The most successful athlete of World Championships, Usain Bolt, the greatest sprinter, and fastest man in the world and has earned the media nickname “Lightning Bolt”. He is a track and field legend and world record holder, who is awarded the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year (four times), BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year (three times), IAAF World Athlete of the Year (twice) and Track & Field Athlete of the Year (one time). Usain Bolt is the only sprinter to win 9 Olympic Gold Medals at three consecutive Olympics – 2008, 2012 and 2016 participating in 100m, 200m, and 4×100m relay. Sadly, in 2017 the International Olympic Committee took away Bolt’s Gold Medal for 4x100m relay (2008) because his team member Nesta Carter was found guilty of consuming drugs.

In 2019, Usain Bolt’s net worth was estimated at USD 90 million.

Track and field is a sport where hundredths of seconds separate the winner. The man who’d beat Michael Johnson’s records after 16 years had finally arrived. In his most illustrious sports career, Usain Bolt represented Jamaica in the men’s athletics in 100 meters, 200 meters and 4 × 100 meters relay events bring home a total of 23 Gold medals, 5 Silver medals and 1 Bronze medal. He participated in track and field events at the Olympic Games, World Championships, World Relays, CAC Championships, Commonwealth Games, World Junior Championships, and World Youth Championships. Beyond participating and winning medals, Bolt holds 19 Guinness World Records. 

Usain St Leo Bolt, a former sprinter retired in 2017 after he suffered an injury at IAAF Worlds Championships in London on August 12, 2017. In the last 50 meters of the 4x100m relay he tore his left hamstring falling on the track. Usain Bolt failed to finish his final race due to the fall.Team Jamaica lost the 4x100m relay event. Great Britain went on to win with USA finishing in second and Japan in third.

Stepping into the Limelight

In 2002 at the age of 15 years, Usain Bolt was the youngest to win a Gold medal at World Junior Championships in Kingston, clocking a record 20.61 secs in 200m at the National Stadium. This was his golden gate entry to a world stage. His popularity was growing. Howard Hamilton, a Public Defender by the government, urged the JAAA to train and prepare Bolt, “the most phenomenal sprinter ever produced by this island”. This is when the Former Jamaican Prime Minister P. J. Patterson recognizing the potential in Bolt arranged for him to move to Kingston, to train with the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA) at the University of Technology, Jamaica. While young Bolt was training in the capital city of Kingston, he was also getting distracted by partying in Kingston’s clubs, eating junk food and playing basketball with friends.

However, in the years 2002 to 2004, during his training he injured himself several times, which made authorities sit back and question if he was ready to represent Jamaica in world events. In 2003, he got conjunctivitis and had to drop out of the World Championship Finals in Paris. The dejected Bolt still managed to win IAAF Rising Star Award for the 2003 season on the strength of his junior record-equaling run. But in 2004, under his new coach Fitz Coleman, he turned a new leaf beginning with the CARIFTA Games in Bermuda. While most were doubtful if Bolt could face international competition at the age of 17, some knew he was ready for the next Olympics at Athens in 2004. Notwithstanding these reservations, Bolt’s name was submitted to the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) by the local body JAAA, to compete in the 200m track event. JOA after many internal debates decided to allow Bolt to debut in the Olympics in the 200m run. Unluckily, Bolt finished 5^th with a time of 21.05 secs compared to his earlier 20.61 secs. But this did not deter him from cutting a birthday cake to celebrate his 18^th at the Olympic Games. The boy in the company of men had lost today but it was only the beginning.

The beginning of Greatness

Born on August 21, 1986, to Wellesley and Jennifer Bolt in Sherwood Content, Jamaica, Bolt grew up with his brother Sadiki and sister Sherine. His parents ran a grocery store. He studied at Waldensia Primary School and William Knibb Memorial High School. At school, he began sprinting where at the age of 12 he was the school’s fastest 100-meter runner. In 2001, when he was 14, he entered the first competition and won the high school championships with a silver medal in the 200m race.

Win from Within

From a biographical film on Usain Bolt directed by Benjamin and Gabe Turner titled ‘Am Bolt’, to sponsorship with Puma, to a gaming app Bolt by Apple iOS, to co-founding Bolt Mobility an electric scooter company, Usain Bolt continues to sprint in many directions to ‘win from within’. Furthermore since his retirement in 2017, he has been dividing his time between his foundation, ‘Usain Bolt Foundation’ for the education of children and his music and sports bar ‘Tracks and Records’.

Too soon to retire in life, Bolt…keep winning!

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When its grit and determination, age is only a number. At 62 years, George Hood sets the Planking world record (Guinness World Records 2020).

George E. Hood from Illinois at 62-years of age decides to get on a custom-built table, straps a heart monitor band across his chest, attaches a catheter to his body, covers himself with a lambskin, dials up a curated rock ’n’ roll playlist, gets in a plank position and remains in it for eight hours, 15 minutes and 15 seconds to set a new Guinness World Record on February 15, 2020.

The former US Marine and DEA Supervisory Special Agent having lost his earlier record and title to Mao Weidong, China in 2016, was determined to win the ultra-endurance title back. He attended very high-intensity training camps and fitness regiments. In 2018, in one such practice session, he did 674,000 sit-ups and 270,000 push-ups.

