KINGSTON, Jamaica – Despite all his achievements, Jamaica's Usain Bolt has singled out his gold medal winning performance as a 15-year-old at the World Junior Championship in Kingston, as his best accomplishment.
“I think my best achievement was winning the World Juniors in Jamaica and the reason is because it was actually in Jamaica. “It feels much better and more pleasurable to win in front of your home crowd,” he explained.
Bolt made the revelation during the Digicel launch of its “Bring The Beat” campaign for the Rio Olympics today at the Terra Nova Hotel.
Bolt was severely tested, not by his peers, but by some sharp-witted youngsters who extracted some unusual answers. He was peppered with questions from several youngsters aged between six and 10 -years-old from across the Caribbean in an interactive session that lasted for approximately one hour.
The event was hosted by nine year-old Naleighna-Kae McLean who asked a series of questions before opening the floor to her fellow young journalists, most of which Bolt had to dig deep to answer.
The fastest man in history was quizzed about his fears; his mental toughness compared to Asafa Powell's; his coach; how many girlfriends he had?, what he does during his free time and his favourite food.
Most of the times, Bolt, stumped by the questions, laughed loudly, took deep breaths before constructing his reply. And he gave some interesting answers.
Bolt, the most successful sprinter revealed he has a fear of losing at big championships; loves pork and has American basketballer Kevin Garnett, track star Michael Johnson and Jamaica's Don Quarrie as well as his father Wellesley Bolt as his role models.
“My greatest fear is actually losing at a championship, that's my greatest fear, like losing at the Olympics,” said Bolt.
“How many girlfriends do you have?”, flew at him, as Bolt and the audience burst into laughter. “One,” he replied.
Bolt then took pictures with the children, signed t-shirts, pictures, books and anything they wanted him to put his signature on.
Howard Walker
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