Bolt could reverse his decision to quit

BIRMINGHAM: Usain Bolt could be tempted to reverse his decision to retire from athletics after next month’s world championships, his American sprint rival Justin Gatlin said on Friday.

The Jamaican is planning to quit the track after competing in the 100m and 4x100m relay in the global event in London.

However, Gatlin, who was beaten by Bolt in the last two world championship 100m and 200m finals and at last year’s Olympics in Rio, believes the 30-year-old could one day find a return impossible to resist.

“Why not? He has that rock star mentality where he can travel the world, have fun, party in different places and then say: ‘I want to take this seriously one more time’,” Gatlin told reporters at the U.S. team’s training camp in Birmingham.

“He has the opportunity to come back, once he leaves he can have a year of rest and say: ‘I love track I can’t leave it too soon’.”

RUDISHA EAGER TO HIT GROUND RUNNING

NAIROBI: David Rudisha can’t wait to get back to the stadium where he ran a world record time five years ago and is confident he can maintain his dominance of the 800 metres at the world championships in London next week.

The 28-year-old Kenyan still holds the two-lap world record with the one minute 40.91 seconds he ran for his first Olympic gold, when he lit up a packed East London stadium on a balmy August night in 2012.