Being the very best, Usain Bolt had several rivals. However, while many of them would come and go, one rival turned into his mortal enemy once. A consistent opponent to Bolt, he was Yohan Blake.

The rivalry between the two is quite popular, especially considering they are both from the same country. The best of their time, both always looked forward to competing with each other.

Although Bolt has the upper hand, there was a time when he suffered back-to-back defeats from Yohan Blake. Bolt reveals just how much it affected him and how he trained excessively to beat Blake.

The eye-opening trials for Bolt

The year was 2012. It was the Jamaican trials for the London Olympics. The then 3-time Olympic Gold medalist was in his prime, but Bolt was in for a major hit.

His teammate and top rival Yohan Blake defeated Bolt in back-to-back races, shocking everyone. Blake crossed the legend to reach the finishing line in both 100m and 200m races.

This was a moment of major realization for Usain Bolt. He revealed he was hurt by this. Even though he was in a good shape, he had lost both the major races to Blake.

“When I lost at the trials it was tough for me at the time because I felt like I was in properly good shape so it’s something that it kind of hurt a little bit because I thought I was ready,” said Bolt.

What affected him more was that he thought he was ready. This meant only one thing for Bolt, that he had to train harder. And that is exactly what he did.

‘It’s just about work’: Usain Bolt

Bolt realized that he needed to work really hard. He began training day and night. As a World Record holder, there was no way he was giving up so easily.

“And so after the trials, it was like all right it’s just about work and so it was, I was consistently working four times a day for the next five weeks leading up to the championships,” said Bolt.

The trials were an eye-opener for Usain Bolt as he realized he needed to up his game. He wasn’t going to let Yohan Blake beat him again.

“For me, it was a lot of intense work because play kind of opened my eyes and I knew he was ready and he was fit and he was running at the eye level.”

Bolt went on to grab the Gold Medals at both 100m and 200m races at London Olympics 2012, proving just why he is the G.O.A.T after all.

READ MORE: ?I Would Want to Redo That One?: Usain Bolt Regrets the ?Only Blunder? of His Track Career