Great entertainer Bolt vows never again
Usain Bolt took an emotional final bow on the track at the end of the World Championships in London on Sunday before declaring that, definitely and definitively, there was no way he would ever return to sprinting.
After embarking on a special lap of honour so slow that you could not believe that we were saying farewell to the world’s fastest man, Bolt was asked whether he might ever 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 firmly.
Twenty four hours earlier, the 30-year-old Jamaican’s matchless sprint career had ended painfully on the last leg of the 4 x 100 metres relay final as he crumpled to the ground in the London Stadium with a hamstring injury.
Bolt, who admitted that it had been a terrible end of a “stressful” championship after also losing his 100 metres 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 he was looking forward to an exciting future, he said, with his management camp talking to IAAF president Sebastian Coe, about what he might be able to do in an ambassadorial capacity. He also revealed that his coach Glen Mills, the sage of Jamaican athletics, wanted him to become his coaching assistant.
“So we’ll see how that goes,” Bolt smiled about the man who has put him through a lifetime of pain. The great man even had reporters laughing when he gave them a vision of what a 50-yearold Bolt might end up doing.
“I’ve no idea. Hopefully, with three kids, married, still in track and field, trying to help the sport, watching it grow,” he said.
“I don’t know if I’d take my kids to the track, though. I won’t be one of those parents who force their kids into things they don’t want to do.”
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 as a memento 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 200 metres 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 was close to tears. After taking rather longer than the 9.63 seconds it took him to win the 100m crown here in 2012, he stopped at the finish line and gave his trademark lightning bolt impression.
Allyson Felix won her 16th World career medal to help US to gold in the 4x400m relay. Felix clocked a startling 48.7sec, as the quartet, also comprising Quanera Hayes, Shakima Wimbley and newlycrowned 400m champion Phyllis Francis, timed 3:19.02. Britain, in 3:25.00, held off Poland (3:25.41) for silver.
BOWING OUT Champion sprinter ends career with note of finality, says there is no way he would return to competition I am Lightning Bolt! I am not Flash Gordon or anybody. My name is Bolt, Lightning Bolt. Manners is the key thing. Say for instance when you’re growing up you’re walking down the street you’ve got to tell everybody good morning. Everybody. You can’t pass one person. People come to see you run fast, but they also come to see a show, a performance... that’s what I give them. I’m now a legend, I’m also the greatest athlete to live. I am in the same category as Michael Johnson. If Queen Elizabeth knighthooded me I would get the title Sir Usain Bolt. That would sound nice.