The 2008 Beijing Olympics were a game-changer for Usain Bolt. After a disappointing run at the Athens Games, Bolt had been hoping to kick off his Olympic success in the Chinese capital and that’s exactly what happened. He took home his first Olympic gold in the 100m race, setting a world record that stands to date. However, his big moment didn’t come without some drama.

After racking up his first Olympic title, in his fifth-ever competitive 100m race, Usain Bolt stunned the world by pulling off the ‘To Di World’ pose. It quickly made him a sensation. However, not everyone was impressed by his way of celebration. And while he dodged criticism about that, a journalist further crossed the line, sparking a heated exchange with the sprinting superstar. Let’s rewind a few years to see what exactly happened.

Usain Bolt’s tussle with a journalist

Usain Bolt mentioned in his autobiography, published in 2013, that the aftermath of his 100m win in Beijing went up in fumes when a journalist came to him with a serious issue. With a microphone in his hand, he asked the freshly crowned Olympic champion a rather bizarre question, “So, Usain, you just popped on to the scene. What should we think about you running so fast out of nowhere?”

Well, this hardly went down well with Usain Bolt. He wrote in the book how it had felt like the reporter was trying to insinuate something suspicious, like maybe doping or using performance-enhancing dr*gs. Plus, the journalist’s opening words stated all the wrong facts. Thus, the Jamaican had to break his silence. “Hold on, stop a second. I just started running fast? How long have you been doing this job for?” he reverted to the journalist.

And when the professional replied, saying, “five years“, Bolt fired back at him. The sprinter penned the answer he gave in his book, “I’ve been running fast since I was 15, that’s seven years of successful track and field already. I won the World Juniors and I hold the world junior record in the 200 metres. I’ve won CARIFTA Games medals and IAAF Rising Star Awards.” He enlisted all his achievements before the journalist and further lashed out at him with, “Come on, do your homework before you ask stupid questions.”

Bolt even questioned the journalist if he had not been following the sprinter all these years. And even if the answer to that was a no, he should have researched on a laptop. And the reason for this harsh treatment, as Usain Bolt wrote, was not to humiliate the man. Instead, it was because the professional’s personal attack on the sportsman was unacceptable and went beyond the bounds of what was considered appropriate.

Well, those who had been keeping tabs on Bolt’s career till then (2008) knew he had hardly come out of nowhere. In fact, his success was quite expected. However, what came out of the blue was his open-armed celebratory pose, for which Bolt had to get an earful from the critics.

Bolt’s unique celebratory pose drew immense criticism

Usain Bolt wrote in his autobiography that every time he pulled his arms back and pointed his hand toward the heavens, (precisely twice) the crowd in the Beijing stadium would go gaga. While it felt incredible to be able to trigger such an impact with literally his fingertips, Bolt also had to endure a lot for the sake of the classic act of showmanship.

The Jamaican mentioned that one of them who gave him a hard time was Jacques Rogge, the IOC President who spearheaded the organization of the Games. He criticized Bolt’s celebration openly after his 100m win, saying that from his lens, the pose could have been interpreted as disrespectful to the other athletes. “It would be good not to have a repeat of the ‘Catch me if you can’ gesture,” were Rogge’s words to the press.

This left Usain Bolt shocked to the core, but he went on to explain his part in the book. For one, he clarified that he did not mean any disrespect. He mentioned that his father had raised him way too well to do something like that. Secondly, a momentary confusion had led Bolt to go up to his Caribbean guys back then and ask if they were put out by what he did.

But their replies sure put him at ease. “Nah, dawg. If one of us had won, we’d have done the same thing,” the book mentions. Amidst, one thing is sure. The Beijing aftermath was nothing like Usain Bolt ever imagined.