted to be better and he had to work on being strong mentally and physically in order to show up in his greatest self. He added that breaking world records is just a thing of self-belief and if one has doubts about it, then they would struggle making an impact.
He revealed that before breaking the 200m world record, it always seemed impossible until talked it into him and challenged him to try it. At the time Bolt, did not believe he could do it but he gained confidence and eventually managed to shatter the record twice, 19.30 in 2008 and 19.19 in 2009.
“High performance means getting to the highest level and working to get there…my life has always been focused on my performance, the highest performance that I can get to and for me, that was every year and you have to be ready physically and mentally. I remember, it was after the 200m and that’s when I really thought about it,” Usain Bolt revealed.
“In 2008, the world record held by Michael Johnson was very far and I was running okay. I remember sitting with my roommate at the time, Maurice Smith and we were having a conversation and he asked me if I would go for the 200m world record and I thought it would be difficult but I had to challenge myself.”