Usain Bolt once named 'the only man in the world' who could beat him in a race

Usain Bolt once told one of his biggest rivals that he was "the only man in the world" who could beat him.

The Jamaican sprinter, who will go down as one of the greatest athletes of all time, still holds the world record for the men's 100m [9.58 seconds] and 200m [19.19 seconds] sprints, more than 15 years after setting them.

Back in 2009, America's Tyson Gay ran the 100m in 9.69 seconds, making him the second-fastest man in the world at the time.

But a year previously, Bolt told fellow Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell that he was "the only man in the world" who could beat him after previously setting the 100m world record on two occasions with times of 9.77 and 9.74 seconds.

Speaking to The Guardian back in 2011, Powell opened up on the conversations he supposedly had with Bolt.

"I think in the entire world I'm the only person that has always scared him [Bolt]," Powell said. "He's always been telling me that over the years. I get the truth out of him when he drinks a bit. He gets a bit tipsy and he's like [adopts a slurring voice]: 'Asafa, you're the only man in the world I think can beat me.'"

Powell added: "He first told me that in 2008... just before the Olympics. He'd just run 9.72. He said: 'You're the only man in the world who I think can beat me.'"

So how did Powell respond to such a compliment? "I was like, in my head: 'I know that' but you know I really have a lot of respect for him and he has a lot of respect for me as well," he said.

"So for him to really come to me and tell me that I was the one who motivated him to start running the 100m and that he respects me a lot – he always tells me that – I have a lot of respect for him."

Bolt recently opened up on the toughest opponent of his glittering career – and it wasn't Powell.

The eight-time Olympic gold medalist appeared on The Obi One podcast when he named America's Justin Gatlin as the rival who stood out amongst the rest.

"I think Justin Gatlin, I have to give my hats off to him," he said. "The last five years of my career, maybe five six years, it was just me and him, every season and he kept me on my toes, and I love the competition."

Image credit: Getty

Bolt has previously stated that Gatlin’s mental preparation and attitude towards competition that makes him different.

And in the podcast, the Jamaican recalled an incident from 2016, when he was unable to get motivated for the 2016 Olympics in Rio until he was shown a video of Gatlin saying he would win gold and parade it around America.

Bolt would go on to beat Gatlin in the Olympic final but a year later, the American memorably beat his great rival in the 2017 IAAF World Championships 100-metre final.

"[Gatlin] is one of the best I have faced," Bolt said in his post-race interview. "He deserves to be here, he’s done his time, and he’s worked hard to get back to being one of the best athletes. He’s run fast times, he’s back and he’s doing great. I look at him like any other athlete, as a competitor."