Bolt’s confident of world domination
IT wasn’t quite the elephant in the room but it’s what everyone has been thinking leading up to Usain Bolt’s farewell.
These world championships were supposed to be a celebration of the greatest athlete the world has seen. And generally with celebrations, they have a happy ending.
That’s why the thought of Bolt losing in his final 100m race is almost too painful to bring up despite the evidence suggesting it’s a real possibility.
The facts are Bolt has struggled this season running just three 100m races with his only sub-10 second time a workmanlike 9.95sec in Monaco two weeks ago.
Six men have run legally faster this year and that doesn’t include Andre De Grasse, the Canadian many believe is the heir to Bolt’s throne, who has the quickest wind-assisted time for 2017.
It’s a set of facts which is seemingly making everyone nervous apart from the man himself.
“Come on,” Bolt said as he addressed a packed news conference ahead of the championships which start tomorrow.
“You guys know if I show up at a championships I’m fully confident. My coach is confident and I’m ready to go. I’m fully confident, 100 per cent.”
This is where it’s hard to argue with the Jamaican given his winning run at major championships which started at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
A false-start and disqualification in the 2011 world championships 100m final in Daegu is the only blip on a CV that will never be matched again.
Bolt comes to his farewell the owner of 11 world championships gold medals and eight Olympic gold medals.
A couple of times he has looked in trouble yet prevailed.
In 2015 at the Beijing world titles, Bolt was struggling with injury while American Justin
Gatlin was dominating the season but when it came to the only race that mattered the champion lifted.
Last year at the Rio Olympics, there were similar doubts coming in but it’s almost like a switch is flicked when the big stage beckons and Bolt left Brazil with gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay.
He isn’t running the 200m in London and bristled when asked yesterday if he might change his mind if he happened to lose the 100m. “No,” he said.
“It’s not going to happen, so we won’t have that problem. It’s not going to happen.”
Asked if he still believes he is the fastest in the world, Bolt replied: “Without a doubt.”
“The last race I ran was a 9.95, so that shows I am going in the right direction. After the two rounds leading up to the 100m final, which always help me, it’s all about who keeps their nerve.”
Bolt is confident his world records – 9.58sec and 19.19sec which were set at the 2009 Berlin world championships – won’t be broken in the foreseeable future.
“I hope they’re not. No athlete would ever wish for that – I want to brag to my kids when they’re in their 20s: ‘See, I’m still the best!,” he said.