Written by Tim Layden at SI.com
The king arrives without an entourage. It is a warm spring evening on Grand Cayman Island, just past sunset, and a Caribbean breeze whispers across the tops of the native palms and black mastics that encircle the track at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex. Green iguanas the size of beagles and lean, wild chickens are everywhere, the former ominous yet docile, the latter plump and frantic. Usain Bolt walks through a tall, swinging gate in the metal fence, accompanied by manager Ricky Simms, longtime masseur Everald Edwards, and childhood friend and executive manager Nugent (N.J.) Walker. Just the four of them. It is a lean operation, and always has been. Here in 48 hours Bolt will run a low-key 100-meter race to commence what he has said will be his final Olympic season, before he bows out for good after the 2017 world championships in London.
In the gathering darkness, beneath four light towers, Bolt walks to the backstretch of the deserted track; other athletes were assigned earlier training times so that Bolt could work unbothered. He jogs through a series of warmup strides before climbing onto Edwards’s portable treatment table and lying facedown. There are 23 other people in the complex, most of them facility workers but also a half-dozen small children. They watch from 50 meters away as Edwards pours oil onto Bolt’s legs and rubs with long, flowing strokes. Bolt checks messages on his phone. Walker places small orange cones on the track for the serious training ahead. After 15 minutes Bolt swaps training shoes for shiny, custom Puma spikes, one as red as Dorothy’s ruby slippers, one a pale Carolina blue.
This, then, is the beginning of the end of the most transcendent career in the history of modern track and field. It commenced for the world with a stunning gold medal in the 100 meters eight years ago in Beijing and is likely to end with a relay race in Rio and three more gold medals in hand, two days shy of Bolt’s 30th birthday. (The 2017 London world championships will be an encore.) He had hoped his final season would be free of injury and drama, full of fast times and dominant victories. “The one thing I’ve never had is a perfect season,” Bolt says. “No injuries, everything smooth, and see how fast I could run.” Alas, this would not be that season.
To continue reading this article, click here.
