NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - The Drink with Kate Snow: Usain Bolt

Episode Date: July 18, 2021

Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man, discusses how he rose to the top of his field, how best to maximize your workouts and what it’s like to be a father.

Hey, everyone, this is Kate Snow, and I am happy to share with you a conversation I had with Usain Bolt, also known as the fastest dad alive. Seriously, did you know that he just had three kids in the past year? The story of how he got so fast and rose so far is really compelling. You probably know that he won really big at three different Olympics, but he actually wishes that he'd worked harder when he was younger. And he also revealed that he tried to come out of retirement, but his coach wouldn't let him. You can hear much more stories of success from top artists, entrepreneurs, and visionaries. You can find it all at www.nbcnews.com slash the drink. I would definitely tell my younger self, listen, get serious sooner. I'm trying to imagine right now what would have happened if you had focused sooner.

Yeah, I've said it. Four or five Olympics. Yeah, I probably would have four. Usain Bolt, you are the fastest man on earth. How did that happen? How did you get so fast? Just hard work. I never knew that would be possible.

You think you're the fastest dad alive now? Yeah, for sure. Usain, what's your drink today? Gatorade. Nice. Yeah, I've got to stay hydrated. What are you drinking? I've got the same. I've got an electrolyte drink. Nice. Yeah, I gotta stay hydrated. What are you drinking? I've got the same.

I've got an electrolyte drink. Nice. So you're doing a Peloton ride in a little bit, yes? Yes. When I retired, the issue that I had was I always had to go to the gym still. And I was always doing this throughout my life. I was like, ah, I can't be bothered, you know what I mean?

And I came about the Peloton, so I got one. I could just roll out of bed and just get on the Peloton and ride for half an hour and I't be bothered. You know what I mean? And I came about the Peloton. So I got one. I could just roll out of bed and just get on the Peloton and ride for half an hour and I'll be good. And then now we've got together a Peloton. The partnership has started. I've done my own series to show the people what I do in my workout. Gotcha. And what's the music that you chose? For me, it's always mostly reggae and hip hop and like dancehall music. That's most of the times I try to write to. You were into cricket when you were little.

Is that because of your dad? Your dad was a big cricket fan too? My dad was a massive cricket fan. You know what I mean? So we had two TVs. One was in my room. With the time difference in England at time or in Pakistan or wherever they were playing, it was like two o'clock

in the morning and my mom would not allow allow him to watch so he would come into my room and then I would wake up and watch it with him was there a point where you thought okay cricket or running or how do you go yeah for me yeah when I got to high school it was I went to high school to run you know I mean was there a moment when you thought I'm different at a young age when I was 15 I won the world juniors in Jamaica um so for me that's when it really started when I was like you know what this is a big deal that's a lot for a 15 year old yeah it was it was a lot I wondered if it was almost like was it too much too fast because that I know that you then went in 2004 you went to the Olympics people forget that yeah you couldn't you didn't

have a great time yeah you could say that I didn't understand that you needed hard work you know I mean you need to be like dedicated to sport because I was so talented in high school, you know what I mean, that when I got to the professional level, I was still relying on my talents. When I met Glenn Mills, my coach, who brought me to the top, he explained to me, like, listen, everybody who's on the circuit or who's running at the Olympics has talent, you know what I mean? It's who works hardest at their talent is going to be great. If I had to come back and talk to my younger self, I would definitely tell my younger self,

listen, get serious sooner. I'm trying to imagine right now what would have happened if you had focused sooner. Yeah, I've said it. Four or five Olympics? Yeah, I probably would have four. For people who don't remember, you end up at three olympics winning

golds yeah there's there's noise all around there's critics right there's there's the intense pressure and the spotlight on you how do you screen all that out and just insanely focus on what you're doing i went through all so much at a young age that I think it really helped me when I really got to the highest level. I put so much pressure on myself to be great that it doesn't matter what anybody says. When I fail, I feel bad. If I fail or if I get injured, I'm going to work hard the next time to get back up and do even better. Well, I was going to say, how do you get back up then? You know, because failing is hard. Yeah, it's just a dream.

At times, I'm at training and I have two more to go and I'm like, oh God, I don't want to do this. You know what I mean? I just tell myself, listen, if you want to be a triple-time Olympic champion,

you have to do these last two. The last two is where you improve. The first couple are just to get you to your limit so you can push past your limit so you can get better. You're going to be watching the Tokyo Olympics, I assume. Yes, for sure. Any advice for them? It's such a strange year with no crowd, none of that sound that they're used to. Yeah, it's going to be, for me, it would have been very rough on me because I live for the crowd. For anybody who feeds off the crowd, it's going to be really rough.

Just remind yourself of the work and let's go and compete at your best. You retired in 2017. You ever miss running? Of course. Definitely. There's times, especially watching competition, I always miss it. You know what I mean? I actually approached my coach once like, you know what?

Let's try a comeback. And he said, no. He's like, really not doing it. I was like, all right. What was that? It was actually early 2019 when I told him I was going to retire. He said, listen, when you retire, that's it. We're not coming back. We're not doing a comeback tour.

Nothing. You have to do what you're passionate about like what brings you joy in that moment right and my sense for you right now my sense is that fatherhood is bringing you a ton of joy it's it's it's it's been interesting and it's been fun it teaches you so much and especially with me I didn't have a lot of patience. And now it's really helped me to calm down and take a step at a time and just to be much more patient. For people who don't know, you have three kids in the span of like a year and a half. The first one was planned.

The second one, second two just happened. It just happened, right? So you have what, Olympia Lightning is what, a year old year old now yeah she's a year and your twins how old are your twins two months two months and they are Thunder and Saint Leo yeah I love the names appreciate it thanks Olympia Lightning and Thunder yeah and Saint leo is gonna feel a little left out that's what people keep saying that well i was like yo i didn't know i didn't want to name him lightning also because that was olympia's middle name so i was like but he has half my name so that's kind of cool um i need to let you hydrate you're not not, I see you're not. I like your energy.

All right. We always do, I'm not making this up. We always do a lightning round. It's not just because you're Usain Bolt. So fast as you can. Favorite Olympic moment? My four by one relay when I gave the button to Asafa. I screamed at him and I told him to to run. That's one of my favorite pictures

and I have it in my house. I was screaming. I was like, run! That was my favorite moment. Favorite dad moment? The first time Olympia actually came and just lied on my chest just to go to sleep. For me, that was really nice. I was like, aw. You know what I mean? I do.

That is magic. When they're just sitting there right here. Okay, a couple more. Best advice you ever got? You have to learn how to lose before you can learn how to win. It took me two years to figure it out. You have to accept that you lost. I lost because of this.

And you learn from that moment and then you will learn how to win. Okay. In a word, last one. In a word, your best workout advice. Push yourself. Okay. Two words, but I'll let it slide. What's next for you?

For me, I'm producing music now. So that's what's next. And just being a dad, that's my... Wait, I didn't know about the music. You're producing music? Yeah, I'm producing music now. It's just a passion. Just a passion that I enjoy doing.

So now I work with artists in Jamaica that I just produce music. We just released a song. You can look it up. Check it out on iTunes. Hey, this has been fantastic. I got to do a virtual cheers. Cheers.

It's excellent to talk to you. Thank you so much. It was a pleasure. It was a pleasure.