Usain Bolt is confident he will keep some of the best sprinting records for years to come.
The Jamaican Olympian is in Japan for a promotional event one month after he retired from sprinting, but said he doesn’t feel that his records will be broken any time soon.
“I think [they’re] going to last a while,” Bolt said Tuesday, via the Associated Press. “I think our era with Yohan Blake, Justin Gatlin and Asafa Powell and all these guys was the best era of athletes. If it was going to be broken, it would have been broken in this era, so I think I have at least 15 to 20 more years.”
Bolt won the 100- and 200-meter races in three consecutive Olympics — the only athlete to accomplish such a feat. He also holds the record for the fastest time in the 100-meter (9.58 seconds) and the 200-meter (19.19 seconds), both of which were set in 2009.
He doesn’t see anyone who can come close to being as fast as him, at least not with the crop of sprinters out there today.
“It’s hard for me to pick someone,” Bolt said. “I think what made me stand out was not only the fast times that I ran but my personality that people really enjoyed and loved. If you want to be a star in sports and take over a sport, you have to let people know who you are as a person, not just as a track athlete.”
At 31, Bolt said he has no desire to return to the track, even though many think the temptation of competition will lure him back.
“I have nothing to prove. That’s the main reason I left track and field,” Bolt said. “After you do everything you want, there is no reason to stick around.”
