The fastest sprinter of all times, Usain Bolt, ran his final 100-meter race at the World Athletics Championships in London bringing to an end his glorious solo track career.
Bolt, the eight-time Olympic champion (who will retire at the end of the championships after the 4x100m relay next weekend), clocked in at 9.95 seconds but only managed to achieve a bronze medal in his attempt. This was the first time that Bolt, the fastest 100m runner of all times, failed to take a gold medal in any 100m finals at either the Olympics and World Championships.
Although Bolt did not manage to attain the same heights of previous years, ironically, his defeat brought out the best from the winner Justin Gatlin with a season’s personal best as he gate-crashed the Bolt party.
What was pivotal about Bolts character was how for the first time he managed defeat to which the Guardian Paper reported that he demonstrated the “one attitude – gracious loser – he had never had to display, but he performed it with just as much aplomb as all the others”. Bolt has been suffering from back problems and has been at less than his best this year with only running once less than 10 seconds this year, had already been undergoing back treatment and this was reflective in his races over the competition.
Bolt lost his final 100m sprint, but won the hearts and accolade of so many racing fans around the world. His popularity as a sportsman and an ambassador for track and field athletic allowed him to surpass his humble begins of the island of Jamaica and instead catapulted him to global status as a living legend.
Shannon L. Alder wrote “Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.” Whatever your goals or dreams are; despite your humble beginnings, write your own eulogy and create your own legacy and finish the race to the glory of God. As Ecclesiastes (9:11) states, “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.”