The Jamaican sprint king, who will earn a historic "triple triple" if he defends his 100 metres, 200m and 4×100m relay titles in Rio, will celebrate his 30th birthday on the day of the Closing Ceremony, with the Games set to be his last before he retires.

"I watch a lot of [English] Premier League and NBA (National Basketball Association) games and it will be good to see some of these star players or future star players compete at the Olympics," he said in an interview with Rio2016.com.

"For me, outside of athletics, it is always basketball and football.

"I will also watch the swimming and support the Jamaicans in those events."

A plethora of sport's top names will descend on the Brazilian city for the Olympic and Paralympic Games next year, and multiple world-record holder Bolt singled out home footballer Neymar and American tennis star Serena Williams as two people he is most looking forward to seeing in action.

Neymar, who joined Barcelona from Brazilian side Santos in June 2013 for a fee of £48.6 million ($75 million/€57 million), will be looking to guide his country to their maiden Olympic football gold.

He told the Rio 2016 website last month that Bolt was the athlete he could not wait to see compete in Brazil, and the Jamaican has seemingly now returned the favour.

"Neymar is a great player and I saw how popular he is in Brazil during the World Cup last year," Bolt said.

"It would be great to see him play on home soil in Brazil."

Usain Bolt picked out Brazilian striker Neymar as a player who he is looking forward to seeing compete in Rio next year ©Getty Images



Williams, meanwhile, continued her dominance of the women's tennis game by clinching the Australian Open title at the end of last month.

The 33-year-old will also head to Rio as a double defending champion after she took gold in the women's singles and the women's doubles with sister Venus at London 2012.

"It would be great to see Serena Williams defend her singles title," Bolt added.

"I have followed her career and she is really the star of women's tennis."

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