Usain Bolt struggles for breath climbing stairs after glory days on track; reveals new hobby

Eight years after hanging up his spikes, Usain Bolt, once hailed as the fastest man on Earth, says age has finally caught up with him. The eight-time Olympic gold medallist admitted he now gets out of breath climbing stairs and has traded sprinting for gym workouts, Lego sets and family life. 

A slower pace of life

Bolt, who retired in 2017 with world records in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay, told The Guardian that he rarely runs anymore. “No, I mostly do gym workouts. I’m not a fan, but I think now that I’ve been out for a while I have to actually start running. Because when I walk up stairs I get out of breath. I think when I start working on it fully again, I will probably have to do some laps just to get my breathing right,” he said.

The 39-year-old Jamaican, who ruptured an achilles last year, described his routine as far removed from the training that once made him an icon. “Well normally, I wake up just in time to see the kids off to school, and then it depends on what I have to do. If I have nothing to do, I just chill out. I might work out sometimes if I’m in a good mood. I just watch some series and chill until the kids come home. I spend some time with them, hang out, until they start annoying me. Then I leave. And then afterwards, I just stay at home and watch movies, or I’m into Lego now, so I do Lego.”

Still towering over track and field

Despite stepping away from competition, Bolt’s presence continues to loom large over athletics. At the recent World Championships, he sat in a skybox overlooking the track, where Oblique Seville took the men’s 100m crown. Yet, Bolt remains the only sprinter of the 21st century whose fame transcends the sport.

His times still stand unchallenged: 9.58 seconds in the 100m, 19.19 in the 200m and 36.84 in the 4x100m relay. No sprinter has dipped under 9.70 since 2012. “You want the real answer? We’re just more talented,” Bolt said when asked why today’s generation has struggled to match his era, despite advances in spikes and track technology.

Looking back and ahead

Bolt’s achievements, eight Olympic gold medals and 11 world titles, came against rivals like Tyson Gay, Yohan Blake, Asafa Powell and Justin Gatlin, all of whom were faster than today’s top sprinters but each served doping bans..

Now a father to Olympia Lightning, 5, and twin boys Saint Leo and Thunder, 4, Bolt said his children don’t yet understand how big a star he once was. He plans to change that by taking them to the World Championships in Beijing in 2027, the same city where he first electrified the world at the 2008 Olympics.