Bolt to miss Commonwealth Games - coach
19/06/2010 17:48
The world’s fastest man Usain Bolt will not compete at the Commonwealth Games in India in November, the Jamaican’s coach Glen Mills was quoted as saying on Saturday.
“Bolt made it known long ago that he is not going to the Commonwealth Games,” Mills told www.trackalerts.com.
The double Olympic and world sprint champion was expected to be the star attraction at the Games scheduled to be held in the Indian capital New Delhi from October 3-14.
Doubts about Bolt’s participation in the Games were first raised by his agent Ricky Simms earlier this year, but this is the first official confirmation that he will be absent from New Delhi.
Simms had said in January that Bolt, 23, was likely to miss the Games to focus on the London Olympics in 2012 and the world championships in 2011 and 2013.
There was no immediate reaction from the Commonwealth Games organisers who were hoping that Bolt would make the trip to India.
Bolt is currently recovering from an Achilles tendon injury which forced him to miss the recent Diamond League event in New York.
The Jamaican won the 100m and 200m gold medals in world record times at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and repeated the feat at the 2009 world championships in Berlin.
The Commonwealth Games, which feature 71 nations and territories of the former British empire, are India’s biggest sporting event since the Asian Games in 1982.