Bolt says doping scandals in track have ‘set us back’
LONDON — Insisting that he is running clean, Usain Bolt said Thursday that the recent spate of doping scandals in athletics will damage the sport.
They won’t affect his preparations for the upcoming world championships, however.
The world’s fastest man stopped short of condemning Jamaican teammates Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson or American rival Tyson Gay, whose failed doping tests have left the sport in turmoil ahead of the worlds in Moscow next month.
“Definitely it’s going to set us back a little bit,” Bolt said in London ahead of a Diamond League meet. “But as a person I can’t focus on this.
“I still have world championships, everyone is stepping up their game so I have to really focus on that ... I am just trying to work hard, run fast and hopefully help people to forget what has happened, and just move on.”
Bolt will run the 100 metres on Friday and the 4x100 relay on Saturday at the Olympic Stadium in a meet marking the anniversary of the start of the 2012 London Olympics.
In his first public comments since news of the high-profile doping cases broke, Bolt promised that he won’t be the next sprint star to be embroiled in a scandal.
“I was made to inspire people and to run, and I was given the gift and that’s what I do,” the six-time Olympic champion said. “I am confident in myself and my team, the people I work with. And I know I am clean.
“So I’m just going to continue running, using my talent and just trying to improve the sport.”
If the recent cases have cast doubt about Bolt’s own integrity, the 100- and 200-metre world recordholder asked any skeptics to just check his record.
“If you were following me since 2002 you would know that I have been doing phenomenal things since I was 15,” the 26-year-old Bolt said. “I was the youngest person to win the world juniors at 15. I ran the world junior (200) record 19.93 at (17) ... I have broken every record there is to break, in every event I have ever done.
“For me, I have proven myself since I was 15 ... I have shown everything throughout the years since I was always going to be great.”
It was announced earlier this month that Powell and Simpson tested positive for the stimulant oxilofrone at Jamaica’s national championships in June. Discus thrower Allison Randall and two other athletes also returned positives for banned substances at the same meet.
Both Powell and Gay claim they failed doping tests because they trusted people they didn’t know very well.