Why Usain Bolt isn't a nine time Olympic gold medal winner

Usain Bolt might be the greatest athlete of all time but even he had to rely on his teammates, which is why he's only got eight Olympic gold medals.

How many people can claim to be undoubtedly the greatest at their sport? LeBron James is preferred to Michael Jordan by some, Cristiano Ronaldo is number one ahead of Lionel Messi according to a minority and some prefer Novak Djokovic to Roger Federer.

One pundit recently claimed that Tom Brady was now the greatest in any sport ahead of James, a nonsense suggestion to anyone outside of America.

In reality the man who probably has the best claim to be the greatest of all is Usain Bolt, considering his total domination of sprinting.

The Jamaican holds both the 100m and 200m records, holding the top three quickest times at the shortest distance and four of the top 10 at 200.

Of course he's pretty lucky that Sol Campbell didn't turn to sprinting in his younger years, after the Arsenal legend suggested he might have been as quick as Bolt, or Britney Spears for that matter.

It was in the major championships where the 36-year-old came alive and especially at the Olympics, where he didn't lose a race for eight years across three championships.

He crossed the line first in the 100 and 200 at Beijing in 2008, London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016, adding the 4x100m relay on each occasion.

However having been on the top spot of the podium on nine occasions, Bolt had to hand back his relay medal from the Beijing games in 2017.

Bolt and his teammates collect their medals. Image: Alamy

It was because his teammate in China, Nesta Carter, was found guilty of taking a performance enhancing drug years after the race.

Carter led the team off in the final before handing the baton over to Michael Frater, who in turn sent Bolt away round the bend and Asafa Powell brought them home on the anchor leg.

Their time of 37.1 seconds would have beaten the Olympic and World records set by the Americans in 1992 but was also stripped off them, as Trinidad and Tobago eventually claimed gold.

Carter was caught testing for banned stimulant Methylhexaneamine nine years after the race when the International Olympic Committee retested frozen samples.

Speaking about in 2017, Bolt said: "I'm not happy about it but it's just one of those things that happen in life.

"I can't allow that to deter me from my focus this season, so I am focused but I am not pleased."