Given his first start in a trial run with an Australian pro soccer team, sprinter Usain Bolt scored two goals in a Friday friendly.

The world’s fastest human has spent the last few months training with the Central Coast Mariners, hoping to land in a new sport after a historic track-and-field career highlighted by eight gold medals in three Olympic Games.

“The coach told me you will get chances, don’t get frustrated if you miss, it’s part of the game,” he said on the Mariners’ website. “You’ve got to continue pushing till you get those chances.”

In the 4-0 preseason win over Macarthur South West United, Bolt barely missed on a header in the first half, then elbowed past a defender and scored with a low, hard shot in the 55th minute.


“I was telling myself if I got the guy off my shoulders, set up myself and hit the target, that was the key thing,” he said.

His second goal, in the 69th minute, came on a miscommunication between the opposing defender and goalkeeper.

With the Hyundai A-League season beginning later this month, it remains to be seen if the Mariners will extend Bolt’s “indefinite training period.”


“We will sit down with the club, discuss and see if we want to move forward and what I need to do and how to do that,” he said. “For me, I’m taking this a step at a time and I want to push myself to see how far I can go.”

david.wharton@latimes.com

Twitter: @LAtimesWharton