Bolt holds back tears as he says a last goodbye

USAIN Bolt took an emotional final bow on the track at the end of the world athletics championships before declaring there was no way he would return to sprinting.

After a lap of honour so slow that you could not believe that we were saying farewell to the world’s fastest man, Bolt was asked by reporters whether he might change his mind.

“No, I’ve seen too many people come back and make things worse and shame themselves. I won’t be one of those people who come back,” Bolt said in London.

Twenty-four hours earlier the 30-year-old Jamaican’s matchless sprint career had ended painfully on the last leg of the 4x100m relay final as he crumpled to the ground in the London Stadium with a hamstring injury. Bolt, who admitted it had been a terrible end of a “stressful” championship after also losing his 100m crown, said he had felt consoled on Sunday when someone told him, “Muhammad Ali lost his last fight, too — so don’t be too stressed about it”.

Already looking to the future, Bolt said his management was talking to IAAF president Sebastian Coe about what he might be able to do for the sport in an ambassadorial capacity. He also revealed that his coach Glen Mills, the sage of Jamaican athletics, wanted him to become his coaching assistant.

It was a wonderful night of celebration for athletics’ greatest entertainer with Bolt honoured one last time at the stadium where he achieved the second of his three Olympic sprint doubles.

Coe and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, presented him with a piece of the 2012 track before he embarked on his celebration lap, slowly soaking up all the non-stop cheers from the 56,000 full house — all to a Bob Marley soundtrack.

He went over to the 200m and 100m start lines, knelt down and crossed himself.

“I was saying goodbye to my fans but to my events also,” he said, admitting he had been close to tears.