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Usain Bolt to retire after 2017 World Championship in London
Quote:
Usain Bolt reveals his desire to be the greatest athlete of all time...
ahead of his sporting heroes Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan and Michael Johnson
First comes the headline: Usain Bolt will retire from athletics in 2017, with the World Championship 100 metres final in London pencilled in as his last individual race. But then comes the story behind the headline: The desire to protect what he refers to as his ‘legacy’. The desire to sign off at the top, like Sir Alex Ferguson did when he secured one more Premier League title. ‘Exactly,’ he says, his eyes lighting up. If he likes the comparison with Alex Ferguson, a man he knows and admires enormously, Bolt also wants to be remembered as one of the greatest athletes the world has seen.
Ask him to identify his personal top three and he lists ‘Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan and Michael Johnson’. But victory in Rio next year, to become the first man to win three consecutive 100m titles — never mind a possible treble in the 200m and sprint relay — could elevate him to a status alongside Ali. If Ali was the greatest athlete of the 20th century, a great showman as well as the fiercest of competitors, could Bolt make an early claim for the 21st century crown?
He interrupts the initial question. ‘If you win in Rio,’ I begin to say. ‘Which I will,’ he declares. I finish by asking him if he would like to be placed on the highest pedestal. ‘That would be great,’ he says. That’s what I work for. Over the years I have said I want to become a legend. I want to be remembered as one of the greatest sportsmen ever.’
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