Doesn't hurt that his nickname is "Lightning," or that he's the fastest man alive.
Usain Bolt CD came first came into common knowledge at the 2002 World Junior Championships in his home country of Jamaica, where he won just about everything. He repeated these same acts in 2003, and ended up getting a shot at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Sadly, a leg injury held him up, and he was eliminated in the very first race. A year later he had another injury, followed by a minor car accident, both of which set back his training. Things looked bad for Bolt, and we probably wouldn't be posting his name here today had he not kept pushing.
In 2006, however, he started to push through. He started breaking 200 M records at all different meets and began to medal in them as well. In May of 2008, Bolt set a new 100 M world record with 9.72 seconds in only his fifth competition of that distance, which is obviously quite impressive.
Things would only get more impressive for Bolt, however, at the 2008 Beijing games. Bolt claimed that he would run in both the 100 and 200 M races, even though he hadn't run much of the 100 M races as previously mentioned. It didn't matter, as he bested his own world record in the 100 M with a 9.69, beating the next closest runner by .20 seconds even though one of his shoes were untied AND that Bolt visibly slowed down to celebrate his victory. Then in the 200 M, despite running into a decent headwind, Bolt once again set a world and olympic record, winning his second gold. He even ran the third leg of the Jamacian relay team later that day, helping them win gold as well.
Bolt is very impressive indeed. Not since Carl Lewis or Michael Johnson has the world seen a guy who could just outrun EVERYONE like Bolt can. Plus Bolt is loved by several fan sites, AND he admitted to smoking marijuana as a child without it becoming some huge blown out of proportion issue. And Bolt does all these things with a smile on his face and a name that just tells you he was meant to run. So Usain Bolt, we welcome you to the third ballot of the Great Sports Name Hall of Fame.
By the way, the best part of the above video? "And he's closing in like gangbusters!"
To see the best sports names of all time, visit the Truly Great Names page.
To see some good sports names that were voted out, visit the Good Names page.
To see the current voting ballot, visit the Ballot page.
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