Usain will aim to restore sprinting’s
battered reputation when the Jamaican star returns to London’s Olympic
Stadium for the Anniversary Games.
Six-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt
insisted on Thursday that he was a clean athlete and fans could trust
him despite recent failed drugs test by the Jamaican’s sprint rivals
Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay.
“I was made to inspire people,” Bolt
told a London news conference ahead of his return to the Olympic track
on Friday, when he will run in the 100-metres at the Diamond League
Anniversary Games.
“I was given a gift, I know I’m clean.
For me it happens [failed dope tests], I’m not going to stress about
it,” added Bolt, the 100m and 200m world record holder.
Bolt’s compatriot Powell, the former
100m world record holder, tested positive for the banned stimulant
oxilofrine at Jamaica’s national trials last month and is still waiting
to discover if his ‘B’ sample confirms the original finding.
United States sprinter Gay tested positive for the same stimulant in May.
Bolt, 27 next month, refused to condemn
either of his rivals. “There’s a lot of details to be discussed, I’m
just waiting to see what’s going on,” he said.
“I spoke to Asafa, it’s tough, it’s
hard. I told him to stay strong,” said Bolt, who in London last year
repeated his Beijing Games feat of winning the 100m, 200m and 4x100m
Olympic gold medals.
“In life you learn anything is possible.
You have to be very careful as an athlete, there are a lot of things on
the banned list.”
Asked how dejected athletics fans could ‘trust’ him, Bolt replied: “How long have you been following Usain Bolt?
“2008? If you’ve been following me since
2002 you know I’ve been doing phenomenal things since I was 15. I’ve
broken every record there is to break. I’m living out my dream. I’ve
shown throughout the years I’ve always been great.”
As for British athletics great Sebastian
Coe’s call to increase standard doping bans from two years to four
years, which would see athletes who failed a drugs test miss the next
Olympic Games, Bolt said: “I don’t make the rules, I can’t determine how
hard things should be.
“That’s whey we have the IAAF [International Association of Athletics Federations] and Wada [the World Anti-Doping Agency].”
Another Jamaican athlete, Sherone Simpson, has also tested positive for the same stimulant as Powell.
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They will soon get you if you are lying. It's better to retire quiet than disgraced. We recall others have similarly boasted; Marion Jones, Lance Armstrong etc. In sports, you can only "sprint" there's no hiding place.
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