Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt retires from soccer

CENTRAL COAST, Australia (UPI) — Eight-time Olympic gold medalist sprinter Usain Bolt declared that his “sports life is over” on Monday.

Bolt announced his retirement from soccer in an interview with Reuters. The Jamaican star previously played for the Central Coast Mariners, but left after failing to agree on a new contract with the Australian club.

Bolt rejected an offer from Maltese club Valletta shortly before leaving the Mariners.

“I don’t want to say it wasn’t dealt with properly, but I think we went about it, not the way we should and you learn your lesson, you live and you learn,” Bolt said in the interview. “It was a good experience. I really enjoyed just being in a team and it was different from track and field, and it was fun while it lasted.”

The 32-year-old Bolt made his professional soccer debut in August 2018 with the A-League Mariners and scored two goals in a friendly match before leaving the team in November.

Along with the Mariners, Bolt trained with Norwegian team Stromsgodset and Bundesliga member Borussia Dortmund in an effort to pursue a career in soccer.

Bolt owns world records in the 100 and 200 meter sprint races and won multiple Olympic gold medals in Beijing, London and Rio. The speedster announced his plans to focus on business endeavors in the future.

“I’m just doing many different things. The sports life is over, so I’m now moving into different businesses, I have a lot of things in the pipeline, so as I say, I’m just dabbling in everything and trying to be a business man now.”

Reporting by Connor Grott

United Press International

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