Photo by Fernando Frazão /CC BY 3.0 BR
 
If after seeing the headline of this article you guessed that we would be talking about Usain Bolt then you are 100% correct. The big man with a trademarked pose (?To Di World?) is the highest earner in Track and Field history, making a whopping $34 million per year. What makes this figure even more remarkable is that his race winnings only add up to $2.2 million over the course of his ENTIRE career.  
Perhaps after hearing some of the sums earned by stars in NFL, Basketball or Football that doesn?t seem like a lot to you, but trust us it is.
The context for this figure comes in the fact that it is a massive 10 times higher than the next highest paid athlete! As far as we can tell this is the biggest pay differential between professional athletes ever. Our proof is here- at the height of their stardom, Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan (two truly dominant players of their respective sports) only earned a ?meagre? triple the amount of the next highest paid player. If that isn?t enough perspective for you then let?s put it this way. His salary is 20 times greater than the average for sprinters.
So right about now you are probably wondering how Usain Bolt got to be so well paid right" Well here?s how.

Photo by Sarah Larson/ CC BY 2.0
Firstly there is his sheer dominance to consider. Bolt was the first man ever to win an Olympic Gold medal in the 100 and 200 meters twice in a row, and he went on to do it a third time as we...