Usain Bolt reveals the one celebrity that left him starstruck during meeting with Olympic legend
The fastest human being in history isn't usually quick to shyness
The world's fastest man has spent time with some of the greatest athletes and entertainers on the planet but only one struck him silent.
Usain Bolt won eight Olympic gold medals and is the holder of three sprint world records.
As well as a share of the record for the 4 x 100m relay, the Jamaican sprinter still boasts the fastest individual times over both 100m and 200m, running the shorter distance in an astonishing time of 9.58 seconds at the World Championships in Berlin in 2009.
He broke the 200m record in the same championships.
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Asked whether there was anyone he'd met that made him feel like a fan having rubbed shoulders with the likes of Diego Maradona and Michael Jordan, the sprint legend told The Cut: "One person. Beyonce."
Singing superstar Beyonce has sold more than 260 million records as a solo artist and as a member of Destiny's Child, undeniably a level of commercial success that justifies a mononym and the gawping, starstruck admiration of a world-class athlete who might be one of the few humans who's just as famous as she is.
Bolt continued: "At the basketball all-star weekend I meet Jay [Z] for the first time and we have a conversation, and he says 'Oh, meet my wife.'
"I say 'hello' and I've got things planned in my head that I'm going to say to her.
"Nothing. I just said 'hi'. That's it."
Bolt's uncharacteristic shyness aside, he enjoys near-untouchable celebrity inside the world of sports.
Bolt has the three fastest 100m times of all time and his record has become the ultimate speed target.
Teenage phenomenon Gout Gout has matched some of Bolt's remarkable junior times and former rival Justin Gatlin running a gimmicked time of 9.45 seconds with the assistance of powerful wind machines.
The only sprinter Bolt rates as a potential record breaker without a 25m/s tailwind is fellow Jamaican and training partner Oblique Seville.
"Oblique can do it, If he can stay fit through the season and get it right, he can do it because I’m sure there’s something there, the ability to do it," Bolt told The Fix podcast.
"Some of the time Oblique can be fragile. It’s a matter of the work situation or whatever, but if he’s doing enough work, he can do it."
Topics: Usain Bolt, Athletics
Chris Nee