Track and field doping has always been a problem, and Jamaican sprint great Usain Bolt says he still gets annoyed when runners take quick cuts and encourages them to practice their skills equitably.
Reports of athletes testing positive for performance-enhancing substances have put the sport of athletics under constant scrutiny. Top athletes and organizations, notably the Russian Federation, have been banned as a result of the problem after being found guilty of state-sponsored doping.
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Throughout his remarkable career, Bolt never failed a doping test and has been outspoken against drug usage ruining the sport. He retired in 2017 after winning eight Olympic gold medals and eleven World Championship crowns.
According to Bolt, who recently appeared on the High-Performance podcast, athletes who cheat by using drugs aren’t really dedicated to their work.
Bolt noted, “I can never understand why. A lot of people don’t want to wait their time. I personally feel that I got a talent, God gave me a talent and I think if you work on your talent and you’re really dedicated [you can] figure out how [you] can get better. [But] a lot of people didn’t take the time out to figure out ‘what I did wrong or what can I do better to get to the level’ because that’s what I did.”
He added, “I struggled throughout the years to get to where I’m at but I figured it out like, ‘this is what I need to do, this is what is going to get me better’ and I think a lot of times [for] a lot of athletes the work is so hard, because it’s not easy, it’s very intense and full of injuries at times. And some people just don’t want to put the work in so it’s tough and sometimes the mental area that really drives you to go ‘let me try this’ instead of doing the work.”
Over the previous 15 years, the world’s fastest man, whose sprint world records of 9.58 and 19.19 seconds have remained, has had several ailments. He treated people with scoliosis, a disorder where the spine is unnaturally curved sideways rather than straight.
Bolt claims that in his pursuit of achievement, he never chose the easy road and made no excuses.
Bolt stated, “It was an issue that always bothered me throughout my career but it’s something I managed very well. It was a tough time but I had the right team, dedication, hard work, and sacrifice and everything came together with time.”
“The good thing about it is I found Dr Müller-Wohlfahrt from Germany that really understood how to help me manage. It wasn’t perfect, we still got injured every now and then but it helped to manage what was necessary,” he noted.
Bolt added: “The moment you start using something to say, ‘this is why I’m not doing that’, then you’re always going to be behind the eighth ball. I still can compete, I still can be the best and I didn’t put limits on myself, so I kind of pushed through the hard times and understood that if I worked hard and I managed the scoliosis right then I’ll be fine.”