Endurance is a skill

The plank is an extremely strenuous and gravity-defying exercise where the torso remains in a horizontal position, balancing on the toes and forearms only. While most persons cannot hold this position beyond 10 minutes, Mr. Hood completed this feat to regain a lost title and raise money for a community charity (raised nearly $10,000 for 515 Fitness and the Braidwood Area Healthy Community Coalition of Braidwood, Illinois). His mental health, physical endurance, discipline, and training helped him achieve this record.

 (Image Credits – New York Times)

His interview comments

– I burned 4,252 calories.

– The seventh hour of the competition was the most difficult.

– On completing 8:15:15 hours even as my legs were completely cramped, I took on a yoga child pose (Balasana) so as not to disrespect the plank.

– It was the audience at the 515 Fitness location in Plainfield, Ill., that provided me moral support by clicking away selfies with me, blasting music and dancing to my favorite rock songs.

This is just the beginning

Mr. George Hood, a musician who plays the French horn, a Former Marine and a dad to three sons, ages 30, 28 and 26, is ready to launch a fitness exercise video soon. And wait that’s not all. He soon plans to get his next Guinness World Record in the push-up genre.

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 Like his father, Narain Singh Gulia, a retired army colonel, Navin Gulia was ambitious to serve in the Indian army. In 1995, during his final training days in the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, he met with a fatal accident that severely damaged his spinal cord. His entire body became paralyzed, and he was airlifted to the Pune military hospital, where he was declared as permanently disabled. Doctors suggested that he would need the help of two attendants for the rest of his life to even accomplish mundane tasks in daily life. Naveen had to quit the Indian military. However, the spirit of a true soldier, who fights till the last breath no matter how gruesome the circumstances are, never died within him.  

He came to Delhi to pursue post-graduation in Computer science. To keep himself occupied, he took up the job of a teacher in Delhi and helped them set-up a computer centre. Alongside, he also started working with an NGO that served disabled Army men and children. Unlike those around him, Navin never took pity in his state. If anything, it made him gain a deeper understanding of how life works. In his own words,  

For a tiger to walk alone, strong, confident, and fearless, is not bravery. It is an outing. It is what it is. It is its Nature. It possibly cannot be anything else except that. In life, never give yourself a choice to be anything except what you wish to be. Make it your nature. 

In 2004, he married Khushi, an artist specializing in tribal art, from Goa. Navin believes that his wife should do whatever she wants to, without restricting herself to look after him. With time, Navin’s quest for life and adventure grew. In 2005, he modified his car with a hand-operated accelerator and brake, and drove to the top of Marsimik La, the highest motorable mountain pass in the world at 18,632 feet. He drove 1110 km from Delhi to Marsimik La in 55 hours, driving almost non-stop, in life-threatening conditions. This earned him a spot in the Limca Book of World Records as he is the first disabled person to achieve this feat.

He could have made this achievement the highlight in his life. Hailing from army, he commanded a pension of Rs. 1 lakh per month (approximate amount). He could easily spend the rest of his life in glory, having both money and fame. However, Navin never settled for any superficial luxury. Having seen the highs and lows in life, he found his calling in serving the society. In 2007, he founded “Apni Duniya Apna Aashiyana” a.k.a. ADAA. “Adaa also means grace in Hindi,” says Navin. “We work in Barhana, a village – located about 53 km from Delhi – in Haryana, with the children of the brick kiln workers. The village has the worst sex ratio of 327 females to every 1000 male children.” Barhana practices crude gender discrimination against female children by either getting them married off at 15 or 16; or worse, not encouraging female childbirth. However, through ADAA initiatives, Navin has managed to improve the situation. He heavily promotes academics and sports education for every child. It is due to his never-ending efforts that two girls from Barhana won gold medals in wrestling at the state level, and are now training for the national tournaments. Modest that he is, Navin gives all the credit to hard work done by the children, who he believes to be extremely talented. They just need the right environment to grow up in.  

Courtesy ADAA, Barhana is slowly but steadily progressing. Navin relies on his FB page with 16000 followers, and his own pension, for funding. Saving maximum resources for the children, ADAA does not have any dedicated office space and employes only two permanent teachers who work with Navin. Results of this transformation, as shared by The Weekend Leader are inspiring beyond belief. Sunny, a 19-year old disabled boy with one hand and limb loss, with the support of ADAA, today studies in Delhi University. Another disabled boy from Srinagar, who could not even walk, learnt to drive modified cars, and today runs his own automobile shop. There are countless such stories of transformation.  

Today, Navin has received many accolades including an award from the president and a world record to his name. He is a Motivational speaker, Social worker, Adventure enthusiast, and an Author of “In Quest of the Last Victory”, a collection of his memoirs published in 2012. Not to forget, a progressive husband too.

To me, his story should be cited as an example of how one can change, rather crush the definition of disability.

Navin, a supposedly 100% permanently disabled man puts all those perfectly able-bodied people with a 100% permanently weak mind, to shame.   

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