Bolt promises season's fastest sprint
Source: Agencies |
July 14, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
USAIN Bolt expects to beat the year's fastest time for the 100 meters when he faces Jamaican rival Asafa Powell in Paris on Friday.
Bolt clocked 9.82 seconds in Lausanne, Switzerland, on July 8, matching Powell's time in Rome last month. The two will race against each other for the first time this season in a highly anticipated showdown at the Diamond League meet at the Stade de France.
"I definitely think the time will be even faster," Bolt said yesterday in Brussels, where he made a coaching appearance for several hundred promising young Belgian runners.
Bolt is the Olympic and world champion and world record-holder in the 100 and 200. Powell was the last man to beat him in the 100, in Stockholm in 2008.
"I am not afraid to be beaten by anyone," Bolt said.
"I don't want to lose. But if I do, I'll just go back to the drawing board and work hard and stay focused. I take him (Powell) seriously."
Bolt returned to competition in Lausanne following an Achilles' tendon injury which he said "heals very slowly."
Bolt's world record, set at the Berlin world championships last year, is 9.58 seconds.
"My aim in life is to be a legend," Bolt said. "I don't see myself as a legend now. If I did, I would have nothing to look forward to."
Meanwhile, Britain's sports minister Hugh Robertson said he could intervene after Bolt decided to miss next month's Diamond League meeting in London for tax reasons.
Prohibitive tax
Bolt said he would not run at the event because of Britain's prohibitive tax rules but Robertson suggested he could work something out with UK Athletics and promoters Fast Track. "I've not had a direct approach from either the sport's governing body or the promoters of the Crystal Palace meeting so I don't know exactly what we are dealing with here," he said.
"It is a problem we have come across and addressed with other sports and clearly if they write to me I will take it up with the treasury. It's a problem across other sports.
"Golfers and tennis players have come to me, and I'm pretty sure that at the back end of the 2012 Olympic bill is a commitment not to tax overseas stars who come over to compete in the Olympics."
The British tax system means that Bolt would be taxed on his earnings at the lucrative event and also on a proportion of his huge personal endorsements throughout the year, even though he does not reside in Britain.
Bolt clocked 9.82 seconds in Lausanne, Switzerland, on July 8, matching Powell's time in Rome last month. The two will race against each other for the first time this season in a highly anticipated showdown at the Diamond League meet at the Stade de France.
"I definitely think the time will be even faster," Bolt said yesterday in Brussels, where he made a coaching appearance for several hundred promising young Belgian runners.
Bolt is the Olympic and world champion and world record-holder in the 100 and 200. Powell was the last man to beat him in the 100, in Stockholm in 2008.
"I am not afraid to be beaten by anyone," Bolt said.
"I don't want to lose. But if I do, I'll just go back to the drawing board and work hard and stay focused. I take him (Powell) seriously."
Bolt returned to competition in Lausanne following an Achilles' tendon injury which he said "heals very slowly."
Bolt's world record, set at the Berlin world championships last year, is 9.58 seconds.
"My aim in life is to be a legend," Bolt said. "I don't see myself as a legend now. If I did, I would have nothing to look forward to."
Meanwhile, Britain's sports minister Hugh Robertson said he could intervene after Bolt decided to miss next month's Diamond League meeting in London for tax reasons.
Prohibitive tax
Bolt said he would not run at the event because of Britain's prohibitive tax rules but Robertson suggested he could work something out with UK Athletics and promoters Fast Track. "I've not had a direct approach from either the sport's governing body or the promoters of the Crystal Palace meeting so I don't know exactly what we are dealing with here," he said.
"It is a problem we have come across and addressed with other sports and clearly if they write to me I will take it up with the treasury. It's a problem across other sports.
"Golfers and tennis players have come to me, and I'm pretty sure that at the back end of the 2012 Olympic bill is a commitment not to tax overseas stars who come over to compete in the Olympics."
The British tax system means that Bolt would be taxed on his earnings at the lucrative event and also on a proportion of his huge personal endorsements throughout the year, even though he does not reside in Britain.
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