Usain St. Leo Bolt was born and raised in Sherwood Content, Trelawny, Jamaica.
Bolt is a Catholic and his middle name was given to him in honor of one of the Catholic Church's earliest Popes.[1] Bolt is devout in his faith. He makes the sign of the cross before beginning a competition and, according to his public relations people, he is a "Bible-believing, God-honoring, Jesus-worshiping Christian."[2]
It's not something he talks much about. Though he does occasionally tweet things like:
With God anything is possible… I demolish training today #thankuGod[3]
His faith and his celebrity inspired the Vatican to invite him to speak at a conference on global religious liberty through the popular TED (technology, entertainment and design) program.[4] I imagine that's a high honor for any Catholic.
An interesting side-note–and we run across this surprisingly often at the Hollowverse–some Protestants have claimed Bolt as one of their own.[5] They simply assert that he is a Protestant with no evidence, presumably because they like him… I don't know. Don't believe them, he's a Catholic.
The natural political environment of the wealthy
Bolt's politics can only be gleaned from sparse comments here and there. Sometimes, these comments only serve to stroke Bolt's ego, such as:
If Queen Elizabeth knighthooded me and I would get the title Sir Usain Bolt. That sounds very nice.[6]
Sometimes, they are general statements about his love for his home country of Jamaica:
I can't really live outside Jamaica. I can be away, but only for a while.[7]
Once, when asked why he didn't travel more often to England, he complained about the high taxes that country places upon the wealthy for things like speaking engagement fees and endorsement/sponsorship earnings. He later said when the tax laws change, he'd be more than happy to go to the UK.[8]
Other than that, there's not much from Bolt politically. He was referenced by U.S. President Obama during the 2012 election cycle. Obama said:
I just want to remind you this is not going to be a race like Usain Bolt where we're like 40 yards ahead and we can just start jogging 10 feet before the finish line.[9]
It would be telling if Bolt had said he was flattered by the reference, but as far as I can tell, not a peep.
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