E-Paper
Bolt to reassess career after London Olympics
Usain Bolt may retire from sprinting after the 2012 London Games, the triple Olympic champion told local media on Friday.
Usain Bolt may retire from sprinting after the 2012 London Games, the triple Olympic champion told local media on Friday.
“Definitely I will go one more Olympics for sure and from there I will decide what I want to do,” Australian Associated Press quoted the Jamaican 100 and 200 metres world champion as saying.
“My coach may want to go to another one but we will determine how I am going because I definitely want to retire on top, like Michael Johnson,” added Bolt, referring to the retired American who holds the 400 metres world record. “I asked him why he retired and he said he’d done everything he wanted to and has no reason to continue.
“He was on top so I’m thinking if I’m on top and I’ve done everything I want to do maybe I’ll get out.” Bolt, who stormed to world record times in the 100 and 200 at the Beijing Olympics and then smashed the marks at the world championships last year, has flagged trying his hand at 400 metres and long jump.
“I have said the long jump but I think I’ll do something else before that,” said the 24-year-old. “The long jump I think would be about a year before I retire because I think it takes a toll on your body.”
Bolt said he had chosen to skip next month’s Commonwealth Games in Delhi because it was at the wrong time and would cut into his training schedule for the 2011 world championships in Daegu, South Korea.
“A lot of top athletes are skipping this one because the world championships are very important,” he said, adding that he expected Jamaica would still dominate the sprints.
“Anybody in Jamaica who decides to go is going to be good because the depth is getting bigger and there are a lot of youngsters coming up,” he said.
