Tag: Usain Bolt

Police have appealed for information after a pair of shoes signed by Usain Bolt were stolen from a car in Hertfordshire in southern England in December.

The signed shoes had been in a black frame along with a certificate of authenticity and a picture of the Jamaican sprint star.

According to Hertfordshire Constabulary, the frame was smashed at the scene and the offender(s) took the three items from within it.

The owner had bought the item at a charity auction raising money for Sport for Freedom.

“The item was purchased for a significant amount of money and the victim had planned to display it at home,” said PC Ben Kirby of Hertfordshire Police.

“Whilst the charity has very kindly offered to replace it, the victim is keen to see the return of the original to allow it to be auctioned again and raise further money for the charity.

“If you have any information what so ever on the whereabouts of the stolen property or who may be responsible for taking them, please call me.”

The offender(s) are said to have gained access to the grey BMW on December 21 between midnight and 10am in the vicinity of the Marlborough School in Watling Street, St Albans. In May 2014, six-time Olympic and 11-time world gold sprint medallist Bolt posted a series of updates on Twitter following the news that a pair of his signed spikes had been stolen in London.

Six-time Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt has confirmed that he will race at the IAAF World Relays for the first time in his career.

The 28-year-old has struggled with injuries over the past year, but he will form part of Jamaica’s team at the event which will take place in the Bahamas from May 2-3.

“I’m happy to be part of the Jamaican team for the IAAF/BTC World Relays in the Bahamas,” Athletics Weekly quotes Bolt as saying. “I am fit, healthy and ready to run.

“I hear the meet was a lot of fun last year and there was a great atmosphere.

“Jamaica has a long and successful tradition in relays and when we put on the national colours we always do our best to make the country proud.”

Jamaica have not yet announced who else will be part of their team.

Although only racing in the programme-   sending 4x100m relay, the larger-than-life presence of Usain Bolt dominated track and field at the Commonwealth Games, hit by the absence of several other big names.

The Games had got off to the worst possible start when English double world and Olympic 5,000 and 10,000m champion Mo Farah pulled out on the opening morning.

Allied with the absence of Bolt’s teammate Yohan Blake and British medal hopes Jessica Ennis-Hill and Katarina Johnson-Thompson, there was a concern athletics might prove to be somewhat of a letdown, with doubts over Bolt’s participation raised even after he had touched down in Scotland.

Those fears were quickly dispelled, however, by a thrilling week of track and field in front of packed, raucous crowds at Hampden Park.

“The fans made the Games what they were. They really came out and supported from day one,” Bolt said after anchoring the Jamaicans to gold in the relay.

“It’s been a good championship, the crowd made it wonderful, they came out and supported and that’s always good for the athletes to come out and see a full stadium because that helps you to spur you on to really want to do good.”

East African giants Kenya topped the medals table with 23 in total, including 10 gold, 10 silver and three bronze.

Jamaica were second with 19 (10-3-6), followed by Australia (12; 8-1-3), England (27; 5-13-9) and Canada (17; 5-2-10).

There was no doubt that the outstanding overall performance on the track came not from Jamaica but the Kenyan women’s team, who won 13 of all 18 medals on offer between 800m and marathon, including all six golds. Of the other star names to compete at Hampden, Olympic champion Kirani James of Grenada won the men’s 400m but there was no such luck for 800m world record holder David Rudisha, who only managed a silver behind Botswana’s Nijel Amos.

There was a memorable double sprint title for Nigerian Blessing Okagbare, deprived however of a gold in the 4x100m relay by a Jamaican team including Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the double Olympic 100m champion, like Bolt, also making her Commonwealth debut.

 

After a well-documented build-up to London 2012 that didn’t quite go to plan, Usain Bolt answered the doubters in stunning fashion by winning Sunday’s 100 metre final in an Olympic record time of 9.63 seconds, leading many to speculate exactly what the win could mean for his endorsement portfolio.

The general consensus is that the fastest man on the planet will double his off-track earnings after becoming the first sprinter since American Carl Lewis to retain the 100 metre Olympic title.

But the sprinter’s agent has indicated that the impact of a successful London 2012 on Bolt’s marketability may not be as dramatic as many people think.

“The strategy very much was to try and keep to a small number of quite high value contracts between Beijing and London,” said Irishman Ricky Simms, speaking exclusively to SportsPro as Bolt began the defence of his 200 metre crown in Tuesday’s heats.

“We’ll sit down at the end of the season and work out his goals for the next four years and this will be part of that discussion. Of course, he’s going to be competing for the next four years so he can’t turn into Kim Kardashian where he can go to an appearance every week. He still has to be an athlete. It won’t change that much but it will a little bit.”

Fully aware that endorsement dollars will soon dry up if Bolt fails to preserve his status as the king of track and field, Simms and Bolt’s coach, Glen Mills, are keen to ensure the Jamaican’s training is not compromised by the demands of his off-track affairs.

“He can’t turn into Kim Kardashian where he can go to an appearance every week”

“Usain was already one of the most marketable athletes in the world, as you guys decided, so he’s probably gone higher up on that list right now,” Simms said, referring to SportsPro’s 2012 list of the world’s most marketable athlete, in which Bolt ranked fourth.

 

 

 

“The good thing with Usain is that he’s still young so he still has another four years. He’ll only be thirty at the next Olympics. He’s still towards the middle of his career. So he’s in a very strong position now but to be honest we’re focused on the 200 metres now and getting him through that and then the relay. There are a few more races so not until the end of the year will we begin working with him on those kinds of contracts.”

For Bolt’s existing sponsors, the most prominent being Puma, Sunday’s performance was just what the doctor ordered. Simms has met with the sponsors “almost everyday” during the Games and is pleased to report that they are all “delighted from a brand level, for being part of that journey, but also for him as a person.”

 

 

 

“Usain worked extremely hard, the last few weeks especially, to try and get to where he needed to be and it all came off, which is great.”

“I was just looking at the amount of famous people that are tweeting both during the race and after the race. So I think he’s the centre of attention right now”

And Simms is certain of which markets he will target in order to capitalise on Bolt’s popularity after the Games. “I think everyone,” he laughed. “I was just looking at the amount of famous people that are tweeting both during the race and after the race. So I think he’s the centre of attention right now.”

“I think his target market depends on the product. For sports clothing and things like that, obviously the teenage market is very important. But there are other products in the pipeline that will appeal to an older market as well.”

Simms is equally excited at the prospect of capitalising on the growing profile of his client and good friend Mo Farah after the Briton produced a remarkable display to win gold in the 10km race in front of a sell-out home crowd on Saturday night.

“[The win] puts him on a much higher level,” Simms said. “He was world champion last year and now he’s Olympic champion – more people are watching the Olympics for sure – and Mo is such a likeable character. And you know he’s a great ambassador for the brands that he works with. He represents a lot of things so I think he will be someone that we’ll see a lot more of over the next four years.”