Agence France Presse
Beijing, August 30: Usain Bolt warned the athletics world to write him off at their peril after the imperious Jamaican sealed another world treble gold despite an injury-hit season.
“This is even better, just to prove everyone wrong,” Bolt said of his treble in Beijing, where his dominance of world sprinting started when he came to prominence in the 2008 Olympics.
The towering 29-year-old has sat out six weeks of competitive action this season with pelvic joint pain, but he roared back despite a lack of outings on the circuit in the most impressive way.
“This season has been rough,” he admitted. “I’m just hoping that next season won’t be like this. I’m going to try my utmost best to really get on the right track early in the season and just hopefully can go on to Rio fully ready to run my best.”
After taking the baton from Nickel Ashmeade, Bolt had it all to do. But a blunder between Tyson Gay and Mike Rodgers saw the US quartet fall behind and later disqualified, leaving the way open for Bolt’s 11th world gold.
“It’s always a good way to end a championships like that,” he said. “I came here and executed to the best of my ability and got three gold medals so I’m happy about that.”
Coe hails Jamaican
Beijing: Usain Bolt has done for athletics what Muhammad Ali did for boxing, but the sport will survive when the sprint king eventually retires, according to new IAAF president Sebastian Coe. “Yes, what we have to concede, and what I believe is that I don’t think any athlete, any sportsman or woman since Muhammad Ali has captured the public imagination and propelled their sport as quickly and as far as Usain Bolt has,” said the British former Olympic champion.