I feel accomplished. I’ve accomplished all I wanted to in my sport, so it’s just a great feeling to know that with [the] determination and sacrifice that I put in that I could accomplish what I wanted to. I always try to motivate people and say listen, believe in yourself and just go out there and do your best.— Usain Bolt
Eight-time Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award at BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2022 on 21 December.
The 19-time global champion is best known for setting the world record in the men’s 100m with an incredible time of 9.58 seconds at the Berlin World Championships in 2009, making him the fastest sprinter in history.
Just four days later at the same event, he also broke the world record for the 200m with a time of 19.19 seconds, beating the previous record he had set at the 2008 Beijing Olympics by 0.11 seconds. He still holds both the 100m and 200m world records to this day.
Bolt is the only athlete to win both the 100m and 200m titles at three consecutive Olympics (Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016). A Jamaican team featuring Usain, Yohan Blake, Nesta Carter and Michael Frater also hold the current world record for the 4x100m men’s relay, set at London 2012.
After a glittering professional career spanning over 13 years, Bolt officially retired from athletics in 2017.
Reflecting on how he feels looking back on his incredible career, Usain told BBC Sport: “I feel accomplished. I’ve accomplished all I wanted to in my sport, so it’s just a great feeling to know that with [the] determination and sacrifice that I put in that I could accomplish what I wanted to. I always try to motivate people and say listen, believe in yourself and just go out there and do your best.”
Previous winners of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement award include Billie Jean King, Pelé, Bobby Charlton, Tanni Grey-Thompson, David Beckham, Jessica Ennis-Hill, Chris Hoy and last year’s winner Simone Biles.
BBC Sports Personality of the Year takes place on Wednesday 21 December at 6.45pm live on BBC One from Media City UK in Salford.
For voting criteria on all awards please visit https://www.bbc.co.uk/
