Rio de Janeiro : Usain Bolt will launch an audacious bid for three Olympic sprint gold medals for an unprecendented third time as the perfect antidote to a year of turmoil in his drug-tainted sport.
Track and field has been dragged through the ringer since Sebastian Coe took over as president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in Beijing last August on a “zero-tolerance” anti-doping mandate.
Widespread corruption at the heart of the IAAF, involving Coe’s disgraced predecessor Lamine Diack, was linked to shocking levels of institutionalised doping in Russia, one of track and field’s powerhouses.
In November, the IAAF issued a blanket ban of Russia’s track and field team over that state-sponsored doping, ruling that only US-based long jumper Darya Klishina was eligible to compete at the Rio Games, which start on August 5.
One supporter of the blanket ban on Russia is Bolt, the six-time Olympic gold medallist who is also world record holder in the 100, 200 and 4x100m relay. “This will scare a lot of people, or send a strong message that the sport is serious about cleaning up,” Bolt said.
And so the stage is set for Bolt in his quest for an unprecedented third Olympic treble. “This is where history is going to be made, I’m excited to put on a show for the entire world to see. This is my final Olympics, it’s a big one,” he said. Brushing aside any concerns about the hamstring injury which forced him to withdraw from his country’s Olympic trials earlier this month, the Jamaican sprint king ran a solid time of 19.89sec in his first competitive 200m of this season in London last week. “I’m getting there. I am not fully in shape,” said the 29-year-old.
