Usain Bolt Biography PDF

STAGE 6 Unit focus: Biographies Text focus: Information Text Neil, CC BY 2.0 USAIN BOLT Born in 1986, Usain Bolt is one of the most famous athletes of all time. His worldwide fame and celebrity status are a long way from his humble origins in Sherwood Content, Jamaica. His parents ran a small store...

STAGE 6 Unit focus: Biographies Text focus: Information Text Neil, CC BY 2.0 USAIN BOLT Born in 1986, Usain Bolt is one of the most famous athletes of all time. His worldwide fame and celebrity status are a long way from his humble origins in Sherwood Content, Jamaica. His parents ran a small store in the local village, and Usain spent most of his childhood throwing and chasing a cricket ball. He has o en said that cricket was his first love and that if he hadn’t made it as a sprinter, he’d have taken up professional cricket. Perhaps with a surname like Bolt, it’s no surprise that sprinting eventually won out. By the time he le primary school, he was already the fastest runner in the school. He continued to play cricket, and it was his cricket coach who first noticed his exceptional speed. He urged Bolt to try out for the athletics team, which he did. Bolt’s first chance to represent Jamaica came in 2001. Even though he was only 14 years old, he won a silver medal in both the 400 metres and 200 metres sprints. This was just a small, regional event. However, later that year, Bolt went on to make his international debut in Hungary at the World Youth Championships. He didn’t manage to qualify for the finals but still beat his own personal best time in the 200 metres sprint. At the time, his coach was a man named Pablo McNeil, who was a former Olympic athlete himself. McNeil would o en moan about Bolt’s lack of effort in training and his practical jokes. A er the event in Hungary, McNeil tried to get Bolt to knuckle down and train harder. Instead, Bolt continued on his own path. In one such prank, he hid inside a van instead of preparing for a final race and was detained by the police a er they thought he had broken in. Eventually, Bolt began to take his training seriously, and McNeil was behind him the whole way. The Jamaican Prime Minister at the time recognised his potential and arranged for him to move from his home and train with the Jamaican national squad. In 2002, aged 15, Bolt had the chance to strive for more. By that time, he was 6 feet 5 inches tall and physically strong. He won gold in the 200 metres sprint at the World Junior all resources ©2023 Literacy Shed http://www.literacyshedplus.com Championships, the youngest person ever to do so. He also won medals as part of the relay teams. Over the next few years, Bolt changed coaches several times and won various medals around the world. His first major Olympics success came at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. When he won a gold medal in the 100 metres sprint, he slowed down towards the end, and his shoelace was untied: he still broke the world record. He went on to win gold in the 200 metres sprint at the same games, once again breaking the world record time. In total, Bolt has won eight Olympic gold medals, is the only sprinter to win both the 100 and 200-metre titles at three consecutive games, and has earned millions in sponsorship deals. 1. Where was Bolt born? RETRIEVAL FOCUS 2. What did his parents do as a job? 3. Who was his first coach? 4. In which event did he win his first gold Olympic medal? 5. Where did the event take place? V V S I I VIPERS QUESTIONS What does the phrase “knuckle down” mean? “Prank” is a synonym for _______. What caused Bolt to get picked up by the police? What evidence is there that Bolt eventually worked harder at his training? Why might he have been able to go even faster in his 2008 100 metre final? all resources ©2023 Literacy Shed http://www.literacyshedplus.com