I’ll quit after London and won’t be back, vows Usain Bolt

Bolt, 30, runs in the 100m in Monaco tomorrow night in what will be his final Diamond League event and his last race before the World Championships begin at London Stadium on August 4. He is yet to show any gold-medal form, having failed to break ten seconds in his two 100m races this season, although he says that he is not worried.

He had complained of a back injury after a race in Ostrava three weeks ago and has since been training in Munich while undergoing regular treatment from Dr Hans-Wilhelm Müller- Wohlfahrt, who has managed his injuries since Bolt was a teenager.

“I didn’t miss any training but it was difficult,” Bolt said. “The doctor has corrected a lot, it’s not perfect but I can train, which is the key thing and it is much better now. Over the next two weeks it should be fine, so I will do my best and focus on what is best.

“I’m feeling good. The season started off slow. After my friend Germaine [Mason, the Jamaican-born Great Britain high-jumper] passed away it kind of set me back and I had some work to do. I’m a little behind schedule but I am training well again and feeling much better over the past couple of days.” Bolt revealed for the first time yesterday that a large part of his decision to run the 100m instead of the 200m, his favourite event, in London was to make up for the one global medal he didn’t win at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, when he was disqualified for a false start at the beginning of the 100m final.

“I’ve always said I missed out on one, the 100m in 2011, so that is the main reason I am doing the 100m,” he said.

With retirement beckoning, he remains unsure about how he will fill his time, saying he intends to do more work with his charitable foundation. He is going cold on the idea of playing football, though, admitting: “I’m really thinking, do I really want to go back to doing so much work?” However, he says that he will remain closely connected with ath- letics and admits that his coach, Glen Mills, has already found a job for him.

“My coach said that I have to be his assistant until he decides to retire, so I know I will be working with Racers Track Club very closely,” he said. “But I don’t think I will go in only one direction at this point, I know I will try to work with my foundation a lot more, I will have a lot more time to work with that. I just want to relax a bit.

“I will still have to work out because I had a bet with my team that they say I am going to get a big belly in two years.”

Bolt has not run in Monaco since 2011, although he visits regularly for the annual IAAF awards, where he usually wins, and he was based here in 2015, training alone at the Stade Louis II, as he tried to overcome an injury before the World Championships in Beijing.

He is hoping for a fast time to show that he is in form for London, but says that people should keep faith with him even if things do not go smoothly.

“One thing my coach has always taught me coming up is that it’s all about the championship, it’s never about one-off races,” Bolt said. “One-off races are pretty much training; no matter what is happening, no matter how fast I run throughout the season, he always tries to remind me on what matters and that is the championship — the Olympics or World Championships.

“I’m always expecting to win. One thing about me I am always confident no matter what.

“The moment you start to doubt it, then it doesn’t make any sense turning up at the line. For me it’s all about winning, and I’m not worried.”