The International Cricket Council (ICC) unveiled eight-time Olympic Gold medalist Usain Bolt as the ambassador of the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, which will be hosted by the USA and the West Indies.
Bolt, who holds the world records in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m, completing them in just 9.58 seconds, 19.19 seconds, and 36.84 seconds, respectively, has deeper ties to cricket, going even before he began his journey as an athletics professional.
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The Jamaican used to play cricket as a child before he was advised by his coach at the time to take up track and field sports as a career.
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Bolt recently told ICC that he was looking forward to the 2024 T20 World Cup, which begins on June 1 and will run till June 29.
I am thrilled to be an ambassador for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Coming from the Caribbean where Cricket is a part of life, the sport has always held a special place in my heart, and I am honoured to be part of such a prestigious tournament. I look forward to bringing my energy and enthusiasm to the World Cup and contributing to the growth of cricket globally.
With the upcoming edition of the T20 World Cup set to be co-hosted by the USA, who are ranked 20th in the ICC T20I rankings and are making their first-ever appearance at any ICC event, Bolt believes that there’s a lot of potential for long-term growth of the sport in this part of the world.
America believes a lot in sport and high intensity and for me to get into that market is big. When they follow a sport, they follow a sport properly and they go all in and I feel like if they can crack into it, they will get into it the right way. If we bring energy like I know we will for the T20 (World Cup) it is going to be wonderful.
Bolt also mentioned that the growth of the sport across the globe will not stop given that cricket will return to the Olympics in 2028 after 128 years.
If you listen to NBA players and the way they talk about winning a gold medal, they have won NBA titles, they have their rings, but they are like ‘we went to the Olympics.
The other day I watched the documentary about how they (USA basketball team) lost (at the 2004 Olympics) and there was a Redeem Team (at the Beijing Games in 2008) and the focus and the hard work (they needed to win).
That is how big (important) getting a gold medal is. Every sport tries to get into the Olympics because it is such a big thing and it is such a great feeling to be on a podium winning that gold medal.
The ninth edition of the T20 World Cup will begin in the US on June 2 as the co-hosts face Canada in the curtain-raiser.
Parshva is a Content Producer for The Sporting News' India edition.
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