Bolt breaks for 2010 season

Bolt breaks for 2010 season


Kingston, Jamaica, August 11, 2010

Usain Bolt, 100 metres Olympic and world champion is cutting his season short for the rest of 2010, because of tightness in his lower back.

Bolt’s Jamaican's manager, Ricky Simms, wrote in an email Tuesday that the world record-holder at 100 and 200 metres will have treatment to loosen his back and then rest, skipping IAAF Diamond League track and field meets in Zurich on August 19, and in Brussels on August 27.

"It is better for me not to take any risks this year," Bolt said. "2011 and 2012 are very important ... and I hope to be back fully fit and healthy. I look forward to coming back stronger next year." Bolt stated

Unbeatable
Bolt hadn't lost an individual race in two years until Friday, August 6, 2010 when Tyson Gay of the United States beat him at the DN Galan meet in Stockholm. Gay ran 9.84 seconds, and Bolt finished in 9.97 — nearly 0.40 slower than his record for the 100.

Given the six-foot-five Bolt's recent dominance and his dynamic, crowd-pleasing personality, the sabbatical he's taking is a blow to track and field in the short term, but should give the sport a boost when he returns.

Doctor in Munich
Simms said Bolt was examined Monday by a doctor in Munich who found the back problem. "He has a tightness that restricts his ability to generate power in his stride and continuing to race in this condition could risk injury to his hamstrings or calf muscles," Simms wrote. Simms said the decision to take time off was made "with a view to his future career." He also said that an MRI exam showed that a previous left Achilles' tendon injury that caused Bolt to take time off earlier this year is healed.

The back injury "may be something where he can run on it. But run on it and risk the next three years? If Usain Bolt was my athlete, and somebody in the medical field says he has an issue where he could run and be fine or could get injured and be laid up? Guess what: That would be the end of that," Boldon said. "There's nothing to win this year. There's no sense in risking anything else."

The next outdoor world championships are in Daegu, South Korea, in August 2011; the 2012 Summer Olympics are in London.

Bolt defeated on August 6, 2010
After beating Bolt on Friday, even Gay acknowledged he wasn't racing against a fit opponent. In a Facebook posting Tuesday reacting to Bolt's announcement, Gay wished Bolt the best and said: "I've had my own injuries in the past, so I understand his decision as well as anyone."

When the 23-year-old Bolt is in top gear, no one has come close to him. "People felt the margin was so great that he could roll out of bed, almost literally, and put away anybody else in the world, including Gay," Boldon said. "People are now like, 'You know what? Maybe not.' If he's not ready to run in top form, this becomes a real tight race."

2008 Beijing Olympics
The Jamaican stole the show on the track at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, winning gold medals and breaking the world records in the 100 and 200 sprints, as well as the 400 relay. None of the finals in those events was even close, and Bolt began his celebration in the dash before it was done, stretching out his arms with palms up, then slapping his chest.

He followed up that performance at last year's world championships in Berlin by lowering his marks in the 100 to 9.58, in the 200 to 19.19.

"He is the most-known athlete we currently have, and he's definitely someone that the public asks for," said Patrick Magyar, the director of Zurich's Weltklasse meet and vice chairman of the Diamond League. "If he was just not in the best of shape, he would still have come, but he is obviously at risk of hurting his body — and nobody wants that to happen."