The 58-year-old former Olympian - who previously held the 100m sprint record - thinks the sport is currently experiencing a natural dip since the Jamaican hung up his running shoes in 2017 but is hopeful there are a lot of up-and-coming stars who can attract spectators back to the track.

He told Telegraph Sport: “I mean, we could probably name 10 athletes that are the heir apparent to someone like Bolt.

“But that massive void, it’s not going to be filled by any one person. It’s going to be filled with all kinds of people, and all those people have to do things that only one man did, which is break world records, rewrite record books and sell the sport, right?

“It’s definitely going to take a village. But you have sprinters like Noah Lyles, and Jordan Anthony, and you have Gout Gout coming up."

Donovan also believes athletics would benefit from its most famous competitors continuing to promote their sport.

He added: "Also, we need the stars from before – people like Carl Lewis, who packed out stadiums – to be ambassadors.”

Meanwhile, when it comes to his own fitness, Donovan enjoys playing basketball and while he is a "little slower" now, he still thinks he can cut it on the court.

He said: “I play basketball in an over-30s men’s league with a bunch of CEOs and CFOs from my neighbourhood,” Bailey says. “We are by far the oldest team, and we’re crushing these kids.

"I’m like a shooting guard. I used to play power forward because I could jump higher than everybody else and run faster than everybody else.

"In my head, I still feel that I’m that guy, but I know that Father Time wins. So I’m a little slower, but I can still get up and down the court quite well."