At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Jamaica might have had the lowest medal tally since 2004, but there is one legacy that the country can be proud of. A legacy that still stands and shines. And it is the legacy of none other than the greatest sprinter the world has ever seen, Usain Bolt. However, it seems like the legend has been having a rather emotional week!

Bolt’s Instagram has been a barrage of emotions that are anchored in throwback posts. The latest one has gotten everyone nostalgic about the days before he became the ever-celebrated Lightning Fast Bolt. The recent post saw a 16-year-old Bolt in his homeland wearing the iconic yellow and green Jamaican track gear. But the caption made it more emotional!

In the caption, Bolt went on to write, “16 years old. A kid from Jamaica… with a big dream 🇯🇲 As I always say. Anything is possible—don’t think limits!” But what exactly was the 16-year-old Usain Bolt up to? It is a rather well-timed post that seems to coincide with what happened in 2003, aka the breakthrough of the legend. Why? Well, it was in 2003 that Bolt was at the Jamaica High School Championships. So what happened there?

It was there, at the Championships, that Usain Bolt broke the 200-meter record, clocking 20.25s. Bolt then followed it up, breaking the 400-meter record by clocking 45.35s. Long before the world took notice, Bolt was already breaking records in the Caribbean and even earned the 2003 IAAF Rising Star Award. But his spectacle of a year did not end there!

After 90 days, Bolt was back on track for the Pan American Junior Championships, where he went on to improve his 200-meter time. And his 400m? Well, that continues to be No. 6 on the youth timings clock. So when Bolt puts up a throwback post, it is about where the journey of winning eight Olympic gold medals began. In fact, a year after 2003, Bolt went professional. This brings back the point of this post being the second time Bolt has been emotional this week. So, what was the first?

Bolt opens the trove of memories for the second time in a week!

Well, the first was an ode to the man who helped make Usain Bolt the legend win eight Olympic golds and eleven World Championship titles! Just a few days back, Bolt went on to share a post that was a tribute to his longtime coach, Glen Mills. Bolt’s post was a commemoration of their 20-year anniversary. So what does the tribute say?

The post saw wholesome pictures of Bolt and Mills with their arms around each other. “Shout out to my coach and mentor Glen Mills—20 years ago I started working with this legend, and it would change the course of my career and life,” wrote Bolt. As Bolt rightly put it, in 2004, right after the Athens Olympics, he started training with Mills. Since there was a shift in attitude and training for Bolt. So what was the attitude change?

Well, Glen Mills was not just a great coach to Bolt. But a man who had the right words for the sprinter. As Bolt himself puts it in his last post, “If you want to learn how to win, you must first learn how to lose,” were the words from Mills. However, there was not much loss in Usain Bolt’s Olympic career. May it be 2008 Beijing, 2012 London, or even 2016 Rio de Janeiro, Bolt stood right on top of the podium. So when Bolt writes, “Don’t think limits,” he means it and has lived it to the very last T.