IAAF World Championships, Daegu, 2011. The world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt, stood at the 100m final start line, and all eyes were on him. He was 25, undefeated in championship 100m races since 2008, and the defending world champion. Next to him stood Yohan Blake, Kim Collins, and Walter Dix. The gun went off too early. And….

Bolt had jumped. A false start. Disqualified. Rule 162.7 gave no second chances. He took off his shirt in disbelief, walking off the track stunned, and Bolt has carried that weight for a while, but now he has made an honest confession about the same.

On Puma’s Go Wild podcast with Colin Jackson on April 30, Usain Bolt finally opened up about that painful 2011 false start in Daegu. He didn’t sugarcoat it. “I think so throughout the season, it was frustrating because I couldn’t get my start together,” he said. “It was on and off. I was starting good now and then the next round, I’ll do bad.” The crowd, commentators box, no one was able to believe what they just saw. The one who entered as a favourite was not to race.

His coach kept telling him to let go of that anxiety. “Stop worrying about your start,” Bolt recalled him saying. “You’ll never be great at start. You’ll be okay.” But on that fateful day in Daegu, Bolt couldn’t switch it off. “All was on my mind was get it right. Get it right. Get it right. That’s all I was thinking.” Then came the trigger moment. “For some reason, I could swear somebody said, go and I just went… And as soon as I got on blocks, I was like…no.” The race again started, but this time with one less sprinter, and Yohan Blake finished with gold by clocking 9.92s.

What hurt the most wasn’t the disqualification but how uncharacteristic it was. “I wasn’t myself… I was always never a person to be calm and join the crowd. I wasn’t doing that. I was just so focused on trying to get it right.” That mistake shifted his perspective, after all it cost him a race where he could have won gold, but he did not even manage to come close to the podium. Walter Dix clenched silver with 10.08, whereas Kim Collins secured bronze with 10.09. “I kind of sat down to myself and thought about it… there’s no one to blame. That was all on me.”

That theme,  accountability, runs deep in Bolt’s reflection. “A lot of people would try to find excuses… like, oh, it was because of the gun, or there was noise… No, it was all on me.” He added, “I understand to take accountability for my mistakes and what I’ve done. And that’s why I got to live. Because if I did something as a coach, you know what? It’s my fault. I’ll do better next time. And then I’ll go fix it.” And well, that was the only false that Usain Bolt ever registered.

That quote — “It’s my fault” — doesn’t just end a story. It starts a reckoning. For years, critics questioned Bolt’s intensity, focus, and even his injuries.

Usain Bolt has been criticized by onlookers

In 2008, Usain Bolt was criticised by the IOC president then, Jacques Rogge for his over the top celebration of his double gold medal for 100m ans well as 200m. “I think he should show more respect for his competitors….I understand the joy….but the way it was perceived was ‘catch me if you can’. You don’t do that.” Bolt had a record breaking performance at Bejing Olympics but the way he celebrated wasn’t approved by some. But this was just the begining of the criticism…

Usain Bolt has always been criticised for his sdlow start and that went on till his very last run in 2017, London World Athletics Championship. And it further extended to his performance in London during his final race. Usain Bolt, the fastest man in history, found himself on the defensive after his final race ended not in triumph, but in pain. Following his dramatic collapse during the anchor leg of the men’s 4x100m relay at the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London, rumors swirled that the sprint legend had faked the injury because he was too far behind to win.

Bolt responded with medical evidence. Sharing details of his injury on Twitter, the eight-time Olympic gold medallist posted an X-ray of his torn left hamstring and wrote: “ I don’t usually release my medical report to the public but sadly I have sat and listened to people questioning if I was really injured. I have never been one to cheat my fans in any way & my entire desire at the championship was run one last time for my fans. Thanks for the continued support my fans and I rest, heal and move onto the next chapter of my life #Love&LoveAlone.”