Usain Bolt says he didn't get a fair chance as a pro footballer

Eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt has hit out at his 2018 stint with A-League club Central Coast Mariners and claimed he believes he could have featured in the Australian top flight.

The 33-year-old widely viewed as the greatest sprinter in history notched a brace in an October 2018 friendly, but then Central Coast coach Mike Mulvey couldn't promise Bolt first-team football. Contract talks between Bolt and Central Coast eventually broke down, and he failed to catch on with Malta side Valletta before he ultimately called time on his sports career the subsequent January.

The Jamaican-born international superstar has now told Australian outlet Wide World of Sports that he believes he could've played for the Mariners. 

"I think I didn't get a fair chance," Bolt explained. "I didn't do it how I wanted to do it, but it's something I think I would've been good at. But it's just one of those things you miss out on and just have to move on."

Bolt admitted he has sometimes wondered if things could've gone differently had he pursued a football career elsewhere. 

"I do think about it sometimes that it didn't work out the way that I wanted it to, because football is something that I love," he said. "The fact that it didn't work out I do think about it, but as I said, it's one of those things you've got to move past."

The "fastest man on the planet" became a first-time father in May, and he told Wide World of Sports that he's plenty busy off the pitch and isn't considering postponing his retirement. 

"I've had calls of people asking me if I really want to [go back to football], but after the time period has passed, I'm like you know what, I'm getting old, let's just retire and I now have my daughter so she keeps me busy," Bolt said.