How did eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt respond to humanoid robot Tiangong Ultra breaking his 100-meter world record with an 8.64-second run—nearly a second faster than Bolt’s 9.58-second mark from 2009—what did the Beijing World Humanoid Robot Games reveal about advances

Bolt reacted with amusement rather than irritation: “It’s just one of those things. I guess that’s where the world is going right now,” he said, adding that the robot result “just made me smile.” 1

Robot record and what the Games showed

• Tiangong Ultra, built by the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Centre, won the large-robot 100m final in 8.64 seconds after posting 9.39 and 8.86 in qualifying; Bolt’s human world record remains 9.58 seconds, set in Berlin in 2009. 3
• The five-day Beijing event featured more than 2,000 robots from 666, mainly Chinese, teams across 51 sporting and practical disciplines, including simulated factory, restaurant, office and emergency tasks. 3
• It displayed rapid gains in locomotion, balance and control, while also including conspicuous stumbles—an indication that embodied AI is advancing quickly but remains imperfect in real-world physical tasks. 3
• The event served as a public testing ground for embodied AI: systems that combine AI software with machines able to perceive and act in the physical world. 3

Why the derby mattered more

• Bolt, a lifelong Manchester United supporter, was eager to finish the media session because United were playing Manchester City: “United is playing right now … Very important time.” 1

Legacy, fitness and retirement

• Bolt said his ambition was not merely to dominate track, but to be included among sport’s all-time greats—such as Muhammad Ali—and said he was happy that he is now part of that conversation. 1
• He rejected suggestions from the prior year’s World Championships that he was out of shape, saying a joke about becoming breathless on stairs had been taken out of context. He joked that he was “in the best shape of my life” and said he still works out every day. 1
• Although he once pursued football, including a two-month 2018 trial with Australia’s Central Coast Mariners, he said he is not rushing to resume playing and is enjoying retirement while following Manchester United. 1

Wythenshawe Vets reports

• Bolt said he was unaware of the reported link to South Manchester Sunday-league side Wythenshawe Vets FC until his agent, Ricky Simms, texted: “Are you playing football now?” Bolt replied: “I don’t know what’s going on.” 1
• Simms’s explanation was that the club may have wanted the option of using Bolt if he were ever in Manchester and wished to play. 1
• Separately, the FA’s Full-Time site listed Bolt as registered for Wythenshawe Vets FC, who play in the Cheshire Veterans Football League Premier Division; that listing does not establish that he planned to make an appearance. 6