Usain Bolt has his mind on one thing as he begins his quest to make Olympic history, and that's completing the "triple-triple." To do that, the 29-year-old will need to win gold in the men's 100- and 200-meter sprints, as well as the 4×100m relay. He won all three events in 2008 and 2012, and he's a favourite going into Rio 2016.
His mum, Jennifer Bolt, thinks that's cool and all, but what she's really interested in is having grandkids. Soon.
"I would hope he'll settle down, get married and start his family," Jennifer Bolt told CNN's Don Riddell in a segment that aired Saturday about what she hopes Bolt will do after the Olympics end.
"I know he'll settle down because he has said it," she said. "He told me many times that he's going to start his family."
That's true. Bolt, who easily qualified Saturday to move on to the 100m dash semifinal, has expressed interest in marriage. But not anytime soon.
"I've thought about it, but I know I'm not going to get married before 35, for sure," Bolt told the Telegraph last month.
He said he doesn't want to wind up like Wayne Rooney, the Manchester United forward who married his high school sweetheart in 2008 when he was 21 years old. While the couple's relationship has been far from perfect, today Rooney and his wife Colleen seem pretty happy. They have three kids, whom they often flaunt on social media.
But for Bolt, who will turn 30 on August 21, the whole having a family thing still sounds like some sort of trap.
"Like, Rooney got married so young — all the footballers that are English, as soon as they get really famous they have to get married. And I think it's unfair to them," he said.
"It's hard for you to stay with one woman because girls are literally just throwing themselves at you," he said. "You get famous, there's so much pressure of girls wanting you. And for you to get married at 21, you have not lived one bit. It's hard for you to stay with one woman because girls are literally just throwing themselves at you."
So, sorry, Mama Bolt. You still have five years to go.
The Washington Post
