Usain Bolt makes shock pick when asked which record he's most proud of and admits fans never expect it

Usain Bolt has made a surprising pick for his most cherished world record which he hopes won't be beaten at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Bolt is undeniably the most famous track and field athlete in history, having stunned the world with his explosive pace over the shortest distances in professional sprinting.

The Jamaican is an eight-time Olympic gold medallist and is the current world record holder in the men's 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 x 100 metres relay.

Perhaps his most famous achievement is setting the fastest time by any human in history over 100m – clocking 9.58 seconds at the World Championships in Berlin in 2009.

But he has now revealed that it is a different record that he's most proud of.

Speaking on a recent episode of The Obi One podcast, Bolt revealed that it is in fact his 200m world record that he most cherishes.

He clocked an incredible 19.19 seconds over that distance at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, the same event he achieved his 100m record.

When asked to name his proudest record, Bolt said: "It is the 200m. For me the 200m is my baby."

Former Chelsea star and podcast co-host John Obi Mikel replied: "Everyone thinks it would be the 100m."

To which Bolt replied: "But that's for everybody, because the 100m is the pinnacle. The fastest man in the world.

"But for me, the only reason I did the 100m is because I didn't want to run the 400m! And that's the craziest thing."

Bolt revealed that a defeat to American sprinter Tyson Gay at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka spurred him on to achieve greatness on the track.

Usain Bolt is the fastest man in history over 100m and 200m (Image: Getty)

He said: "After 2007, I lost to Tyson Gay in the 200m. I was saying to my coach 'I really thought I was going to win', and he said to me 'Listen to me, you are weak. You need to do more work. We need to do another event.'

"I was like 'Cool, we can do the 100m.' And he went 'No, no, no. You're a better 400m runner.'

"And I told him no, because I'd trained with 400m people and had seen the work that they did. I didn't want to do it!

"So I asked him to make a deal. I said 'Give me one 100m race at the end of the season. If I run fast then I'll do it, if I run slow then I'll do 400m.'

"So I went, I think it was in Greece - we found a meet at the end of the season, and I ran 10.03 and came second. And that at the time was very good. So that's how I ended up running 100m."