In the distance, in the middle of the athletics track in the Utrecht district of Overvecht, is Usain Bolt. Sitting on a chair, he gives a television interview. A couple of excited children stand at the gate looking at the former champion. One of them says what more will think: ‘He is a bit fat.’
Bolt is not really fat, by the way, but five years after he ran his last race, he is clearly not as trained as before. At the same time, the aura of a great champion still hangs around his tall stature. The world record of 9.58 is still in his hands. He was three times Olympic champion in the 100 meters and just as often in the 200 meters. At the same distances he collected seven world titles.
Little is left of his old flashy sprint. On Tuesday afternoon he makes one restrained sprint with a group of about forty children. Because that is why he is the sponsor of Bolt in Utrecht, for an event of Jeugdfonds Sport en Cultuur and insurer Allianz. It is a tightly organized afternoon. Parents are not allowed to watch. Selfies with the Jamaican are not meant to be.
The day is all about exercise, but Bolt prefers to run as little as possible these days, he says. Occasionally he still steps on the treadmill, but lately he opts more often for the exercise bike. ‘I cycled outside near me for a while, but that became too heavy.’ He is 36 years old and, in his own words, old and worn out.
Your compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is a few months younger and won her fifth world title in the 100 meters at the last World Championship in Eugene. And you feel too old?
‘That is different. I don’t know how, but it’s clearly different. I’m getting really old. She is in a class of her own. That someone can work so hard and train at that level for so many years, that’s great. But for me it was time to go five years ago.’
Fraser-Pryce’s career has spanned more than fourteen years. Isn’t she a bigger athlete than you?
‘No, I wouldn’t say that again. I’m glad she’s doing so well. We have a lot of contact. When she ran 10.62 in Monaco last month, I sent her a message: what’s wrong with you? Time to come home, I joked. She says she will continue for another year. We will see. I think she will continue until the Games.’
With the men, the Jamaicans lost their clout after you left. How did that happen?
“I played my part and left it to the others. I don’t know why it didn’t get better. A few young people arrive. Take Oblique Seville. He finished fourth at the World Cup. He could be a medal contender at the next Olympics.”
While the children are presented with a sports afternoon with all kinds of different relay forms, Bolt retreats to a glorified construction site on the edge of the tartan track. He is cold, despite the blaring heating. Hiding in a big white sweater, with a black figurative runner on it, he gives a series of ten-minute interviews.
The sweater is only taken off again when there is a cameraman or photographer. Underneath is the shirt with the sponsor name. He may not be a professional athlete for a while, he knows how commerce works.
You were the banner of athletics. And since then, it’s been looking forward to ‘the new Usain Bolt’. Do you already see a successor?
“I expected it would be South African 400-meter runner Wayde van Niekerk, but he got injured the year after I stopped. He has come back this year and is also fast in the 200 meters. I think he would make a good ambassador.’
Does it have to be a sprinter or can it also be someone like pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis who gives the athletics face?
‘Most people focus on the sprints anyway. They often like to follow the other parts too, but it’s different when it comes to ‘the fastest man on earth’. You know, the Olympic 100-meter titles are so important. They are so big that the public thinks: you’re the one.’
Superspikes have been introduced to the sprint events for a year now, modern footwear with a carbon plate and foam rubber in the sole. You were very critical of that because it would save time. And yet your world record of 9.58 still stands. Do those shoes work?
‘Serious? Come on! Since those spikes, many more PRs have been run. Many athletes have gotten faster in those shoes. But my world record is on a completely different level. I think Nike has done it perfectly, Puma and Adidas are trying to catch up with them. They will be there in two to three years. Until then, the Nike athletes will do better.”
Do you fear the moment your record will be broken?
‘I always wanted to be the best, to excel. That was always my goal. Not the world records, but the Olympic titles. That’s my legacy. World records are being broken, maybe not today or in five years, but one day someone will come. Shoes change, jobs get faster. That just develops. My legacy is that I dominated for ten years, as the fastest man in the world.’
After his athletic career, a short football career followed. Bolt laughs when he is reminded. As a child he loved Ruud van Nistelrooij. Just as the Dutchman managed to send goalkeepers the wrong way at Manchester United as a striker, he also wanted that. It was limited to a few months at the Australian club Central Coast Mariners, for which he played exhibition games. He did not get a contract. Perhaps things could have turned out differently if he had tried in Europe, he thinks. Now he occasionally plays a game with friends to keep fit.
No athletics and no football, how do you fill your days now?
‘I sometimes miss the sport, but I have children and I am busy with music. I set my goals in it. I want to win a Grammy and a platinum record. That will take time, dedication and work. That’s my focus now.’
Win a Grammy? So you also see music as competition?
‘Exactly. I brought that from athletics. There is one difference: music remains. No matter how old you are, you can always make music that people enjoy.’