SSC
'Faster than Lightning: My Autobiography' tells the story of which athlete?
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Answer: Option C — Usain Bolt
Detailed Solution
"Faster than Lightning: My Autobiography" is the autobiography of the Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, written with Matt Allen and published in 2013.
About the book:
- It describes Bolt's childhood in the village of Sherwood Content in Trelawny, Jamaica, where he first played cricket and football before taking up sprinting.
- It covers his early success, including winning the 200 m at the 2002 World Junior Championships at the age of 15, his injuries and setbacks, and his rise to world fame.
- It describes his record-breaking performances at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2009 World Championships in Berlin and the 2012 London Olympics.
About Usain Bolt:
- He was born on 21 August 1986.
- He holds the world records in the 100 m (9.58 seconds) and the 200 m (19.19 seconds), both set at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.
- He is the only sprinter to win both the 100 m and 200 m at three consecutive Olympics (2008, 2012 and 2016).
He won eight Olympic gold medals. (A ninth, from the 2008 4x100 m relay, was taken back in 2017 because a team-mate, Nesta Carter, failed a doping test.)
He won 11 World Championship gold medals.
He was nicknamed "Lightning Bolt", and his "To Di World" pose, pointing like a lightning bolt, became famous.
He retired from athletics in 2017.
Other famous sprinters:
- Carl Lewis (USA): nine Olympic golds, including four at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
- Michael Johnson (USA): famous for his 200 m and 400 m double at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
- Yohan Blake (Jamaica): Bolt's team-mate and silver medallist in 2012.
- Jesse Owens (USA): won four golds at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Carl Lewis was an American sprinter and long jumper of the 1980s-90s.
- ✗Michael Johnson held the 200 m and 400 m world records in the 1990s.
- ✗Yohan Blake is a Jamaican sprinter, Bolt's training partner.
Quick tip
Remember: "Faster than Lightning" = Usain Bolt (2013); world records 100 m = 9.58 s, 200 m = 19.19 s (Berlin 2009); 100 m and 200 m golds at three Olympics (2008, 2012, 2016).
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Books & Authors — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Books & Authors, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers famous books and their authors, including ancient Indian texts, works of the freedom struggle, classic and modern literature, autobiographies of famous people, and recently published books by well-known personalities. Questions usually name a book and ask for its author, or the other way round. Ancient and historical books, such as Arthashastra (Kautilya), Indica (Megasthenes) and Gitanjali (Rabindranath Tagore), are tested most often. Autobiographies are another favourite, so learn titles such as 'My Experiments with Truth' (Mahatma Gandhi) and 'Wings of Fire' (A. P. J. Abdul Kalam). Practise the books and authors questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.