Bolt may bolt after London

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Athletics
17/09/2010 - 12:11 - Updated 17/09/2010 - 12:30
Bolt ‘may retire’ after 2012 Olympics

Usain Bolt may retire from sprinting after the 2012 London Games, the triple Olympic champion told local media.

“Definitely I will go one more Olympics for sure and from there I will decide what I want to do,” Australian Associated Press quoted the Jamaican 100m and 200m world champion as saying.

“My coach may want to go to another one but we will determine how I am going because I definitely want to retire on top, like Michael Johnson,” added Bolt, referring to the retired American who holds the 400m world record.

"I asked him why he retired and he said he’d done everything he wanted to so there was no reason for him to continue.

“He was on top so I’m thinking if I’m on top and I’ve done everything I want to do maybe I’ll get out.”

Bolt, who stormed to world record times in the 100m and 200m at the Beijing Olympics and then smashed the marks at the World Championships last year, has flagged trying his hand at 400m and long jump.

“I have said the long jump but I think I’ll do something else before that,” said the 24-year-old.

“The long jump I think would be about a year before I retire because I think it takes a toll on your body.”

Bolt said he had chosen to skip next month’s Commonwealth Games in Delhi because it was at the wrong time and would cut into his training schedule for the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea.

“A lot of top athletes are skipping this one because the World Championships are very important,” he said, adding that he expected Jamaica would still dominate the sprints.

“Anybody in Jamaica who decides to go is going to be good because the depth is getting bigger and there are a lot of youngsters coming up.”

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lol, Bolt really likes MJ.

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It was coming.

He basically told us as much on the Usain Bolt: The Fastest Man Who Has Ever Lived documentary.

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I wish he wasn’t so impulsive when answering questions. It would be good to use that “thing” he has in his head before saying things like this. The other day he was a soccer star. Before that a 400m runner, long jumper and now he is talking retirement in 2012!

Then a contradiction;

“The long jump I think would be about a year before I retire because I think it takes a toll on your body.”

So according to him, he will retire in 2012 therefore he will do LJ in 2011 or next year!

Oh, what about the 400m event? Forget about it!

If he isn’t going to do the LJ event in 2011 then he won’t retire in 2012, and he would not take up the LJ even just to compete at some Jamaican paddocks but at an elite event such as WC, OG or CG. Therefore he is either full of shit, just blabbing or …take a pick.

Oh, yeah, and I see him as a lazy person too :slight_smile:

Perhaps he would make a good dancer of this hip hop shit. Maybe he will make a movie - 8mile II or something…

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He doesnt know wtf he wants to do. I think he would have to get spanked on the track a few times to make him forget about retiring. When wally and gay was giving him the business in the 200 he wasnt talking bout retirement.

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He’s 24, he doesn’t know what he wants.

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I wish the current crop of athletes would strive for longevity like Edwin Moses. 10 years, 122 races unbeaten. 4 world records, 2 Olympic golds, 2 world cup golds, 3 world cup golds, and all in the same event. None of this “I set a record, won a couple titles, I’m done” stuff.

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I once got pulled over by an older cop in Newport Beach, Ca, he asked if I was an athlete and I said, “yea, I run track” and he then said, “oh, you see that beach area? Yea, well, Edwin Moses use to train in the sand over there I use to see him there all the time.” He then pointed to the homes in the hills and he said, “now he lives right up there in those hills”…:cool:

As far as your post, I agree. Seems like athletes today are more focused on the money/fame and some kind of career they can launch from it like acting more so then playing their respective sport.

But in the end, Bolt can do whatever he wants in my opinion because he brought much needed attention to what I feel is a dying sport as track and field is no where near as popular as it use to be in the 80’s.