USA Olympics star issues bizarre apology after failing to recognize Usain Bolt baby photo in viral clip: 'I promise to unpack this and will do better'

An 'embarrassed' Gabby Thomas felt the need to apologize after a bizarre video in which the US track star failed to recognize a young Usain Bolt.

Thomas, a three-time Olympic champion, went viral after her appearance in a social media challenge which involved identifying track stars from their childhood photos.

She successfully picked out herself and four-time Olympic gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, as well as English 800m star Keely Hodgkinson and pole vault sensation Armand Duplantis.

But Thomas was unable to recognize either Noah Lyles, the reigning 100m champion, or Bolt, who is widely considered the greatest sprinter of all time.

'I would have never guessed this!' she said after being told that the boy in the photo grew up to win eight Olympic gold medals.

At the time of writing, the video has been viewed more than 2.9million times, with many fans pointing out that Thomas had no problem picking out the young white athletes.

That prompted the sprinter to issue a bizarre statement in which she apologized for not recognizing Bolt and then laughing about it.

'I want to genuinely apologize to everyone I upset for not recognizing Usain Bolt in his baby photo the other day on the Olympics social media video,' she wrote.

'I shouldn’t have laughed about it either. I am so embarrassed. I promise to unpack this and will do better

'I grew up watching Usain Bolt among many other Black track athletes. They inspired me and showed my generation of athletes what Black excellence looks like (on and off the track). 

'I know what he and Noah look like- their baby photos just stumped me. But they shouldn’t have. I would choose to be black in every lifetime 

'I normally wouldn’t respond, but my comments and DMs are being flooded on every social platform. I fear I really upset my community.'