On Aug. 12, Jamaican sprinting legend Usain Bolt ran his last race in the World Athletic Championships. Prior to the 4×100 meter relay, he had already finished third place in the 100-meter race. Despite the cheers of the crowd, Bolt sadly failed to finish the relay race as he fell face down with a leg injury.
“I think people, myself included, were expecting a more fashionable end to Bolt’s career,” said Jenny Kim (12), Bolt’s fan and varsity cross country member. “He is hailed as a sprinting legend, so people just naturally have higher expectations of him. Although he did win a bronze medal in his other race, this accomplishment paled in comparison to his numerous gold medals, which is why some would be disappointed.”
The actual reasons for Bolt’s injury is currently unknown, with various sources disagreeing on the matter. The official diagnosis made by the team doctor, as according to the Herald Sun, is a cramp in his left hamstring combined with the psychological pain from disappointment from the results of the race. However, according to The Independent, the Jamaican sprinting relay team points a finger at the World Athletics Championships organizers due to the race’s long delay. The runners had reportedly been kept waiting in the cold for more than 40 minutes that day, which some speculate is the reason Bolt was not in the best condition he could have been in.
“The hamstrings mainly function to bend your knees forward and move your hips backwards,” said Alyssa Shelby, Anatomy and Physiology teacher. “The hamstring is often connected to the lower back muscle, and his injury could thus be related to a lower back problem. However, as your muscles get colder, as is the case with Bolt, the blood vessels in your body constrict in order to keep blood in your core, so his hamstrings could not have recieved adequate blood flow.”
However, despite a potential end to his athletic career, Bolt seems to have other entrepreneurship opportunities in mind. According to Business Insider, he plans on investing his money in branching his restaurant to 15 or more locations in the UK. The restaurant, named Tracks & Records, has already seen huge success in Jamaica since its grand opening back in April 2011. In any case, it can be rest assured that Bolt will not fade out of the public eye any time soon.
“We see many headlines of retired sports athletes squandering their money very quickly,” said Ellie Cheong (11), Bolt’s fan. “So it makes me relieved that Bolt is not headed towards that same path: instead, he already has several popular restaurants in addition to more future business ventures.”