[www.inewsguyana.com] – Usain Bolt completed his medal collection by winning Commonwealth gold in the 4×100 metres relay on Saturday night and then announced this would be his first and last appearance at the Games.
It was not another alleged dig at Glasgow, which Bolt insisted put on a ‘great competition’ despite the weather, but an acceptance that the quickest man in history will be 31 by the time the 2018 Games on Australia’s Gold Coast come around.
“I want to be there,” he said, “but maybe not as an athlete.”
Bolt has previously indicated he will bow out after the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, but suggested on Saturday night that his swansong might come a year later on British soil at the 2017 World Championships in London.
“I’ve always said that after Rio I will retire,” said the six-time Olympic champion. “But they keep saying I should go on to 2017 so I think I might just do that.”
“You have to work a little bit harder, put a little bit more work in and I don’t go out as much as I used to.”
Bolt thinks he has ‘done the 100m’ after running 9.58secs in Berlin five years ago, but believes he could become the first man to break the 19-second barrier for the 200m. His current world record is 19.19secs.
He said: “I want to run under 19secs. That is one of my biggest goals, one of my biggest dreams. Definitely.”
“I don’t know whether breaking nine seconds for the 100m is possible. The world keeps going round, and you never know who will show up next and dominate. For me, my main aim is the 200m, not the 100m. I think I have done the 100m. I want to do something special for me over the 200m.
“I think that will be my last championships. I’m just happy I’ve done what I wanted to do in the sport.
“I remember asking Michael Johnson why he retired when he was at the top and he told me that there was nothing else for him to accomplish so I think that when you’re in the sport and you’ve accomplished everything else then you should just retire.
“There’s all these young kids coming up and I might start getting beaten and I hate losing.”
The Jamaican is prone to making off-the-cuff statements about his legacy and ‘legend’ but, as he looked to his right and saw England’s silver medal-winning relay quartet — with an average age of just 23 — his words seemed to carry particular resonance.
At 27, Bolt is far from finished, despite seeing much of this season wiped out by the foot injury he suffered in April, but it is getting harder, even for him.
His appeal is stronger than ever — he signed hundreds of autographs and smiled for umpteen ‘selfies’ during a protracted 45-minute lap of honour wearing a tartan bonnet and scarf on Saturday — but, physically, time is starting to take its toll in terms of the effort he has to put into Track-wise, you can feel the difference sometimes, especially after the workouts,’ he said. (Daily Mail)
