WORLD RECORD HOLDER USAIN BOLT TALKS “ONLY SEE GREAT”

The world record holder and retired Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt speaks about his motivation to become the greatest sprinter of all time in a video interview with sports company PUMA.

With the ‘Only See Great’ campaign, PUMA explores the career paths of its brand ambassadors, as they talk about their own experiences to achieve greatness, listen to their hearts, and share their vision with others.

In this interview, Bolt talks about his extraordinary athletic performances, starting from the very first successes and setbacks to becoming a legacy.

“As a junior, I was really, really talented, but getting into the senior level, I was still kind of young and naive and felt like I didn’t need to work as hard to compete at a high level,” Bolt said. “Going to (the 2004 Olympic Games in) Athens and not actually making it through the first round really helped me to say: ‘you know what, I need to look at myself and understand that if I want to be the best or if I want to win an Olympic gold medal, I need to be more dedicated, I need to work harder’.”

While many titles, world records and medals followed, Bolt says that “dominating throughout the years is very important to the legacy that I built for myself. Anybody can win one Olympics, but to actually win three back-to-back Olympics over the span of eight to ten years is very difficult. For me, that’s how I kept myself motivated and focused because I didn’t skip a year, I didn’t focus on four years to come, I focused on every year throughout, because those years were also important to dominate and to keep training and work at a high level. He admits that he missed being at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo last year:

“When I watched the Olympics, I really missed it. Especially watching the Mens’ 100m and not seeing a Jamaican in the finals really made me miss it and really wanted to be there. For me, the girls did extremely well for Jamaica. They really showed up. Again.” Bolt says he fully embraces the vision of “Only See Great”. “Greatness is just being yourself and dominating at a high level over years and doing things that no one has ever done before”, added the World’s fastest man.

The idea for PUMA’s “Only See Great” campaign was inspired by cultural icon, entrepreneur and philanthropist Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter who first said: “I only see great. I don’t see good. I don’t see compromise. We should always strive to make something great, something that will last.”