Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man, has announced plans to retire following the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The Jamaican sprinting sensation already has six Olympic gold medals and recently became the most highly decorated sprinter in the 30-year history of the track and field world championships after collecting three gold medals in Moscow.
“I think it will be a good time to retire on top,” Bolt told the reporters in Brussels.
Bolt has been on top of the world of track and field since he burst onto the international scene with three gold medals in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. He currently owns world records in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay races.
His dominance in the sport has forced other top sprinters, such as Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay, to get caught up in doping scandals trying to keep up with the fastest man in history.
While Bolt has finally announced a date for his retirement, competitors shouldn’t expect him to ease up on the way to the finish. Part of the reason for the announcement was to give himself motivation to continue training hard, despite the lack of global world championships in 2014. Though he pondered dialing down his training regimen next year, his trainer convinced him to keep pushing the limits.
Now Bolt is committed to cementing his legacy as the greatest sprinter in history. That’s bad news for his competitors, but good news for fans.
“If I want to be among the greats of (Muhammad) Ali and Pele and all these guys,” Bolt said, “I have to continue dominating until I retire.”
