Rio Olympics 2016: Usain Bolt was absent in the opening ceremony
The Fastest man on earth and the biggest Olympic celebrity Usain Bolt was absent in the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics 2016. Shortly before the ceremony, Bolt posted a video in his Snapchat saying that he would not be attending the opening ceremony.
As quoted in the Telegraph, the fastest man left his supporters disappointed when he missed the opening ceremony of the 2016 Olympics as he was feeling too lazy to make the journey to the Maracana Stadium. He announced that he would be missing the Athletes’ Parade. In a short message, he said “Opening ceremony time but I won’t be there people, all the busses are out.”
The reigning Olympic champion was filming from his hotel balcony and showing coaches departing the Olympic village heading to the ceremony. Bolt later added that he was too lazy to go the event as he wished to avoid the limelight with many athletes wasting his time for selfies.
The six-time Olympics gold medallist said “Looks like the whole squad is out, road movements. One big lazy for me then today, no movement for me.”
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In 2012 London Olympics, the 29-year old carried the Jamaican flag in the opening ceremony. There he also set a World record by completing the 100m sprint in 9.58 seconds.
Mariafe Artacho Del Solar, the Australian beach volleyball player said that Bolt gets a lot of attention from the fellow Olympians which might become intolerable for him. The English daily quoted “He was getting bombarded when we saw him this week,” Del Solar said. “I felt like a rookie. The whole team all felt like nothing. But luckily we snuck in a selfie before he bolted.”
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The American gymnast and two-time Olympic champion Alexandra Reisman told the journalists that she nearly ‘flipped the table’ to get to Bolt when she saw the fastest man ahead of the opening ceremony.
Another possible reason behind the 2012 London Olympics Jamaican flag bearer to be absent in the Rio opening ceremony could be that he was taking rest due to his recent hamstring injury, from which the sprinter is still recovering from. Reports said that Bolt was to pull out of July’s Jamaica National Championships with a hamstring injury.