Usain Bolt was a man on a mission at London 2012, and Yohan Blake was to blame.
The fastest man alive cemented his legendary status at the Summer Games as he retained his 100 metre and 200m titles, as well as claiming gold in the 4 x 100m relay.
After completing the sprint double with victory in the 200m final, Bolt became the first man to successfully defend both crowns, having also triumphed in the two events at Beijing in 2008.
Taking silver behind the Jamaican on both occasions in London was long-time rival and compatriot Yohan Blake.
And Bolt has now revealed his heroics that summer were fuelled by his desire to gain revenge over his compatriot, who had left him furious just a month earlier.
In July 2012, the pair faced off in the 100m and 200m at the Jamaican Olympic trials, with Blake twice finishing in first place.
But it was his actions after his 200m victory which angered Bolt, as Blake performed a ‘shush’ celebration upon crossing the finish line.
But the two-time Olympic silver medallist was unprepared for the response this would trigger, as Bolt immediately promised revenge.
Recalling the events on the Ready Set Go podcast, the sprinting legend said: “When I lost to Blake at the Championship in 2012, I hugged him.
“I was like: ‘Bro, this will never happen again’.
On Blake’s ‘shush’ gesture, he continued: “I didn’t even see when he did that initially, it was after I went and I watched over everything.
“I was like: ‘Nah Blake, you’re losing your mind, bro! You’re losing your mind! What!’”
Credit: YouTube: @BoukaRecordsBlake’s ‘shush’ celebration at the Jamaican Olympic trials did not go down well with Bolt[/caption]
Credit: YouTube: @ReadySetGoTLThe Olympics legend opened up on his reaction to the gesture[/caption]
Bolt then revealed how he became intent on avenging his defeat, as he cancelled his next event to instead prepare for their London rematch.
The 38-year-old went on: “We had one month until the Olympics after that. I had one more race in Monaco, I cancelled that s***. I was like: ‘Nah’
“They would have given me so much money to come, the guy kept upping the money. Every day Ricky [Simms, his agent] called me like: ‘Add more money to it.’
“I was like: ‘Nah, I’m not going, stop calling me. I’m gonna train for this month.’
He then mimicked Blake’s celebration as he reiterated his annoyance at the time: “You must be crazy! Do you know what I mean?’
It’s fair to say Bolt had the last laugh in London, claiming the ultimate prize in both of the events he had lost to Blake a month previously
AFPBolt made sure to remind Blake of his previous antics on the big stage[/caption]
And the Jamaican star duly returned the favour in the 200m final, as he ‘shushed’ his rival at the finish line before dropping to the ground to perform push-ups afterwards in wild celebrations.
However, Bolt admitted his desire to exact revenge on Blake may have cost him a chance of beating his own previous world record of 19.19 seconds, clocking a time of 19.32.
On the race, he said: “I probably could have broken the world record again, or ran closer. I didn’t give a s***, I just wanted to beat him.
“You know, I never do s***. You see after the 200m, I was doing push-ups and everything.
“I was so p*****.”
Despite their frosty showdown, Bolt and Blake later reunited to take home 4 x 100m relay gold for Jamaica in the same summer, a feat they repeated four years later at the Rio Olympics.
Bolt would cement his immortal status at the 2016 Games, once again defending both sprint titles to record an historic ‘triple-double’, becoming the first ever athlete to achieve the feat.