Usain Bolt to pursue the beautiful game
Olympic champion and record-breaker Usain Bolt of Jamaica has expressed his desire to have a run at football in four year’s time, after getting a few more medals in his trophy case. The lightning-fast sprinter soared into fame at the Beijing Olympic Games in the 100m and 200m events, and also at the Berlin Championships where he shattered records with unbelievable speed.
Currently the world record holder of the 100m and 200m run for his time of 9.58 seconds and 19.19s respectively, Bolt has dominated the track since coming into the scene in 2008. But Bolt, who recently became a sort of spokesperson for drug-free sport, is not sitting complacent with his achievements, but aspires to do more. According to BBC Sports, the youth wants to break his own record and defeat the 100m run in a mere 9.4 seconds, a feat which he claims will “probably never be beaten [by anyone else].”
The 24 year-old Manchester United fan then wants to turn his thoughts to the beautiful game, arguing that he would make a good “defensive or attacking midfielder.” In an interview with Sportsweek, Bolt revealed, “I always watch those guys and I think I could be a professional footballer. I'd like to play football for two years. Maybe I could get into a good side or even an average side.”
Though this may seem somewhat whimsical to athletics and football fans alike, for Bolt, the transition between different sports has been fairly commonplace. An aspiring cricketer, Bolt told CBBC Newsround that “I was playing cricket one day and my coach said, 'You know what? Try track and field' because I was running pretty quickly.”
Already having given former Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo advice about working his own feet, the sprinter believes he can contribute something to football, albeit if it is a little bit of flair and personality. If Bolt does achieve his 9.4s record and make the jump from track to pitch, the football world will certainly be all the more interesting for it.
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