South African sprint star Akani Simbine has made a surprising revelation about his early athletic inspirations, and Usain Bolt was never one of them.
The World Indoor Championships 60m silver medallist recently disclosed that while many sprinters idolized the eight-time Olympic champion, he found his role models elsewhere.
Football Beginnings to Sprinting Stardom
Before becoming one of Africa’s fastest men, Simbine’s first love was football. Like many young athletes, he admired global football icons such as Cristiano Ronaldo. However, after switching to track and field, his inspiration came from two Jamaican sprint legends, Asafa Powell and Yohan Blake.
“When I was a young kid, I was into football. I used to look up to the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo before I got into track,” Simbine shared in an interview with Sports Passion.
“When I got into track, I was looking at Asafa a lot, and Yohan Blake too.”
He explained that his choice wasn’t about defying popular opinion but rather about finding athletes whose physical profiles and sprinting styles closely matched his own.
“I didn’t particularly look at Usain Bolt because I had nothing to attach myself to him,” Simbine admitted.
“With Yohan, it’s because he was a short, stocky guy, and I was like — I’m a pretty short sprinter. For me, it was like he is short and fast, and I believed I could do that. Asafa was taller but stocky, and I could relate to that.”
A Breakout 2025 Season
Simbine’s decision to carve his own path appears to be paying off in 2025. He secured a bronze medal in the 60m final at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, before clocking a world-leading 9.90 seconds to win the 100m at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix.
His winning momentum continued at the Diamond League meeting in Xiamen, where he claimed another 100m victory, followed by a strong showing in Shanghai.
Letting Go of Idols
While Powell and Blake once served as his sprinting inspirations, Simbine revealed that he consciously chose to stop idolizing them as his career progressed. The turning point came in 2015 when he realized that placing his mentors on a pedestal gave them a psychological edge on the starting line.
“Those were the ones I looked up to, and I stopped after a point, I guess, when I ran my first race in 2015,” Simbine explained.
“I had to stop idolising my mentors because when I do that, I give them a mental up over me. I needed to learn that when I line up with them, we are just the same and beat them.”
He added, “I told myself that I would stop idolising them and see them as competitors, and respect them for what they have done for the game and themselves. That was a big change for me.”
Charting His Own Legacy
Akani Simbine’s story is a testament to an athlete’s growth — from drawing inspiration from familiar faces to forging his own path and mindset in one of the sport’s most demanding disciplines.
While Bolt remains the gold standard for many, Simbine’s journey highlights that greatness can also be fuelled by personal relatability and self-belief.
As the 2025 season unfolds, all eyes will be on the South African as he continues to chase history, on his own terms.
