This is Bolt's time
Jamaica's Olympic 100m and 200m champion Usain Bolt talks about his rivals for the sprint crown, the horror of false starts and how he plans to make history at London 2012 in an exclusive interview to The Guardian on Tuesday. The Daily Star Sport is publishing portions of the interview for its readers.
"This will be the moment, and this will be the year, when I set myself apart from other athletes in the world," Bolt says in a quiet but dramatic statement of intent on the brink of the Olympic Games in London. The world's fastest man talks with unusually deep concentration, and a calm seriousness of purpose, as he stresses his belief that he will seal his dizzying legacy in the coming days.
"A lot of legends, a lot of people, have come before me," Bolt says. "But this is my time."
There is composure, rather than arrogance, in Bolt's voice. In a candid and open interview, the 25-year-old Jamaican dealt with the shadows of his recent dips and doubts and the threatening figure of his friend, and now imposing rival, Yohan Blake. Bolt knows that if he can overcome all his new challenges, and disappointments over the last year, he can join sport's most exalted pantheon.
No man has ever successfully defended his 100m Olympic and 200m titles on the track. Carl Lewis's name is now in the record books after his second-place finish to Ben Johnson in the 1988 Olympic 100m final in Seoul was upgraded to a gold medal following the doping scandal which ruined that race forever. But no sprinter has retained his 200m Olympic crown -- let alone repeated a hattrick by also winning the 4x100m relay for a second successive time. If Bolt replicates his feats from the Beijing Olympics, where he won three gold medals with blistering speed and irresistible panache, his name will echo alongside near mythic sporting figures like Jesse Owens, Muhammad Ali, Pele and Michael Phelps.
In 2008, three billion people, apparently, watched Bolt shatter the world record and win the 100m final with ridiculous ease in Beijing. His blurring 6ft 5in frame, and huge stride, helped produce the most exhilarating trick of time. Running faster than any man had ever run before, Bolt was so far ahead of his straining rivals he made it appear as if he had slowed to a saunter as he spread his arms wide in a "look-at-me" gesture and crossed the winning line. He wore the expression of a man who had conquered the world.
This time, in London, will be different. Bolt could be tested in exacting ways. Yet an even larger global television audience will be entranced by the prospect of him securing his reputation as the greatest sprinter in history.
The mistaken assumption used to be that Bolt simply needed to turn up, mug for the camera with some dance-hall steppin', and then run and win, before reaching for his arrow-shooting victory pose. "What can I do?" he says. "You can only do your work and let people believe what they want. I work my hardest because I know what it takes to be a champion. I know what I want and I'm focused on what I need to do to win."
Yet a contrasting quartet of races now flits across the usually sunny outlook of the brilliant and charismatic Jamaican. Last year, at the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, Bolt lost his 100m title after he was disqualified following a false start. While Bolt cried out in agonised frustration, as he stalked around a confined area behind the track, the re-started race was won by Blake, his club-mate and younger rival.
Two months ago, in late May, Bolt ran the worst 100m of his professional career and recorded a time of 10.04sec in Ostrava of the Czech Republic, failing to break 10 seconds for the first time in three years. "I had a bad start and had no feeling the whole race," a dejected Bolt told the massed cameras and recorders. "My legs kinda felt dead. I don't know the reason. The first 40 metres were really bad. I never felt the power out of my legs."
Bolt still won that low-key race but, tellingly, he suffered two defeats in three days at the Jamaican trials. On June 30, he was beaten in the 100m by the 22-year-old Blake, who won in 9.75sec -- 0.11sec quicker than Bolt. More shockingly, on July 1, Blake defeated Bolt in the 200m, a distance over which the Olympic champion had been considered "unbeatable" for years.
Yet, training in Birmingham as he winds down his preparations for London, Bolt remains engagingly uncomplicated. He does not shy away from a single question or seek refuge in evasive self-effacement. Instead, he is honest in underlining a belief that his "ups and downs" will make retaining his three Olympic titles all the sweeter.
"Definitely," Bolt says, reaching for his favourite word. "When you go through a lot it helps because you can say all these things happened for a reason. The key thing to remember is that hard work does pay off. If you put the work in, it will definitely pay off in the long run."
Bolt speaks plainly when suggesting that, after enduring unfamiliar adversity, he has become mentally stronger. "Yeah, definitely. It gets annoying but, after a while, you get used to people making their own comments and just judging you. But I'm always positive. I know what I want. I know what I am capable of. But it makes you stronger when you have to work so hard to get better and you have to go through all these trials. So I don't stress. I just focus on what is necessary."
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