A Bolt from the blue for Usain as Gatlin triumphs
Source: Agencies |
June 8, 2013, Saturday
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AFTER five years of dominating sprinting, Usain Bolt is showing signs of slowing down.
The Jamaican lost by one-hundredth of a second on Thursday to American sprinter Justin Gatlin, who timed 9.94 seconds in the 100 meters at the Golden Gala meet in Rome.
It was Bolt's first significant international loss since his false-start disqualification at the 2011 world championships in South Korea. But he also struggled in his first 100 this year, winning a photo finish in 10.09 on the Cayman Islands a month ago while dealing with a hamstring injury.
This is normally the time Bolt starts to leave his rivals behind as he revs up for the year's biggest event. This season, it's the world championships in Moscow in August.
However, the always cool Jamaican is not worried.
"For me it is just going through the season," said Bolt, the world-record holder and six-time Olympic champion. "Put things together for the world championships. The season is still very early."
He did not blame the hamstring this time. "During the race I didn't feel it all. Afterwards it was sore but that's expected. But during the race it was fine."
Gatlin, who has won all five of his 100-meter races this year and had been doing some pre-race trash talking, was restrained in his celebration, just clapping his hands rapidly. "This year I just want to be able to put together a better race, give him some competition when he's at his top form, to make it a more epic race," Gatlin said. "He's a legend, he's done great things and I just want to go out there and just fight to the end."
On a delightful spring evening before a Stadio Olimpico crowd of 52,305, Bolt was second in 9.95 and Jimmy Vicaut of France third in 10.02.
"I came into this race trying to figure out where I was," Bolt said. "Now I just need to go back and watch the tape and see what went wrong and what I need to work on. The fact that I lost this race is a good thing."
At last year's Jamaican trials for the Olympics, Bolt lost to Yohan Blake in the 100 and 200. Bolt also was beaten by Tyson Gay in August 2010 in Stockholm.
The Jamaican lost by one-hundredth of a second on Thursday to American sprinter Justin Gatlin, who timed 9.94 seconds in the 100 meters at the Golden Gala meet in Rome.
It was Bolt's first significant international loss since his false-start disqualification at the 2011 world championships in South Korea. But he also struggled in his first 100 this year, winning a photo finish in 10.09 on the Cayman Islands a month ago while dealing with a hamstring injury.
This is normally the time Bolt starts to leave his rivals behind as he revs up for the year's biggest event. This season, it's the world championships in Moscow in August.
However, the always cool Jamaican is not worried.
"For me it is just going through the season," said Bolt, the world-record holder and six-time Olympic champion. "Put things together for the world championships. The season is still very early."
He did not blame the hamstring this time. "During the race I didn't feel it all. Afterwards it was sore but that's expected. But during the race it was fine."
Gatlin, who has won all five of his 100-meter races this year and had been doing some pre-race trash talking, was restrained in his celebration, just clapping his hands rapidly. "This year I just want to be able to put together a better race, give him some competition when he's at his top form, to make it a more epic race," Gatlin said. "He's a legend, he's done great things and I just want to go out there and just fight to the end."
On a delightful spring evening before a Stadio Olimpico crowd of 52,305, Bolt was second in 9.95 and Jimmy Vicaut of France third in 10.02.
"I came into this race trying to figure out where I was," Bolt said. "Now I just need to go back and watch the tape and see what went wrong and what I need to work on. The fact that I lost this race is a good thing."
At last year's Jamaican trials for the Olympics, Bolt lost to Yohan Blake in the 100 and 200. Bolt also was beaten by Tyson Gay in August 2010 in Stockholm.
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