Bolt fears injury curse

2008-07-13 08:28

Athens - Jamaica's 100m world record holder Usain Bolt expressed his fears on Saturday that the injuries which have affected his two main rivals for the Olympic title would hit him with just under a month to go to the sporting showpiece.

The 21-year-old admitted that the hamstring injury suffered by US 100m champion Tyson Gay and the minor groin problem his Jamaican teammate Asafa Powell pulled up with in Rome on Friday had got him worried.

"I am worried all the main guys are getting injured," admitted Bolt, who is here to run in what has been considered his specialty event the 200m.

"I'm quite worried, nervous, I may be the next. Tyson says his injury is not serious. I'm looking forward to see him running. I wish them all the best. If I beat them when they are at their top, I could say I am the best."

Bolt, though, will have been encouraged by the news that Powell - a former holder of the 100m world record - was not that concerned by the pain that he declined to undergo a scan on it.

Bolt, who ran 9.72 seconds in New York in late May to eclipse Powell's mark of 9.74 seconds, said he was really looking forward to running the 200m here, an event in which he became the youngest ever world junior champion in 2002 in Kingston.

"I want to see where I am actually on the 200m," confessed Bolt.

"I am gonna run hard and hopefully I can get under 19.75 (his personal best and Jamaican record)."

However Bolt added he did not envisage breaking Michael Johnson's world record of 19.32 seconds this year.

"This year, I don't think so. Maybe next year, I may focus on it."

- AFP