Usain Bolt makes himself available for Los Angeles 2028 Olympics – this time for cricket: ‘If they call, I’ll be ready’

Usain Bolt, the greatest track and field athlete of all time, is ready to take part in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, only this time for cricket.

Sprint legend Usain Bolt, the greatest track and field athlete of all time, has announced his comeback to professional sport. With the Los Angeles Games taking place in 2028, Bolt, the eight-time Olympic gold medallist, could return, only this time in a different role. The 11-time world champion is eager to step onto the cricket pitch for the Jamaica team as the sport returns to the Olympics after 128 years.

Usain Bolt with his trademark pose (AFP)

“I am happily retired from professional sport. I haven’t played cricket in a long time, but if they call, I will be ready,” Bolt, 39, told Esquire in an interview.

Bolt’s fondness for cricket has been well-documented. In 2014, his collaboration with Yuvraj Singh became quite the sensation when the two squared off in an exhibition match as part of the PUMA face-off challenge. Bolt hit the last ball for a six. This was just another chapter in his love towards the sport.

“A cricketer for sure. Yeah, I think if my cricket coach hadn’t said, ‘You know what, go try running,’ I probably would have stuck with cricket, because my dad was a massive cricket fan and that’s all I knew growing up. Cricket, a little bit of football, but all I knew was cricket,” he old PTI last October.

“Well, for me, it was my cricket coach. I was a fast bowler, and my cricket coach kind of saw me running in and he said, ‘You know what, why not try track and field?’ And I tried, and I was really good. I was pretty talented, and that’s something that I just continued.”

Taking stairs became a task

In September, Bolt, in an interaction with The Guardian, revealed how time has taken its toll on the ‘world’s fastest man’, to the extent that even climbing a flight of stairs makes him huff and puff.

"I mostly do gym workouts. I'm not a fan, but I think now that I’ve been out for a while, I have to actually start running. Because when I walk up the stairs I get out of breath. I think when I start working on it fully again, I will probably have to do some laps just to get my breathing right," Bolt had said.