What's up with people calling Usain Bolt cocky? Are they just haters?

Do you have an example? Supreme self confidence is always required to achieve such a level of competence.

A phenomenal athlete (which Bolt surely is) is allowed to crow, swagger and feel at the top of the world.

But there comes the moment of diminishing returns; a little modesty and acknowledgement of others is a graceful counterpart. Bolt may well have had some moments when he wasn’t congratulating himself; I missed those.

When people think that some other people behave in an arrogant way you cannot conclude they hate them. And I don’t think Bolt is arrogant. When athletes push themselves to the limit they often are this way. It takes a while to cool down and relax. This has to do with body chemistry.

@Dutchess_III I am ‘friends’ with an Olympic page on FB. The group put up a photo of Bolt. Lots of congratulations, but I spotted a few comments on how cocky he was. Mostly, Yanks. It’s funny, because with NBC’s coverage of the Olympics, well you wouldn’t know that there are any other countries winning. Boasting ad nauseum over there.

He said Carl Lewis wasn’t a real [olympic] athlete more or less

Yeah, I don’t blame Bolt. Lewis made an idiotic comment about the Jamaican track team.

One wrong turn doesn’t validate another.

I have to agree with this quote: Lewis is a bitter old codger who’s trying to create a fuss for the benefit of his own country because he can’t stand someone looming large over his legacy.

The guy is behaving the same as he did before he came to prominence, he has an extrovert personality & so he’s just being himself, maybe with a little added spice, which is fair enough.
@gailcalled During an interview with the BBC right after Jamaica secured a clean sweep of the medals in the 200m, Bolt turned round to acknowledge David Rudisha’s 800m victory ceremony.
More or less interrupted the interview to pay respect to a fellow athlete, not to mention their national anthem.

@ucme Thank-you!

@ucme: That’s reassuring. He seemed a little less wound-up after the 400 meter relay, which I saw out of one eye as I was doing something eles.

Lewis acted the fool, and Bolt is on top. He can crow if he wants. He can walk the walk.

There are strong rumours that he’s done with athletics now, lack of motivation being cited as a principal reason.
I’d love to see him move up to the 400m & cement his legendary status further in Rio.

I did see that he stopped the interview for the National anthem of a fellow athlete. I thought that was great.
His showing of pride, joy and satisfaction when he wins, isn’t my style, but I think he deserves to have his moment.
I think it’s too bad when any athlete says something unflattering about another athlete. Too bad they can’t all be gracious to and about each other.

Just emailing a good friend from Manchester. Here is what she said:

Bolt is a hero over here. No dissing at all. Plus he said he wants to join Man Utd. What’s not to love about him!? :)

Haters gonna hate.

He’s cocky, yeah. Whether that’s a bad thing or not is completely up to you. Personally, I think he has every right to be cocky, but that’s just my opinion.

Bolt can act cocky all he wants. He’s the fastest man on earth for goodness sake.
Personally I don’t think he does act cocky, it’s just the way he is. And he needs to be like that, full of self confidence and assurance.

He’s Jamaican, a man, and the fastest runner in the world (as far as we know). Cockiness is inherent for him. Not a big deal

He wants to play 20/20 big bang cricket with Shane Warne in Melbourne. I can’t wait to see him!
You’re allowed to be a little cocky when you’re the best!

It isn’t cocky if you can walk the walk. I think he did that rather convincingly.

I admire his skill. He reminds me of Muhammed Ali (Cassius Clay). I don’t hate the guy. I really just don’t admire boastful people. For whatever reason I just don’t. I’m just attracted to graceful winners. Tom Brady is a graceful winner, I absolutely can’t stand the New England Patriots! But damn I tip my hat off to Brady. Jerry Rice played in the most show boat position in the game. He’s arguably the greatest wide receiver statistically in the NFL. However his demeanor was more like a monk. So with that being said do I like Bolts cockiness? Ehh, it’s whatever it’s not what has my attention in the first place. His winnings/killings is what catches my attention. Would I prefer that he simply stare into the crowd and not celebrate after his winnings/killings? No it doesn’t matter to me. He is himself. He’s pretty down to earth, he’s not like Terrell Owens per say, or Chad Johnson where you can kind of feel a sense of stupidity from them, Bolt seems like a bright guy, just knows he has haters. He did a grate feat and he’ll always be remembered for his charades. When he is a 75 year old man, hunching over, dressed all fancy and proper he will look back in his days and be damn proud of himself. He won’t be able to excessively celebrate. So why hate on him doing it now? It’s his life, his memories. I believe he inspires a ton of children. Children don’t really understand, subtleness, cockiness, sarcasm and such they just see results and the excitement or lack of excitement on an athletes face. Bolt has plenty of excitement on his face after competition and he’s inspirational for that. Most haters in my opinion that are dead set in their views could never fathom how someone like Bolt has worked his tail off to get to where he is today. They simply brush off those small details, call it a day, and bash him. No substance. Gotta give Usain Bolt his credit. (His last name is Bolt for crying out loud! Legendary or what?!)

(Use paragraphs, please. Pity the aging eyes here.)