Usain Bolt

The most exciting athlete in all of track and field, Bolt literally set the gold standard in his breathtaking 2008 performance in Beijing. The Jamaican joined American Carl Lewis as the only athlete to win three golds in sprinting races with victories in the 100, 200 and 4 x 100 relay, but became the first athlete to set world records in winning each event. His victory in the 100 was Jamaica's first gold medal at the Olympics. Bolt further lowered his world-record marks at the 2009 World Championships, covering 100 meters in 9.58 seconds and 200 meters in 19.19 to become the first athlete to simultaneously hold Olympic and world titles in the 100 and 200. An unofficial and unrecognized record Bolt holds came from a one-off event in Manchester, England, where he ran in a four-man race at the uncharacteristic distance of 150 meters. He not only set a world record with a time of 14.35 seconds, but also ran the final 100 meters in a staggering 8.72 seconds on a wet track. One of the few races he did not set a world record was in the rarely contested 300 meters in 2010 at Ostrava in the Czech Republic, clocking a time of 30.97 to barely miss Michael Johnson's standard of 30.85. He picked up an Achilles' injury from that event, and the lack of training that followed led to a rare defeat to Tyson Gay later that year. Bolt has performed well during the 2011 Diamond League season, winning the 100 meters in Rome and Monaco and the 200 in Oslo, Paris and Stockholm. However, he failed to clock a sub-20 second time in the victories at Paris and Stockholm, though he was slowed in Sweden by a substantial headwind. In the relays, Bolt usually runs the third leg for Jamaica and help set a world and Olympic record time of 37.10 seconds in the 4 x 100 in Beijing. Bolt has four of the top seven all-time fastest times in the 100 meters, five of the top seven in the 200 and the top two relay times in the 4 x 100. His first sporting love was not track, but cricket, and many players have noted his lanky, powerful frame would make him a formidable fast bowler, which he has displayed at charity matches. Bolt provided one of the lighter moments at Beijing when he revealed his pre-race meal of choice was chicken nuggets. He occasionally DJs and is a big fan of reggae music. He recently became the first Jamaican to have over five million Facebook fans.