Iconic Bolt offers his helping hand
USAIN BOLT was 15 minutes late to his own Press conference yesterday morning, posting a picture to his Snapchat social media account of a doping control form by way of apology.
Drugs testers had knocked on his door at 10.25am, it confirmed. When he did belatedly show up at the hotel in central London and with dozens of photographers snapping furiously, the most recognisable man in sport held his arm aloft gesturing to a plaster where his blood had been taken.
Less than an hour earlier, a ban preventing the entire Russian track and field team going to the Rio olympics had been upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and his message was clear — I am clean even if some in my sport are not.
Bolt praised the hard line athletics has taken on Russian drugs cheats after a systematic doping programme in the country was exposed. The IAAF, athletics’ world governing body, has led the way by issuing an olympic ban on all the country’s athletes, with many sports now expected to follow their lead.
‘This will scare a lot of people,’ he said. ‘If you’re cheating, I always feel like it’s a good message to show if you cheat or you go against the rules then we’re going to take serious action, because doping violations in track and field are getting really bad.’
Adopting a more serious demeanour than usual, Bolt was called upon again to address the various issues afflicting not only him, but the sport in general.
‘I prefer to leave it to the big guys,’ he said, smiling, when asked to stray into the world of sport politics. ‘It’s just a sideshow, I focus on winning.’
on that happier subject, Bolt dismissed concerns the injury which forced his withdrawal from the Jamaican trials last month would have any bearing on his ability to defend his three olympic titles in Rio. Convicted drugs cheat Justin Gatlin heads the 100metre world rankings this year, as he did at the same stage last season before Bolt edged him to gold at the Beijing World Championships. But Bolt said Gatlin had crumbled under the pressure of his presence and insisted he would defeat him more convincingly this time round. ‘I think I’m definitely a tough competitor mentally,’ said Bolt. ‘Last year, Gatlin was just not ready. It was the first time he was actually being chased. He was usually the one who was chasing or he was winning by far. He had a tough competitor, which was me, and it was hard for him. ‘This year it’s not going to be the same, I’m in much better shape, so I won’t leave it to the last second.’
At 29, and just days away from his fourth olympics, many supposed Bolt’s days of breaking records were gone. He is not expecting to surpass the 9.58sec he ran over 100m at the Berlin World Championships but has his 200m world record of 19.19sec, also dating back to 2009, in his sights.
‘This is my final olympics and it’s a big one, this is where I need to make the big marks,’ he said. ‘Trying to break the 200m world record is what I’m focused on and the 100m will help me to go on to that.’
If Bolt is able to win 100m, 200m and 4x100m titles in Rio it will represent an unprecedented triple-triple of sprint titles, but that record is under threat by events off the track.
‘It seems likely that, through no fault of his own, Bolt will be stripped of the gold won with the 4x100m team in Beijing in 2008 after his team-mate Nesta Carter retrospectively failed a drugs test.
‘I haven’t spoken to Nesta,’ said Bolt. ‘It will be a little bit disappointing (to lose the relay medal) but rules are rules, it’s just one of those things.
‘What can I do, I can’t do anything about it. But everybody knows it’s going to still stand because I’ve shown over the years that I’m the greatest athlete and that’s the key thing.’
With just four races under his belt this year, all over 100m, Bolt’s 200m race at the Anniversary Games tonight in London’s olympic stadium, will be as much a test of his fitness as anything else.