Andre De Grasse Reflects on Challenging Usain Bolt at the Rio Olympics: 'I Knew I Could Beat Him'

Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse has reflected on his famous 200m semi-final against Jamaican legend Usain Bolt at the Rio Games.

At just 21, the daring Canadian who challenged Usain Bolt was widely considered, even by the Jamaican himself, to be the heir apparent to the eight-time Olympic gold medallist.

While a series of injuries may have altered that trajectory, Andre De Grasse has carved out his own legacy. Now in Mumbai as the event ambassador for the city's marathon, he is a seven-time Olympic medallist, boasting gold in the 200m at Tokyo 2020 and the 4x100m relay at Paris 2024.

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That endearing memory from nearly a decade ago follows him everywhere, and he explained that his confidence stemmed from a growing familiarity with the sport's biggest star.

"I had to laugh in that moment," De Grasse said, as quoted by the Hindustan Times. "I knew I could beat him one day."

"I had raced him a year prior at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing. I remember being this young kid. I felt really good about myself; I felt like I belonged.

"I know a lot of people were all nervous because they were scared to race him the first time. But I had the opportunity to race him at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in the relay, so I had already done that. During that 200m semi-final, I looked around and didn't see anybody near us. It was just me and him. I never thought that would happen."

Great things were expected of the Ontario native, but in 2017, the first of several hamstring injuries struck, forcing him to miss most of the next two seasons.

By 2019, however, he began his comeback, eventually becoming the first 200m Olympic champion of the post-Bolt era, a remarkable journey for someone who initially saw athletics as a third-choice sport.

"I was actually playing football before I got into high school," he shared. "Then I got into basketball when I was 13 and just loved playing the game.

“I was a big fan of Vince Carter, and that inspired me to play. I continued until about 16, but I just didn't have the extra growth spurt. That's when I switched to track and field."

His entry into athletics was the result of a friendly challenge. The story goes that after joking with a friend about being the faster runner, Andre De Grasse was invited to a local track meet where he delivered a stunning performance.

That raw performance caught the eye of Tony Sharpe, an athletics coach and 1984 Los Angeles Olympics relay bronze medallist. Coincidentally, as De Grasse takes in the sights of Mumbai, his focus is already on a return to Los Angeles for the 2028 Olympics.

However, he acknowledges that he now competes in a different era of sprinting, one with a wider field of elite contenders rather than a single, dominant 6-foot-5 Jamaican.

"We're all around 5-foot-11, maybe a couple of taller guys, but anybody can win," he noted. "I know back then the fans would just say, 'Bolt's going to win everything.' Now the track is different, the spikes are different. More people are consistently running sub-10 seconds in the 100m and sub-20 in the 200m than before."

But the man once tipped as Usain Bolt's successor cannot be counted out. De Grasse has, after all, firmly established his own place among the sport's elite.