published: Thursday | August 28, 2008
Usain Bolt, triple gold medal winner at the Beijing Games, gestures during a news conference ahead of the Golden League track and field meet 'Weltklasse Zurich' in Zurich, Switzerland, yesterday. The meeting will take place tomorrow. - AP
ZURICH, Switzerland (AP:
AFTER ALL the Olympic hoopla, Usain Bolt said yesterday he just wants to get back to his day job. Running fast.
"Track and field is my job. This is what I do, I work," Bolt told reporters in Zurich, where he races for the first time since Beijing in the 100 metres tomorrow.
"Right now I'm just trying to get my blood pumping pretty much. I've been doing a little bit of training and just looking forward to the meeting," Bolt said.
The new Olympic champion and world record holder at 100 and 200 metres landed in Switzerland on Monday, direct from China for the first of three European meets before he can head back to an inevitable hero's welcome in Jamaica.
Not worried
"I know the celebrations will wait till I get home so I'm not worried," said 22-year-old Bolt, who was serenaded by a crowd of 91,000 in the 'Bird's Nest' stadium singing "Happy Birthday" to him last week.
The work promises to be lucrative if Bolt can lower the 9.69-second time he set with ease in the Olympic 100 final.
The Weltklasse meet organisers have offered a world-record bonus of US$50,000 (€34,000) and a one kilogramme (2.2-pound) gold bar worth around US$27,000 (€18,300). Bolt will get another US$16,000 (€10,900) for winning the race, adding up to a potential haul of US$93,000 (63,000).
"I don't know what time I will run," Bolt said. "I am just trying to come here and let the fans enjoy my performance. Because they come here to see a performance."
Away from the track, the 1.96-metre (6-foot-5) world's fastest man cut a laid-back, languid figure and said he has been catching up on sleep since arriving in Switzerland.
Coach Glenn Mills said his athlete has been in heavy demand to attend functions for sponsors, media and the Jamaican Government.
Still in good shape
"He hasn't really had time to get rest and training," Mills said. "But he is still pretty much in good shape and he will put on a good show on Friday."
As the new superstar of athletics, it is a lifestyle that Bolt likely will have to get accustomed to while being hailed by commentators as the man to restore the sport's credibility and popularity after two decades of doping scandals.
Bolt said he was ready to accept some of the responsibility to regain the trust of fans.
"I am just trying to help (the sport)," he said. "It is a good thing I am doing. I hope other people see that.
"I can't do it on my own personally but the other guys definitely are stepping up. I think track and field is getting better."
Bolt denied that his trademark celebrations - which the Beijing fans appeared to love - were disrespectful to his opponents, as was suggested by International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge.
"I never disrespect any other athletes," he said. "If you did track and field you should know that. I saw that I was going to win and I celebrated because I worked hard all year and I got what I wanted."
Mills defended Bolt and said he believed the accusations originated from American television stations, that he said didn't complain when Florence Griffith-Joyner played to the crowd while winning the women's 100 and 200 metres in 1988.
"They are the ones who started it," he said. "I think that Usain's dominance in the 100m brings a lot of jealousy because normally you have one country that usually dominates this event," Mills said.
"I have been to eight Olympics and I have seen celebration of all kinds. I was in Seoul and Flo-Jo was running the last 20 metres with her hand waving in front of the other competitors. Nobody said anything.
"I think the comments are unfair and that there was a certain amount of targeting," Mills said. "If they are trying to get in his mind they are wasting their time."
In front of a sold-out crowd of 26,000 in Zurich tomorrow, Bolt is scheduled for a rematch with Olympic runner-up Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago and Walter Dix of the United States, who won the bronze medal.
The 100 record has been equalled or broken on three previous occasions at the Weltklasse meet. In 1960, Armin Hary of West Germany clocked the first 10.0 time, while Carl Lewis in 1988 equalled the 9.93 mark he shared with fellow American Calvin Smith. Two years ago, Bolt's Jamaican relay teammate Asafa Powell ran 9.77 for the third time.
Bolt will stay in Switzerland to take aim at his new 200 mark of 19.30 at the Athletissima Grand Prix meet in Lausanne on Tuesday. He then goes to Brussels, Belgium, to run the 100 at the final Golden League meet of the European summer on September 5.
"I haven't set any goals for the rest of the season," he said. "Just try to get through the season injury-free and go home and enjoy myself."
Mills believes Bolt one day will run the 9.52 time that biomechanics experts believe could have been achieved in a flat-out effort in the 100 final in Beijing. But not just yet.
"This is his first year of running the 100m. In two more years he should be peaking at the distance."
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080828/sports/sports1.html
0 comments:
Post a Comment