Usain Bolt had zero doubts when naming the only sprinter who was capable of beating him over 100m
Eight-time Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt once named the sprinter he believed was capable of beating him – and it’s not Justin Gatlin.
Bolt, 38, is widely regarded as the greatest sprinter of all time and boasts both the 100 and 200m world records, both of which he set at the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany.
And since, several have tried but all have failed to beat his 9.58s 100m time and 19.19s 200m time.
At his peak, Bolt was arguably unbeatable but still boasted rivalries with Gatlin, 43, and his fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake.
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Speaking earlier this year, Bolt revealed that Gatlin “spat” across his lane during a race.
“I remember the first time I competed with Justin, he spat across my lane, the first time I met him,” Bolt told High Performance.
“We were in, I think it was Zagreb [Croatia], and we were competing.
“You know when you warm up and you're running out of your blocks? I was walking back, and he was walking towards me, and he kind of spat across the lane in front of me."
He added: “I laughed because I knew what he was trying to do, but for me, it doesn't matter.
“All that matters is that when we line up and that gun goes, you’d better be ready. Because you're not going to intimidate me by spitting across the lane.
“But that's just who he was, and that's how he was wired because he was in the era before me where it was like that.”
Although Gatlin did beat Bolt in the 2017 World Championship 100m final, it was another sprinter who he felt was most capable of running faster over 100m.
The man in question is Asafa Powell, who held the 100m world record of 9.77s from 2005 until Bolt bettered it in May 2008 before improving on the time at the Beijing Olympics later that summer.
Powell, 42, had a successful career in his own right, winning one Olympic gold medal as part of Jamaica’s 4 x 100m team at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016, alongside multiple other triumphs.
Speaking to The Guardian in 2011, Powell revealed that Bolt told him, “you're the only man in the world I think can beat me”.
"I think in the entire world, I'm the only person that has always scared him [Bolt],” said Powell.
“He's always been telling me that over the years. I get the truth out of him when he drinks a bit.”
Luke Davies