If you ask any kid who their favorite track and field star is, they’re probably gonna say Usain Bolt—even though he hung up his spikes in 2017. What’s wild, though, is that his records are still standing. It’s been eight years, and no one has come close to breaking them! His 100m world record of 9.58 seconds? Still unbeatable. And that 19.19 seconds in the 200m from the 2009 World Athletics Championships? Still a beast of a time. But here’s the kicker: behind Bolt’s iconic records is a guy who’s 75 now and still coaching! His name? The legendary Glen Mills, and right now, he’s working with Oblique Seville. And Bolt still has a lot of respect for him!

Recently, Usain Bolt, the 8-time Olympic gold medalist, shared a tribute on Instagram to the man who played a pivotal role in his success: his coach, Glen Mills. In his post, Bolt praised Mills for teaching him techniques that ultimately made him the fastest man of all time. Mills, the head coach at Racers Track Club in Kingston, Jamaica, has been a key figure in Bolt’s career, guiding him to achieve greatness on the track. Bolt shared a series of three pictures on Instagram, one where he and Mills are close, with Bolt putting his arm around his coach in a gesture of appreciation, another showing just Mills. He also quoted Mills’ powerful words in the third picture: “If you want to learn how to win, you must first learn how to lose.”

On January 9, 2024, Bolt honored the 20th anniversary of his partnership with Mills by sharing a tribute on Instagram. Reflecting on their journey together, Bolt wrote, “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. When I first came onto the professional scene as a sprinter, I thought it would be easy… He taught me the importance of learning from losing before I could get to the top. Infinite respect to Coach Mills for everything you taught me- Living legend.” It’s clear that the respect between them runs deep, and Mills’ guidance not only shaped Bolt’s career but his life as well.

It all started back in late 2004, right after the Athens Olympics when Glen Mills took Usain Bolt under his wing. Their journey together really hit its stride in the 2007 Jamaican Championships. That’s when Bolt broke Donald Quarrie’s 36-year-old record in the 100m by 0.11 seconds! Fast forward to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and Mills and Bolt had crafted this intense two-part training program to prep for the 100m and 200m. The outcome? Olympic Gold, of course.

And Glen Mills wasn’t a rookie at coaching either—he’d already helped Ray Stewart win silver in the 100m at the 1987 World Championships, and Kim Collins clinch the 100m gold at the 2003 World Championships. Mills really knew how to bring out the best in his athletes! While Glen Mills has made Jamaica proud with his training, at the moment, he’s concerned about the future of track and field in Jamaica.

Usain Bolt’s former coach sounds the alarm on Jamaica’s track and field future

After a rough showing at the Paris 2024 Olympics, where Jamaica had its lowest medal tally since 2004, Glen Mills thinks the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) needs to act fast or risk the country slipping down in global athletics. With only six medals—four of them in field events and no gold in the sprints for the first time since 2000, it’s clear something isn’t right for a nation that’s been so dominant in those events.

Mills didn’t hold back when speaking at a University of the West Indies (UWI) symposium, saying that the disappointing results weren’t a one-off, but a sign of bigger problems within the way Jamaican athletics is run. “We have to pay attention to what happened in Paris and at the World Under-20 Championships,” he said, stressing that if these issues aren’t dealt with soon, Jamaica could end up in a similar decline to what West Indies cricket has faced.

Mills is also frustrated that the JAAA hasn’t taken responsibility for the drop in performance and that the concerns raised by coaches like him and Stephen Francis have been ignored for years. According to Mills, it’s time for coaches and track club leaders to have a bigger say in how things are run if Jamaica wants to stay at the top of the track and field world. His ongoing concern for Jamaica’s track and field future shows that he’s still deeply invested in the sport, even today!