STOCKHOLM, Sweden, CMC – Jamaican sprint sensation Usain Bolt has admitted he was out-powered by Tyson Gay, after losing his first race in two years on Friday.
Speaking to reporters following his shock loss at the IAAF Diamond League DN Galan meeting, Bolt said he had not been good enough on the day and had lacked energy.
“I said the last time in Paris that I need to work on my strength because my first 30 metres is crap, pretty much and it showed there [today],” a seemingly unperturbed Bolt said.
“I got a good start but there was no power, there was nothing. I went home and tried to work on it but it didn’t work I guess.”
Running out of lane four, Bolt trailed Gay out of the blocks and was already behind after 40 metres. However, there was no now familiar late race acceleration and Bolt crossed the line second in 9.97 seconds.
The world and Olympic 100m and 200m champion took the loss in stride, reiterating he was not invincible.
“It doesn’t feel anyway. I keep telling you guys, that people always say, ‘Usain, do you think you are unbeatable?’ and I said ‘never’,” said Bolt, who celebrates his 24th birthday later this month.
“You can get beaten on a bad day and it was just one of those days for me today.”
Dismissing suggestions he had underestimated Gay, Bolt said the two false starts could have been a factor but conceded that the American was the better prepared for the event.
“I was ready, I was focused but the two times they stand us up kind of threw me off a little bit because when you are ready, you want to run and they kept restarting the race,” Bolt said.
“After a while you kind of get annoyed but I can’t blame it on that. Tyson was much more prepared than me. He was in better shape than me. It’s just one of those things. I am just happy it happened one of those years that there was no championship.”
