Cash gap convinces Olympic champ to Bolt

THE world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt, ran out of time in a dash for cash to make a possible A-League career.

Bolt rejected a contract offer from Central Coast Mariners after commercial sponsors couldn’t be found to boost his wage.

The Mariners maintain it’s a lack of time and money, not ability, that ended Bolt’s twomonth trial at the club.

“It’s more of a timing issue,” Mariners’ chief executive Shaun Mielekamp said yesterday.

“Unfortunately for us ... we weren’t able to come to an agreement in terms.”

Bolt is understood to have been offered a contract in the vicinity of $150,000 without a guarantee of getting an A-League game. The Jamaican’s camp reportedly asked for a deal worth $3 million.

The Mariners and Football Federation Australia, which refused to dip into its marquee money to fund Bolt, couldn’t find commercial partners willing to bridge the cash gap.

“I would like to thank the Central Coast Mariners’ owners, management, staff, players and fans for making me feel so welcome during my time there,” Bolt said in a statement released by the club yesterday.

While Bolt’s football ability was widely considered to be below A-League standard, the Mariners deemed the trial of the eight-time Olympic gold medallist “mutually beneficial”.

But Mielekamp admitted “an air of regret that this huge opportunity wasn’t able to be maximised”.

“In all fairness, it was such a crazy moment that everyone just got a brilliant chance to enjoy the ride that happened,” he said.

“To see the footage (of Bolt playing) go around the world, to have our club on stage in world media, was something we will all forever be grateful for. There’s no doubt that everybody - Usain, to the players, to the club - everybody together genuinely believed that if this was the right fit and if this could really make a big difference, then it would have happened.

“Reality is, it didn’t get there. But that’s OK. There’s no regrets with what has happened, there’s just a bit of regret that maybe the maximum potential wasn’t achieved.”

Mielekamp said the story of Bolt’s trial reached 600 million people worldwide. “No doubt we have got more sponsors and more attention, more expertise ... we have been able to grow so there has been some real benefit through this period,” he said.

“A lot of of that wouldn’t have have happened if Usain Bolt didn’t come to this club.”