--- title: Rio 2016 Olympics: Prince Harry Sends Usain Bolt a Challenge description: The British royal sent the Jamaican sprinter his well wishes on his 30th birthday, and also challenged him to a re-match of their 2012 race. canonical: https://time.com/4461130/rio-2016-olympics-prince-harry-usain-bolt/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-22T14:57:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:35:42.563Z og:title: Prince Harry Sends Usain Bolt a Challenge on His Birthday og:description: The royal sent the sprinter his well wishes — and also asked to set up a race. og:url: https://time.com/4461130/rio-2016-olympics-prince-harry-usain-bolt/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf71fee27cdddc8c8/6988a3222dce0120a69ea600/prince-harry-usain-bolt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3172 og:image:height: 1784 og:image:alt: An Alternative View Of The British Royal's Jubilee Year og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Prince Harry Sends Usain Bolt a Challenge on His Birthday twitter:description: The royal sent the sprinter his well wishes — and also asked to set up a race. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf71fee27cdddc8c8/6988a3222dce0120a69ea600/prince-harry-usain-bolt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Prince Harry Challenges Olympic Champion Usain Bolt to a Race for Fun > Sponsored content. 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Chris Jackson—Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 22, 2016 2:57 PM UTC Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt ended his reign at Rio [in a cloud of Olympic glory](http://time.com/4452585/usain-bolt-2016-rio-olympics/?iid=sr-link1), but Great Britain’s [Prince Harry](http://time.com/4406061/prince-harry-hiv-test-facebook-live/?iid=sr-link8) just [challenged the nine-time medalist](http://time.com/4460126/usain-bolt-rio-olympics-gold-relay-greatest-of-all-time/?iid=sr-link2) to one more race. On the occasion of Bolt’s 30th birthday, Harry took to the official Kensington Palace Twitter account to send Bolt his congratulations, calling him “officially the greatest” — and asking for a chance to test his speed against the world’s fastest man. Bolt’s response? “Let’s do it.” This is just the latest good-humored banter between the two men. Back in 2012, the prince was visiting Jamaica when he [first raced Bolt](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LRWoiLEzx0). Surprisingly, the British royal won — by jokingly jumping the starting gun. Bolt requested a rematch at the then-upcoming London Olympics, but Harry cheekily told him that he was “busy” at the time. Still, Bolt taught the royal his signature celebratory move. “He’s cool, very down to earth. When you meet dignitaries you think it will be difficult but he just wanted to laugh — it was an honor and a pleasure to meet him,” Bolt [told the BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-17267824) about that encounter. Clearly, the good feelings remain between the two, with Bolt [even saying earlier](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/22/prince-harry-sends-cheeky-birthday-message-to-usain-bolt/) this August that he would be happy to “party with Prince Harry” after clinching his medals in Rio. > [](https://twitter.com/KensingtonRoyal/status/767312569849765888) > [](https://twitter.com/usainbolt/status/767724638277345281) This is one post-Olympic sporting event you won’t want to miss. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4461130/rio-2016-olympics-prince-harry-usain-bolt/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4461130/rio-2016-olympics-prince-harry-usain-bolt/"},"headline":"Prince Harry Challenges Olympic Champion Usain Bolt to a Race for Fun","datePublished":"2016-08-22T14:57:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:35:42.563Z","description":"It's on","url":"https://time.com/4461130/rio-2016-olympics-prince-harry-usain-bolt/","keywords":["Newsfeed","olympics","celebrities","Summer Olympics","2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics","Rio 2016 Olympics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf71fee27cdddc8c8/6988a3222dce0120a69ea600/prince-harry-usain-bolt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf71fee27cdddc8c8/6988a3222dce0120a69ea600/prince-harry-usain-bolt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"An Alternative View Of The British Royal's Jubilee Year","caption":"Prince Harry races Usain Bolt at the Usain Bolt Track at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica on March 6, 2012.","creditText":"Chris Jackson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4461130/rio-2016-olympics-prince-harry-usain-bolt/","name":"Prince Harry Challenges Olympic Champion Usain Bolt to a Race for Fun"}}]}] ```