After having to return one of his Olympic gold medals, you could have forgiven Usain Bolt for going back on his promise to retire after this summer’s World Athletics Championships.
However, despite no longer being the proud owner of nine golds — the so-called “triple-triple” — following Jamaican teammate Nesta Carter’s failed drug test, Bolt admits he has no intention of returning to the track for Tokyo 2020.
“A lot of people keep asking me that,” Bolt told CNN. “No, I think it’s too far away … it is too far away.”
In January, the International Olympic Committee announced it had disqualified Carter after a reanalysis of the Jamaican’s urine and blood samples from Beijing 2008 revealed the banned substance methylhexaneamine.
The discovery resulted in all four members of the team — Bolt, Asafa Powell, Michael Frater and Carter — being stripped of their 4x100m relay gold medals.
“It’s something that’s already happened,” Bolt said. “I’ve done the work that I needed to do in the sport and I feel people really appreciate what I’ve done.
“So I’ll be satisfied with that.”
Speaking at the Laureus World Sports Awards in Monaco, where the 30-year-old was crowned Sportsman of the Year for a fourth time, Bolt says he is determined to enjoy his final season on the track.
“I keep telling myself, ‘this is the last season, don’t worry. Just give it your all, it’s for the fans.’
“It’s more enjoyable because I’m running just the 100m individual event, so it’s not as intense as running two events. So it’s not as bad.”
So what can we expect when Usain Bolt runs his final race at the World Championships in London this August? Another gold? A new world record, perhaps?
“We’ll see what happens,” Bolt said. “The good thing is that I’m not injured in January or February, so that’s good!
“This is the first time I’ve ever been in shape and not injured, so that’s a good sign. We’ll see how the season progresses, hopefully it will progress in the right direction and you never know what could happen.”
