'The prize was a lunch box' — Usain Bolt reveals how winning first race proved to be career turning point

Legendary Jamaican sprinter has finally opened up about the critical moment that enabled him to focus on nurturing his talent at a tender age.

, narrated how he beat an older rival that was faster than him when he was aged seven and little did he know that it turned out to be a pivotal moment in his career.

Reflecting on his childhood, the three-time Olympic 100m champion told : “Growing up in the countryside was great, I wouldn’t change anything about those years, they made me the person I am today.

“I started running at seven years old, I still remember the joy of winning my first race. There was someone who was faster than me, a little older, his name was Ricardo Guedes, I’ll never forget his name. I bet my coach that I could beat him, the prize was a lunch box. And I won.”

From humble beginnings, .

Bolt is the only sprinter to win Olympic 100m and 200m titles at three consecutive Olympics (2008, 2012, and 2016). He also won two 4×100 relay gold medals.

An eleven-time World Champion,  from 2009 to 2015, with the exception of a 100 m false start in 2011.

Bolt is the most successful male athlete of the World Championships. Bolt is the first athlete to win four World Championship titles in the 200 m and is one of the most successful in the 100 m with three titles, being the first person to run sub-9.7s and sub-9.6s races. 

Bolt gained worldwide fame for his double sprint victory in world record times at the, which made him the first person to hold both records since fully automatic time became mandatory.

Bolt improved upon his second 100m world record of 9.69 with 9.58 seconds in 2009 – the biggest improvement since the start of electronic timing.

He has twice broken the 200m world record, setting 19.30 in 2008 and 19.19 in 2009. Bolt’s records are yet to be beaten, even with the hype around doing so at the Paris Olympics in 2024.