Usain Bolt has brought his professional football career to an end after being let go by A-League side Central Coast Mariners last year.
Having spent time training with a few clubs prior, Bolt went on trial with the Mariners last summer and had a serious stab at trying to make the grade.
The Jamaican sprinter, 31, even managed a couple of goals on his full debut (in a pre-season friendly against a team of enthusiastic local amateurs) but was ultimately released in November, at which point he gave himself a two-week ultimatum to find a new club or call it quits.
Alas, the man with the first touch like a trampoline has had to admit that he’s not up to snuff, confirming as much to ESPN:
I don’t want to say it wasn’t dealt with properly, but I think we went about it (the wrong way) and you learn your lesson, you live and you learn.
It was a good experience. I really enjoyed just being in a team and it was different from track and field and it was fun while it lasted.
I’m just doing many different things […] the sports life is over, so I’m now moving into different businesses, I have a lot of things in the pipeline.
So as I say, I’m just dabbling in everything and trying to be a business man now.
Oh well. Fair play to the guy for giving it a go. He had a dream and, afforded the opportunity, he did his best to pursue it.
He might not have played a single competitive game and it may have only lasted six months but, honestly, Pies would kill for the football career Bolt managed to fashion for himself.