Usain Bolt reveals trio he wished he raced against
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Reading Time: 3min | Tue. 10.06.25. | 22:00
Bolt reflected on the few names he missed the chance to race against during his illustrious career
Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt has opened up on the three athletes he wished he faced during his glory days.
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Bolt famously clocked a jaw-dropping 9.58 seconds over 100 metres at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, a world record that still stands.
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Appearing on the PUMA Go Wild Podcast hosted by Colin Jackson, Bolt reflected on the few names he missed the chance to race against during his illustrious career.
When asked who he would have liked to compete against, either from the past or present, the eight-time Olympic gold medalist named American sprint legend Michael Johnson, fellow Jamaican great Don Quarrie, and South African 400m world record holder Wayde van Niekerk.
“It would be Michael Johnson and Don Quarrie. And I'm very sad that I didn't get to compete against van Niekerk. We wanted to do a 200m and I was not fit enough.
That's one thing I regret. I wish I were fit enough to compete against him,” he said.
Van Niekerk stunned the world at the 2016 Rio Olympics by breaking Johnson’s longstanding 400m world record with an incredible time of 43.03 seconds.
The South African went on to claim gold medals in the 400m at the 2015 and 2017 World Championships, and remains the only sprinter in history to post sub-10, sub-20, and sub-44 times in the 100m, 200m, and 400m, respectively. It is that level of versatility that even Bolt admires.
The legendary sprinter also acknowledged the greatness of Quarrie, who clinched Olympic gold in the 200m at the 1976 Montreal Games and swept the sprints at the 1970 Commonwealth Games with wins in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay.
“To run a 200m with [Van Niekerk], who would be the best? It would have been great to compete with him,” Bolt added.
Though he missed those matchups, Bolt’s resume hardly lacks brilliance.
After turning professional in 2004, he burst onto the Olympic scene in 2008 by winning gold in both the 100m and 200m in Beijing, stunning the world with his raw speed and charismatic presence.
He repeated the double at the 2012 London Olympics and added a 4x100m relay gold with Jamaican teammates Yohan Blake, Nesta Carter, and Michael Frater.
In Rio 2016, he completed an unprecedented “triple-triple,” winning three golds for the third straight Olympic Games in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay.
However, a subsequent doping case involving a teammate led to the stripping of one relay gold, leaving Bolt with a total of eight Olympic golds.
His World Championships tally includes 11 golds, two silvers, and a bronze.
Even years after stepping off the track in 2017, the question of what he could have been still lingers.
