Usain Bolt MPH: The fastest man alive

With an ideal blend of attributes including speed, strength, and an undeniably remarkable surname, Usain Bolt was destined to dominate the racetrack. Today, on his 37th birthday, let's take a look at Usain Bolt's record-breaking achievements.

The remarkable mental resilience behind his relentless winning streak often remains unexplored. Athletes like Michael Jordan, Simone Biles, and Michael Phelps have solidified their dominance with unwavering focus. However, how did Bolt maintain a mental edge for nine years in events lasting mere seconds? What distinguished the mindset that propelled him to unparalleled achievements?

It's intriguing to think that batsmen worldwide might be grateful Bolt chose sprinting over fast bowling. Standing at 6'5" and capable of outpacing a cheetah in the 100-meter dash, if Bolt's bowling speed matched his sprinting prowess, he would have been a formidable force on the cricket field. In essence, athletics gained while cricket missed out on his talents.

As the man with the iconic lightning-bolt pose secured another historic Olympic gold (2016 Rio de Janeiro), I'm reminded of the words of the renowned American author and humorist Mark Twain: "Thunder is good. Thunder is impressive. But it is lightning that does the work."

Bolt dominated the night with 'lightning' speed, securing his third consecutive record-breaking win in the 200 meters.

Picture this.

There he was, loping through the shadowy tunnel at the Olympic Stadium. In the distance, out on the track, lay the red starting blocks for the 100-meter dash.

Start time four minutes away. Three, two, one.

Now 30 seconds away.

The Stadium falls silent. It is the best silence in sports, thick with possibility and pressure. For the first time in the night, fans could hear the blades of a helicopter hovering above.

Each sprinter crouches into position. The fans rise to their feet.

The starter's gun sounds.

Bolt is slow off the blocks. After 20 meters, he is behind Justin Gatlin of the United States, his longtime rival.

The jump to hyper-speed finally kicks in at 50 meters. He passed Gatlin for the lead at 70 meters. The crowd is in full-throat, as if in rapture. Bolt is again casting his spell.

He then blurs across the finish line at 9.81 to win his third straight Olympic gold in the 100. Gatlin, only a step behind Bolt, crosses the line at 9.89 for the silver.

Bolt gradually eases into a jog, extending his arms towards the sky. The memory of these four minutes remains unparalleled. This moment occurred in 2016, and now, seven years have elapsed.

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None wondered what good it might do if he lost. And we'll never know. Because Bolt never lost.

It was as if he was always eager to reaffirm the obvious to everyone watching, that this one was about the win. It was about how history will remember him.

If you look closely, there has also been a thunder-lightning comparison between his two individual events, the 100 and the 200.

The 100 is the track's greatest show, the event where there is the most bluster, and the race that decides who is the world's fastest man. But the 200 is where he has more often than not completed the job of proving he is indeed the world's best sprinter, the complete package you could say.

Don't let Bolt's dominance at a third straight Olympics lull you into thinking the two victories automatically go hand in hand. In the last 15 Summer Olympics until Rio, only two other winners of the men's 100 went on to claim the 200.

One was Carl Lewis, who accomplished it with unquestioned authority in 1984. But when Lewis tried to repeat the sweep in 1988, he was beaten in the 200 by training partner Joe DeLoach.

The other relatively recent 100-200 doubler was the Soviet Union's Valery Borzov in 1972. He gets a mini-asterisk to go with his two golds because confusion about start times caused two top Americans to miss qualifying heats in the 100.

Then there was Bolt, the first Olympian to score a triple-double in the 100 and 200.

If I were to choose just one of those races to watch, it would be the 200 meters, as it gives us the opportunity to witness double the spectacle of Bolt. It's hard not to appreciate that!