He is responding to the query of why, given all the advances in sports science, nutrition, technology and innovation, the world\u2019s best male sprinters aren\u2019t closing in on the fastest 100m times in history.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s a good question. Of the current crop, Olympic and world silver medallist Kishane Thompson is the fastest with his PB of 9.75 but it only puts him sixth on the all-time list. The five marks ahead of him were all run between 2009 and 2015 and the 9.70 barrier was last broken in 2012.<\/span><\/p> So, after the dramatic pause, are we about to bear witness to some great insight or perhaps even a revelation or two?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe were just more talented,\u201d grins Usain Bolt, shrugging his shoulders, and the tension turns to laughter. Even now, eight years into retirement, he can still hold the crowd in the palm of his hand.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s all I\u2019m saying. Of course, it shows when it comes to the men. You can see the women are different. They\u2019re running faster times and faster times. So it shows \u2013 it has to be the talent.<\/p>\n \"You have Shelly-Ann [Fraser-Pryce], who has got the new spikes, and she ran faster. So it\u2019s just the talent. We\u2019re just way more talented men over that time. It shows if you look at it.\u201d<\/p> Other things endure with Bolt, too. <\/span>His name remains synonymous with being the very best. He ruled over the sport of athletics in a way that no-one else ever has, and his presence at the World Championships in Japan has been keenly felt.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n After stepping off the track in 2017, save from training session visits to the Racers Track Club in Kingston where he honed his craft, the eight-time Olympic champion, 11-time world champion and the man who still holds the 100m and 200m world records (9.58 and 19.19) disappeared from the athletics scene entirely.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The 39-year-old re-emerged earlier this summer, though, to visit the Oslo and Stockholm Diamond League meetings and he is in Japan to help with the promotion of World Athletics\u2019 Ultimate Championships next year. He is a valuable resource for the sport to tap into.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cJust like the old days,\u201d he quips as he arrives to speak to an assembled group of journalists in a hospitality box at the national stadium, just a few minutes ahead of the start of the women\u2019s 100m semi-finals. Everyone still wants to hear what he has to say.\u00a0<\/span><\/p> The conversation covers a few different topics - from the memorabilia he has kept from his career (only the baton from the London 2012 Olympics 4x100m final), through to the athletics event that is the most exciting. \u201cI feel like the 800m is a pinnacle of excitement - it's just right. Not too long and not too short.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But most of the questions revolve around just how he did it. How he became this force of nature that not only left the competition trailing but left the audience wanting more. As one questioner put it: \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to be fast, but it\u2019s another thing to be fun.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n How did he draw people in? And why haven\u2019t other people managed to do it to the same level?<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt's the personality,\u201d he says. \u201cI think a lot of people try to be fun, but it comes off different. If you try [too hard], then it's not going to be the same, but I was just having a good time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI knew that the crowd liked it, so I thought about what I was going to do if I was going somewhere. When I was in London, I knew the Queen, so I waved. I thought about these things that people like and they could connect with so they understood it's not just my personal thing. I wanted them to understand what I'm actually doing. I tried to engage with the fans, and I think that's why they gravitate to.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Not long after the conversation wraps up, Fraser-Pryce will bring the curtain down on another extraordinary Jamaican sprinting career, while Oblique Seville will become the first man from the Caribbean nation to become world 100m champion since... well, I think you know the answer to that one.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The hope is that we are about to see more of Bolt around and, judging by the normal daily routine he described that involved \u201cjust chilling\u201d, the occasional gym workout and being \u201cinto Lego\u201d, it seems he has time to spare.<\/span><\/p>\n There will certainly be a visit to the 2027 world championships, in Beijing \u2013 the city in which his life changed forever following the 2008 Olympics where he won three gold medals and set three world records.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m excited because I get to bring my kids and I can tell them: \u2018Listen, this is where it all happened. I\u2019ve shown my kids videos and stuff like that,\u201d he says, referring to five-year-old daughter, Olympia Lightning Bolt, and four-year-old twin sons, Saint Leo and Thunder Bolt. \"They\u2019ll be six and seven, and they\u2019ll kind of understand the moment, and I can explain to them what their dad has done over the years.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n There are millions who don\u2019t need to be told.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was competing, I was working to break the benchmark so, now that I've retired, it's a great feeling to know that I'm the benchmark if you want to be the best or you want to be a legend,\u201d he says. \u201cI wanted to set high standards. And I did.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sprint superstar reflects on still being the benchmark and how he invited the world into what he did for a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":221674,"featured_media":1040007599,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","inline_featured_image":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_championship":0,"wds_primary_country":0,"wds_primary_sports":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"championship":[],"country":[],"sports":[35981,35982],"class_list":["post-1040007594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","sports-100m","sports-200m"],"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/news\/usain-bolt-i-wanted-to-set-high-standards-and-i-did-1040007594\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Usain Bolt: \"I wanted to set high standards. And I did\"","url":"http:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/news\/usain-bolt-i-wanted-to-set-high-standards-and-i-did-1040007594\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/news\/usain-bolt-i-wanted-to-set-high-standards-and-i-did-1040007594\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Bolt-in-Tokyo-200x300.jpg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Bolt-in-Tokyo.jpg"},"articleSection":"News","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Euan Crumley"}],"creator":["Euan Crumley"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Athletics Weekly","logo":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/AW-logo_with-website.png"},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2025-09-15T13:15:33Z","datePublished":"2025-09-15T13:15:33Z","dateModified":"2025-09-16T15:47:36Z"},"rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2234854937-750x442.jpg.webp\")
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