Usain Bolt loped into Paris and admitted his post-miracle problems have been caused by laziness. It was a candid confession in a field founded on fast talk and ego, but the Jamaican has always seemed to be a man who puts more faith in duvets than divas.
“My coach [Glen Mills] said I would never get it easy again, because when it gets easy, I get lazy,” he said as he reflected on the slacker season in which he retired hurt last August after losing to Tyson Gay. “I was too laid-back, I stopped doing my back exercises and that’s partially why I got injured. The key is learning from your mistakes and becoming a better person.”
This was intriguing stuff. Bolt has often had to defend himself against allegations that he does not work as hard as others, but here was the copper-bottomed proof. More startling still was his apparent acceptance that he is no longer the undisputed greatest. Triple world and Olympic champion he may be, but intimations of mortality have been served and Bolt has tucked in.
“I know what I need to get back to the top,” he said. “My focus is getting back the Usain Bolt that everyone knows and loves. I’ve said I want to become a legend and defending my world titles, back to back, would make me one of few to have done that.”
The idea that this 24-year-old may be lazy is good news for sofa sales. After all, he is still the fastest man in the world this year over 200 metres, the distance at which he faces Christophe Lemaître, from France, in the Samsung Diamond League tomorrow. Bolt is too languid to be roused to mind games and his assessment of Lemaître showed his confidence has not been significantly dented. “He’s really been putting it down and I am proud of him,” he said.
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That would sound condescending from anyone else, but Bolt does realism as well as magic and knows he is almost half a second faster than Lemaître over the longer sprint in 2011. “He has really stepped it up and shown he means business, but it’s going to be a different ball game over 200 metres.”
It is journalistic, and human, nature to veer between writing them up and writing them off, and the truth usually lies in the oft-untapped middle ground. Bolt’s form in his three races this year, coming after a back injury, does raise serious questions about his ability to regain his Berlin best, but he also has the impossible task of trying to top impossible feats on a routine basis.
“I think I have set a standard that is really high and people who understand the sport know that when you get injured, it’s hard to come back sometimes,” he said. “But I’ve been through it all before. When I was young, I got injured and people said, ‘His career’s over’, ‘Usain’s not going to make it back’, but I’m the world and Olympic champion, so I don’t worry about what people say.”
Nevertheless, it is a fact that, on present rather than past form, Bolt would not qualify for the Jamaica 100 metres team for the World Championships in August. There are three compatriots ahead of him, along with two Americans and a Zimbabwean. Even with Gay missing the trip to Daegu, South Korea, after injury forced him out of the sudden-death United States trials — he has now been left off the relay team, too — Bolt says he needs to rediscover his Midas touch. “Steve Mullings is running good and Asafa [Powell] posted a great time in Lausanne last week,” he said.
Mullings has served a doping ban in the past. So has Justin Gatlin. Should they and Dwain Chambers be excluded from big Diamond League nights because of the Euromeetings guideline to ignore those who have served two-year suspensions? “There are rules,” Bolt said simply. “And if there are rules then they are there for a reason. I don’t have a problem running against anybody. I can’t be complacent.”
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That is because of the mistakes, the laziness and the muscle. The byproduct of taking it too easy last year was that he worked too hard in the gym and added too much bulk before this one. “My coach was not impressed at what I looked like so I’ve definitely backed off in the gym,” he said. “We sat down after Oslo, watched the tapes and we worked out what we need to work on. Now I’m feeling much better and I’m more confident.”
What needs to be improved from that world-leading 200 metres mark of 19.86sec last month? “My technique,” he said. “My start was OK, but my fluency wasn’t there when I got into my drive phase. For me it’s all about getting the perfect execution.”
It was never going to be a bed of roses for Bolt after he achieved the perfect race in the Olympics in Beijing and then got better. That is a huge burden, but he suggested it was one that may have hampered Gay more seriously. “Tyson’s been saying he’s had problems last season and this,” Bolt said. “Personally, I think he pushed himself too much.
“When you’re injured, you have to make sure you’re fully fit before going back to 100 per cent workouts.”
Bolt has previously suggested that Gay is too preoccupied with him, even quipping that he needs a girlfriend, but the American is gone for the year and the route back to the top in Daegu and London now looks a lot smoother.
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The bad news for British fans is Ricky Simms, his agent, confirmed he is unlikely to run in the UK until the Olympic Games because of tax laws. That is a shame because few can capture a crowd like Bolt. Yesterday, he was mobbed and ended a press conference by lauding L’Equipe journalists for “slouching in their chairs” and being the “coolest” of inquisitors. Now, after the lie-in and the love-in, he will attempt to answer the most searching question at the Stade de France.
Top times of 2011
• Usain Bolt (Jam) 100m: 9.91sec (PB: 9.58), ranking: 7 200m: 19.86 (PB: 19.19), ranking: 1
Solid, but not spectacular, Bolt is only the fourth-fastest Jamaican in the 100 metres and is behind where he was this time last year in the 200 metres, too.
• Tyson Gay (US) 100m: 9.79 (PB: 9.69), ranking: 2 200m: N/A (PB: 19.58), ranking: N/A
Had already decided to skip the 200 metres this year when injuries ruled him out of the American trials and, hence, the World Championships. Can he get and stay fit for 2012?
• Asafa Powell (Jam) 100m: 9.78 (9.72), ranking: 1 200m: 20.55 (PB: 19.90), ranking: 60
Recorded this year’s fastest 100 metres in Lausanne last week but is considered flaky under pressure at the leading championships. Should have beaten Bolt in the season opener in Rome.
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Words by Rick Broadbent
Hot dates
July 8 200 metres at Samsung Diamond League meeting in Paris
July 22 100 metres at Diamond League meeting in Monaco
July 29 Could add Diamond League meeting in Stockholm
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Aug 28 100 metres final at World Championships in Daegu, South Korea
Sept 3 200 metres final at World Championships
Sept 4 4 x 100 metres relay final at World Championships
Sept 16 Likely to compete at final Diamond League meeting in Brussels