User talk:Sillyfolkboy/Early life and athletics career of Usain Bolt

As a child, he attended Waldensia Primary and All-age School, and it was here that he first began to show his sprinting potential, running in the annual national primary-schools' meeting for his parish.[5] By the age of twelve, Bolt had become the school's fastest runner over the 100 metres distance.^[6]

Upon his entry to

McNeil soon became his primary coach, and the two enjoyed a positive partnership, although McNeil was occasionally frustrated by Bolt's lack of dedication to his training and his predisposition to practical jokes. Occasionally Bolt would skip practice and head to Falmouth only to be brought back to school by McNeil a short while later. A visit to Kingston, Jamaica for the 2001 Boys Championship meant McNeil and his trainees stayed at the house of the late prime minister, Alexander Bustamante. McNeil recalled finding Bolt hiding in a closet and running away from the house when he took his eye off him. Nevertheless, the relationship between the two sprinters remained positive and Bolt's finishing times and drive to succeed never disappointed the veteran athlete.^[8]

Performing for Jamaica in his first Caribbean regional event, Bolt clocked a personal best of 48.28 s in the 400 metres in the 2001 CARIFTA Games, winning a silver medal. The 200 m also yielded a silver as Bolt finished in 21.81 s.^[9]

He made his first appearance on the world stage at the

Bolt turned his main focus to the 200 m and equalled Roy Martin's world junior record of 20.13 s at the Pan-American Junior Championships.^[5][19] This performance attracted interest from the press, and his times in the 200 m and 400 m led to him being touted as a possible successor to Johnson. Indeed, at sixteen years old, Bolt had reached times that Johnson did not register until he was twenty, and Bolt's 200 m time was superior to Maurice Greene's season's best that year.^[17]

In his final Jamaican High School Championships in 2003, he broke both the 200 m and 400 m records with times of 20.25 s and 45.30 s, respectively. Bolt's runs were a significant improvement upon the previous records, beating the 200 m best by more than half a second and the 400 m record by almost a second.^[5]

Bolt was growing more popular in his homeland. Howard Hamilton, who was given the task of Public Defender by the government, urged the JAAA to nurture him and prevent

As the reigning 200 m champion at both the World Youth and World Junior championships, Bolt hoped to take a clean sweep of the world 200 m championships in the Senior World Championships in Paris.^[5] Bolt beat all comers at the 200 m in the World Championship trials, but he was pragmatic about his chances and noted that, even if he did not make the final, he would consider setting a personal best a success.^[17][21] However, he suffered a bout of conjunctivitis before the event, and it ruined his training schedule.^[5] Realising he would not be in peak condition, the JAAA refused to let him participate in the finals on the grounds that he was too young and inexperienced. Bolt was dismayed at missing out on the opportunity but focused on getting himself in shape to gain a place on the Jamaican Olympic team instead.^[21] Even though he missed the World Championships, Bolt was awarded the IAAF Rising Star Award for the 2003 season on the strength of his junior record–equalling run.^[18]

Under the guidance of new coach

The year 2005 signalled a fresh start for Bolt in the form of a new coach, Glen Mills, and a new attitude to athletics. Mills recognised Bolt's potential and aimed to cease the sprinter's unprofessional approach to the sport.^[23] Bolt began training with Mills in preparation for the upcoming athletics season, partnering with more-seasoned sprinters such as Kim Collins and Dwain Chambers.^[26] The year began well, and in July he knocked more than a third of a second off the 200 m CAC Championship record with a run of 20.03 s,^[27] then registered his 200 m season's best at London's Crystal Palace, running in 19.99 s.^[24] Misfortune awaited Bolt at the next major event, the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki. Bolt felt that both his work ethic and athleticism had much improved since the 2004 Olympics, and he saw the World Championships as a way to live up to expectations, stating, "I really want to make up for what happened in Athens. Hopefully, everything will fall into place".^[28] Bolt qualified with runs under 21 s, but he suffered an injury in the final, finishing in last place with a time of 26.27 s.^[23][29] Injuries were preventing him from completing a full professional athletics season, and the eighteen-year-old Bolt still had not proven his mettle in the major world-athletics competitions.^[30] Bolt was involved in a car accident in November, and although he suffered only minor facial lacerations, his training schedule was further upset.^[31][32] His manager, Norman Peart, made Bolt's training less intensive, and he had fully recuperated the following week.^[31] Bolt had continued to improve his performances, and he reached the world top-5 rankings in 2005 and 2006.^[5] Peart and Mills stated their intentions to push Bolt to do longer sprinting distances with the aim of making the 400 m event his primary event by 2007 or 2008. Bolt was less enthusiastic, and demanded that he feel comfortable in his sprinting.^[31][33] He suffered another hamstring injury in March 2006, forcing him to withdraw from the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, and he did not return to track events until May.^[34] After his recovery, Bolt was given new training exercises to improve flexibility, and the plans to move him up to the 400 m event were put on hold.^[30]

Upon his return to competition, the 200 m remained his primary event, and he beat