Mom helps keep Bolt balanced

Over the years, Jennifer said, she has realized her best approach is to remain strong when her son falters.

"I've learned to cope with it. I cannot feel down when I have to support him. I just pray and hope that everything will be good," she said.

"I know that he still depends on his mother."

Just as he did as a teen.

"I can remember in 2002, the world championships. At the time he was 15 and before the games he didn't want to go. He cried, and I had to try to comfort him, encourage him to go out and do his best because he didn't feel that he could have done it," she said. "I was really, really nervous. My legs were shaking and my heart beat fast."

Then she listened to the crowd.

"The crowd was behind him. From then I didn't feel that nervous," she said.

The scene plays out a bit in The Boy Who Learned to Fly, a new short animated film produced by Gatorade and based on Usain's life. The advice her animated self gives to the jittery teen before the 2002 junior worlds still resonates: "You can always go fast when you keep it light."

Norman Peart, who handles finances for Usain, has been a mentor since the sprinter was 15. Peart accompanied him to Kingston when Usain first left home to train. Usain lived with him, and later his wife and kids, for three years.

"We say you have to have crocodile skin to handle the pressure, and he does," Peart said.

So how do the two think the ebullient Usain's retirement, maybe in the next year or so, will play out?

Jennifer thinks he'd make a great TV analyst.

"He'd put a little vibe into the sports on television," she laughed of her son's reputation for his trademark "lightning bolt," his love of flashing huge smiles and his party spirit.

Peart thinks the same of Usain's future.

"I can see him as an analyst. And he'll do stuff with Puma for years to come for sure," he said of one of Usain's biggest endorsement deals.

"But before that, the first thing he'll do is take a little break. He'd love some time for himself."

Wellesley and Jennifer Bolt, parents of Jamaican Olympic gold medalist and world record sprinter Usain Bolt, pose during a July 19 interview in New York. Bebeto Matthews / Ap

 

 

 

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