Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Usain Bolt hungry for Olympic Repeat despite slow start Ostrava

 

Phil Casey
Tuesday 29 May 2012 16:39 BST
Comments

Usain Bolt insists he would not care about losing every race between now and the Olympics as long as he retains his titles in London.

Bolt did not actually lose in Ostrava in Friday, but his winning 100 metre time of 10.04 seconds was so surprisingly slow by his amazing standards that he faced repeated questions on what went wrong at today's press conference ahead of Thursday's Diamond League meeting in Rome.

The Jamaican sprint star revealed more food and sleep were the solution to a lack of energy in his legs in Ostrava, but also laughed off suggestions that there was a chance such "off days" could become a trend.

"I never stress over things like this," said the 25-year-old, who won gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay in Beijing four years ago.

"I've gone through so much, so many things, that even if I lose every race up to the Olympics it doesn't matter because I know that I have one focus and that is just to go to the Olympics and do great things.

"I'm confident that myself and my coach can put together a programme to be a champion. I will focus on that. My coach is the greatest coach ever and knows exactly what to do to get me to the top. I'm not worried.

"I've said every day you never have a good race every time you run. For me, that (Ostrava) was just one of my bad races. I have to put that behind me and just move on. For me, it's not a worry. I have a lot more races to run.

"I explained to my coach (Glen Mills) that on that day my legs weren't feeling good and I wasn't feeling that energetic. Maybe it was lack of sleep or not enough food or something. I didn't have the energy I usually have so I've just been trying to get lots of sleep and eat properly.

"I'm training better than in Ostrava so I seem to be on a better track. You can't come out every day and win every race, and you can't come out and run fast very day.

"We are humans and we have off races and it's just one of those things. It happens in basketball and baseball and it happens to athletes. I'm never worried because at the end of the day it's all about the championships.

"I've set high standards and people expect you to do certain things. For me, all I've got to do is to continue running fast. I know I'll have bad races but I've got to stay focused on my goal."

Bolt has often stated that goal is to be thought of as a legend in the sport, something he feels will be secured if he can retain his Olympic titles and run 9.4 seconds for the 100m.

That would mean lowering his own world record from 9.58, but Bolt believes anything could be possible given that the track in the Olympic stadium was described as very fast following the recent test event.

"I heard about that," Bolt added. "It's always a good thing to know that the track is going to be a fast one. For me I'm definitely looking forward to competing on that track.

"People are looking for me to run 9.4. For the championships I always turn up and I always run fast. I'm looking forward to doing my best there. As long as I am fit and I'm ready, anything is possible."

PA

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in