The Jamaican sprint king first sealed his status as a global phenomenon at Beijing in 2008, winning three gold track medals and smashing three world records. A year later he slashed his time for the 100m to an incredible 9.58secs - the fastest time since the introduction of fully automatic time measurements.

Bolt - by now the most famous athlete in the world - arrived in London for the 2012 Games on the back of Achilles tendon problems and having been upstaged by his countryman Yohan Blake at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea.

Second place finishes in the 100m and 200m in the Jamaican trials prior to the Games led to speculation that his best days were behind him. But come August 5 in the Olympic stadium it became clear that Bolt was determined to reaffirm his status as the king of sprinters. After taking 100m gold with an Olympic Record time of 9.68s --leaving Blake snapping at his heels in silver-medal position - four days later he became 200m champion and declared himself a "legend."

He said: "I have been saying this for the last three years, that I want to become a legend, and I've done it. Now I'm going to sit back and relax and see what I'm going to do."

Though not everyone agreed with this assessment, Bolt's part in Jamaica's 4x100m relay win on the final day of London 2012 suggested his claim might be true. However, only by the time the Rio Games are over will the world know if he was right all along - and Yohan Blake may have something to say about that.

Find these incredible Usain Bolt moments in this special playlist! less