* My sport needs me to win Olympic gold
(CNN) With dark clouds hanging over the Olympic Games, Usain Bolt is ready to light up Rio 2016.
The world’s fastest man is bidding for an unprecedented “triple triple” of gold medals in Brazil, hoping to become the first athlete to win the 100- and 200-meter as well as the 4×100-meter relay title at three consecutive Games.
And as the Russian doping scandal threatens to overshadow the competition, the Jamaican is ready to deliver a good news story for track and field.
“I know the sport needs me to win or it needs me to come out on top and that’s the same thing I want,” the 29-year-old told reporters. “We want the same thing, so I’m just working hard and staying focused.”
Athletics must prepare for life without Usain Bolt
Bolt cut a relaxed figure as he spoke with journalists on the 12th floor of a London hotel, showing no signs of self-doubt after a frustrating year so far.
He was forced out of the 200-meter final at this month’s Jamaican trials with a torn hamstring, although Bolt had clocked a time of 9.88 seconds over 100 meters in June.
Insisting he’s feeling no ill effects from the injury, Bolt says he can still run faster than he’s ever ran before … over 200 meters at least.
Usain Bolt won the first of his six Olympic gold medals in the 100m at Beijing 2008, crossing the line ahead of Trinidad and Tobago’s Richard Thomson and USA’s Walter Dix
“No, I don’t personally think so,” he replied when asked if his record-breaking days were behind him.
“I think the 100, for me, is always going to be harder because it’s so technical,” Bolt explained. “It’s all about me getting a good start and executing right and stuff like that.
“But I think always, in 200, there’s room for running faster. So I really want to try to go after the 200-meter world record this year.”
---
