Usain Bolt is faster than some cars! But you already know that. We will intersperse some of his car pictures in this post, just so you see them again.
Bolt in action. Inset, a cheetah in action. Bolt can’t beat the cheetah
Image source: medialab.infobae.com/National Geographic
When Usain takes a ride, he drives the fastest car. You see, he is (or has been, and will again be) the fastest man on the planet. May be he should change his name to “Bolt Lightning”. But with the world having more than its share of fast rides, what would Bolt choose. For example, would he choose a Ferrari F430 Spider (why the heck would anyone name this fast car “Spider”?), BMW M3, Nissan GTR? Since everyone wants to be associated with success, every car maker wants to be associated with Usain and that is why most of the cars he drives come free.
King of the tracks with his Nissan GTR
Image source: http://www.limitemagazine.com
Who is Usain Bolt?
The 6 feet 5 sprinter was born Usain St Leo Bolt OJ CD in Jamaica in 1986. His running career started when he was in school when his cricket coach realized he had speed and advised him to concentrate on track events. Today, he is recognized as the first athlete to hold 200 and 100-meter records simultaneously since the adoption of the automatic time measurements in 1977.
How fast is Usain Bolt?
Being an African, I could not resist imagining how Usain would fare if he were pitted against the African cheetah, unarguably the fastest sprinter in animal kingdom.
Boy! At 64 mph, 104 km/h, He is far from even coming close to the cheetah. Did you also know that he cannot match the speed of a greyhound that runs at 69 kph. The fastest thoroughbred horse has clocked 88 kph, while the African Ostrich, yes, a bird, can do 64kph. These are just a few of the fastest animals on the planet.
Bolt and his Ferrari. Inset his Puma running shoes. He is paid $9 million a year to wear their shoes everywhere, every time
Image source: www.topgear.com
To set the record straight here, Usain has run 100 meters at 9.58 seconds and the African cheetah has run the same distance at 5.8 seconds. Note that the cheetah is not trained! And while we are still on the topic, Usain Bolt did adopt a cheetah in Kenya a few years back. It is called Lightning Bolt.
Isn’t it just too bad that the poor animals will never make millions in endorsements? They will also not outrun the bullet, and that makes their case even sadder.
How much is he worth?
Here is a man who has worked for every dime that he is worth. It is hard to tell how much he is worth actually, but it is estimated that come the Brazil Olympics in 2016, he will be worth well over $100 million.
For a man who has become a darling of many product manufacturers, from Nissan, Gatorade, Hublot, Puma and many others, he has earned himself a place in the books of history as the highest paid athlete in the world for 2012. He made more than $23 million.
Usain Bolt Foundation – He is the main contributor
Image source: usainbolt.com
Companies consider paying Usain to showcase their products as the best marketing gimmick ever and it does work. For example, German sports products manufacturer Puma pays Usain $9 million every year to wear their shoes on and off track, all the time. They say that their sales for 2012 hit 300 million big ones. They associated this increase in revenue to their association with Usain Bolt.
Charity work
Involved in many charities, Usain Bolt is most noted for his personal foundation; The Usain Bolt Foundation which promotes the creation of a happy environment for children to develop through culture and education. The foundation also supports cardiac surgeries for children by facilitating the training of personnel, donating equipment and so forth.
