The eight-time Olympic gold medalist, who is 37 years old and retired in 2017, suffered the injury while playing in Soccer Aid, a match played annually to raise funds for UNICEF, on June 9 at Stamford Bridge, home of English Premier League club Chelsea FC.
“Surgery was successful,” said Bolt on social media on Monday.
Bolt, who has been a regular fixture in the charity game in recent years, was captaining the Soccer Aid World XI against England before going down with the injury early in the second half.
Soccer Aid 2024 took place at Chelsea FC’s Stamford Bridge stadium on Sunday, June 9, where Bolt once again captain the World XI FC team.
Speaking with talkSPORT ahead of his sixth Soccer Aid match, Bolt expressed his enthusiasm for football and the annual charity event. Despite his undeniable love for football, it was in track and field where Bolt truly made his mark. The conversation shifted to sprinting, where the eight-time Olympic gold medallist disclosed that he considered a return to the sport following his retirement in 2017.
Bolt shared that two years after retiring, he was approached with an enticing offer by Adidas CEO Björn Gulden, who was the Chief Executive of Puma at the time. Although the idea of returning to the track intrigued him, Bolt’s coach was firmly against it.
“My coach told me, he said to me, ‘Listen, if you’re gonna retire, that’s it. I’m not gonna coach you again. This is it; there’s no coming back after this.’ So when I went to him, he was like, ‘No, absolutely not,’” Bolt explained. “I would do it because when you go away from the sport then you start missing it.”
Bolt admitted that he still misses being on the track and believes he could have performed better than some of the current athletes. Regarding his unbeaten 100m record, Bolt remains confident that it will stand for some time. He acknowledged the talent of American sprinter Noah Lyles, noting that while Lyles is improving, he is not yet at the level needed to break Bolt’s record.
