Bolt backtracks on plan to retire after 2016 Games
Jamaican athlete Usain Bolt poses for the media with a copy of his new autobiography called 'Faster than Lightning' at a department store in London, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2013. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
LONDON >> The world’s fastest man is quickly backtracking on his retirement plans.
Less than three weeks ago, Usain Bolt said he planned to stop sprinting after the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. But the Jamaican now says he’s looking to extend his career by a year, meaning he could quit after the 2017 world championships in London.
"I am definitely reconsidering," the 27-year-old Bolt said Thursday while in London on a book tour for his autobiography "Faster Than Lightning." ”I think my fans especially have really voiced their concern about me retiring.
"They think I should carry on and so do my sponsors. I have discussed it with my coach and he says it is possible. We will see what happens. But it’s on the cards that I will extend it by one more year."
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics are not in his thoughts.
"It’s a long way away, but if I win the next Olympics I will have done everything I wanted to do in my career," Bolt said. "So there would be no reason to continue."
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Bolt won the 100, 200 and 4×100-meter relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and again at last year’s London Games. He won the same three golds at the 2009 worlds before repeating that feat in Moscow last month.
He’s also looking at competing for the first time in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
"I have said to my coach that I would love to go to the Commonwealths," Bolt said. "It’s something that I haven’t done before. It’s up to him, but I have said to him that I want to be a part of it."
