It is not enough to win. It is also important to win clean and under fair conditions, that is what truly demonstrates that anybody can do it. That is the kind of legacy we need to leave behind.
Someday, you will finish all the money you won and the fame might dwindle as a generation arises that never knew first-hand what you did, but the legacy you left behind will out-live you and continue to inspire others to also try to live up to your impeccable standards.
I am personally looking forward to a time when the society will have a better set of role models to look up to. We deserve better role models than people high on drugs and weed.
This is why I am so fascinated by Usain Bolt, the fastest man the world has seen for now.
Usain Bolt (who turns 30 today) has insisted this is last outing at the Olympics. In his words: “I’ve proven to the world I’m the greatest, I can’t prove anything else.”.
This is a man that has truly won it all, there is nothing left to challenge him out there. Usain Bolt has swept the 100-m, 200-m, and 4 X 100-m relays in each of the past three Olympics. He owns world records in all three–having run 9.58 seconds in the 100-m at the 2009 worlds in Berlin, a 19.19 in the 200 at the same competition, and 36.84 with his Jamaican teammates at the 2012 London Olympics.
Yet, the most important thing is not all the things he won, but the fact that he won it without any major scandal or cheating incident. This is the legacy he leaves behind and this lofty height is now what upcoming speedsters need to beat on equally fair and clean grounds.
“I’ve just proven to the world that you can do it clean,” says Usain Bolt. “I’ve made the sport exciting, I’ve made people want to see the sport, and I’ve made people want to watch the sport. I’ve just put the sport on a different level.”
Happy 30th Birthday Usain Bolt!
Thank you for laying such a legacy.
P.S.
If Usain Bolt is using some kind of drugs we do not know about yet – then I actually pray that drug is never discovered. He is worth keeping his Halo! But I do pray to God that he is legit.
