Bolt, Ayana athletes of the year

Monaco, December 3

Usain Bolt and Ethiopian distance runner Almaz Ayana were crowned as the IAAF’s athletes of the year.

Bolt completed his amazing Olympic “triple triple” of 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay golds at the Rio Games despite missing much of the season through injury and took the award for the sixth time.

He clocked season’s bests of 9.81s and 19.78s to win the 100m and 200m in Rio and then anchored the Jamaican team to a world-leading 37.27s when winning the 4x100m.

He also went undefeated throughout the whole season at all distances, including heats. Bolt, 30, plans to run the 100m at next year’s World Championships in London, seeking to add to his haul of 11 world titles.

Ayana produced a stunning run on the first day of athletics in Rio when she shattered the 10,000-m world record that had stood for 23 years. Her time of 29 minutes, 17.45 seconds smashed the mark of 29:31.78s that was set by Wang Junxia of China in 1993. Ayana also took bronze in the Rio 5000m, her only loss of the year over the distance. She ended the year as the Diamond Race winner for that discipline. She becomes the third Ethiopian woman to win the IAAF award, following Genzebe Dibaba in 2015 and Meseret Defar in 2007.

200m world record now likely beyond him

Bolt again said he doesn’t plan to run the 200m in his final season, realising that his world record of 19.19 seconds is now likely beyond him.

The 30-year-old said he thought he could dip under the 19-second barrier at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. But coming off the bend in the final, he felt his legs didn’t have a record-beating performance in them. “After last season, I kind of figured out that no matter how hard I work at this point, it probably is going to be hard to get the 200m world record,” Bolt said. “And it’s a lot more work and for me, coming to the end of my career, I’m not trying to do too much work.”

He also didn’t sound optimistic about breaking his 100m record of 9.58s, either. “If I can go through my season, which I doubt without any injuries, then anything is possible,” he said.

‘Do not retire and come back to the sport’

Bolt ruled out a return for the 2020 Tokyo Games. The nine-time Olympics champion said his coach has told him, “‘Do not retire and come back to the sport, don’t ever do that. So you have got to make sure you are sure.’ Not to brag or anything, but a lot of people at 30 haven’t accomplished what I’ve accomplished, so, for me, I think I’ve done all I wanted to,” Bolt said. He made it clear that his last season would be more of a farewell tour than a final drive for more records. He’s targeting a few races in his favourite places: he mentioned Ostrava, Lausanne and Paris. “This season is pretty much mainly for the fans,” Bolt said. “A lot of people always wanted to see me compete and haven’t had the chance.” 

There are some things he is certain he won’t be doing: He ruled out playing American football, saying he doesn’t want to get hit. He also ruled out switching to bobsled, like American hurdler Lolo Jones, saying “anybody who knows me knows I don’t do well with cold.” And there is zero chance that he will challenge David Rudisha to a race over 400m.

“That won’t happen,” Bolt said. “Not even for charity.” Bolt said his immediate plans in retirement are “pretty much to do nothing. No more training. I don’t have to go to the track unless I want to,” he said. Bolt pinpointed the World Championships in 2007 as a turning point in his career. After placing second behind Tyson Gay in the 200m, Bolt’s coach told him to get serious. “‘You’re slacking off in the gym. If you want to win you have to get stronger,’” Bolt said he was told. “From then on, I just took the step and worked.”

The next year, he won the 100, 200 and 4x100 relay at the Beijing Olympics. He repeated those feats in London and Rio. Bolt thinks he could have done even better had he knuckled down earlier.

“I thought it would be definitely to get serious quicker. I think when I was transitioning to being a professional I was relying more on my talent than actually on the work I was doing.” — Reuters