Puma sponsored Usain Bolt after he won the 200 metres at the 2002 World Junior Championships.
Bolt won that title in Kingston, Jamaica, at only 15 years and 333 days, becoming the youngest world junior champion in athletics at the time. His victory marked him as a major young sprinting prospect, and Puma signed him to a sponsorship deal soon afterward.
The partnership became one of athletics’ most recognizable athlete-brand relationships. Bolt later wore Puma competition spikes during his Olympic and world-record years, while the company used his speed and “Lightning Bolt” persona in international campaigns.
The sponsorship is sometimes confused with the brands associated with other famous sprinters, including Nike and Adidas. Bolt’s professional football experiments after retiring from track also created new headlines, but Puma is the company connected to his breakthrough junior title and his long athletics career.