What can Usain Bolt teach us?

After Muhammad Ali passed away I wrote this post where I suggested that if it wasn't for his out of the ring antics and his undoubted ability to talk then he would have only have been remembered as a good boxer as opposed to the 'Greatest' that everyone knows him as.

I came across this article talking about Usain Bolt. We all know him as the 3 time 100, 200 and 4 by 100 metre relay Olympic gold medalist. Just in case mathematics isn't your strong suit, that's 9 Olympic gold medals. Not bad. But this article says that there is a lot more to Usain Bolt than just his running. He is charismatic and he is interesting. The public don't seem to mind his philandering. I suppose in the end it makes him seem like us or we live vicariously through him.

There are a couple of videos of Usain Bolt that I really like. I think that they are both from the London 2012 Olympics.

The first one is when is interviewed by a Spanish television station and he stops the interview to stand in silence for the American national anthem.

I can hear the more cynical of you out there saying he only did that because he was been interviewed. OK, fair enough that might be true but the fact is he did it and I'm sure that he won a few admirers because of it.

The second video I like is when he gives the volunteer a fist bump. I think it made the volunteer's year not just day.

Both of these videos show that Usain Bolt is much more than a fast runner and we love him for it. When we see him do these things and then the next minute we see him at a nightclub with a harem we think that's cool. It is part of his persona and that is fine. At least he doesn't hide it.

Someone like Tiger Woods tried to hide it and show us that he was a good old family man. I'm sure if Tiger Woods had been honest right from the get go then he would still be winning majors now. He would have blown past the record 20 major wins of Jack Nicklaus.

My point is that Usain Bolt like Muhammad Ali is much more than just their respective sports. They had a bit of personality and we love them for that.

The one person that I have to disagree with in the article is Novak Djokovic. The author says that he struggles to get people to pick up a tennis racquet. I don't know about that. He comes across as being quite funny with a lot of personality. Look at the video below and tell what you think.

I think that he comes across very well. He speaks a number of languages and I'm sure that his number of fans grows with every win.

The author of the article says that there are exceptions to the rule and one I can think of is Richie McCaw the former All Black captain. I wouldn't say that he is the most charismatic person out there but he is so good that we don't care. I think every mother in New Zealand would love him as a son-in-law because he comes across as very polite and humble. (That word, humble, seems to be a bit of a buzz word in the New Zealand rugby scene.)

The point is today, is that you may have to do something a little bit different to get the attention of some people. I know that stepping out of your comfort zone scares the you know what out of you but those kind of things do get noticed and it does allow you to come out of the shadows and maybe help you build your confidence so you can achieve everything that you want in your life.

What's your point of difference going to be?