http://daegu2011.iaaf.org//newslistdetail.aspx?id=61276Thursday, August 25, 2011
Bolt on sprint title defence: ‘I’m focused and I’m ready now’Daegu, Korea - As he prepares to defend the first of his World titles here over 100 metres, Usain Bolt has emphasised his determination to repeat his victory, if not his time, of two years ago.
The World 100 and 200m champion, appearing with other Jamaican athletes in front of a packed media throng in the Daeduk Cultural Centre just two days before competition begins in the 100m, was happy to agree with Tyson Gay’s reported prediction that he would win again in Daegu because of his “championship pedigree.”
“I proved it twice so I guess he knows what he’s talking about,” Bolt responded with a grin, before turning more serious.
“At Championships I believe I am much more focused,” he said. “Even when I’ve not been doing well in training, and I’ve been messing up, when it comes to a championship I have a real focus because I want it really bad.
“And now I want it even more because I want to be a legend. I’ve been working this week. I’m focused and I’m ready so - I’m going to get it done.”
But Bolt was non-committal when it was mentioned to him that his friend and rival Asafa Powell, who heads this year’s world lists with a time of 9.78, was out of the World Championships – it later transpired, with a recurrence of the groin injury which prevented him running in the Samsung Diamond League meeting in London.
“Asafa is out?” said Bolt. “This is the first I’m hearing about that. I can’t really answer that question. I saw Asafa yesterday, so I don’t know.”
Bolt, who has only managed a relatively conservative 9.88s this season, 0.30 slower than the World record he set in Berlin two years ago, said he was regarding this season as “a comeback season”, adding: “I’m coming back from injury and I’m working really hard to get back into tip-top shape. So I don’t think I’m in 9.5 shape, but I definitely will be able to run fast.
“I wouldn’t say it was more difficult to win than in 2009, although there’s a lot of guys running fast, and I’m not in tip-top shape which I was in Berlin.
But I think I’m focused and I’m ready now.”
Asked if he felt under pressure to break records every time he ran because of what he had done in the past, Bolt responded: “I think people expect a lot from me. Personally I am focused on winning. To me, pressure is always there. It was there even before I won my first gold medal. But I don’t look at it as pressure. I just look at it as ‘everyone wants the best from me’, so I just go ahead and do my race.”
Bolt insisted that his ambition of becoming a ‘legend’ of the sport by retaining the titles he won in Beijing and Berlin was “very important” to him.
“A lot of people have said that I am a legend, but I don’t look at it like that,” he said, adding with a grin: “But, in two years, I’m working on it...
“Other people have won championships and other people have broken records. But only a few people have repeated that year in, year out. Especially in the sprints it’s really hard to win and come back four years after that. But I’ve said before that that’s what it’s going to take to become a legend.”
He dismissed the suggestion that he had been receiving treatment in Daegu for an injured Achilles tendon.
“Injury? No such thing,” he said. “Us athletes, we get pains every day. Your back, your leg…so then it’s put some ice on it, and I’m good again. I’m great now.
I’m fine. For me it’s just about getting back into shape. Fitness-wise I’m good. Technique – I’m almost there. I wouldn’t say it was 100 per cent, but I’m happy.”
Mike Rowbottom for the IAAF
