(Reuters) – World record holder and six-times Olympic champion Usain Bolt has decided to end his 2014 season and will not compete in the 100 meters in Thursday’s IAAF Diamond League Final in Zurich, organisers said yesterday.
The decision, which Bolt’s manager Ricky Simms confirmed to Reuters, came a day after the Jamaican sprinter ran the fastest indoor 100m ever, clocking 9.98 seconds in Warsaw.
“His coach Glen Mills … feels it is now time to shut it down while he is healthy and injury free with a view on his preparations for the 2015 season,” Zurich organisers said in a news release.
Mills is satisfied with the eight-times world champion’s performances in the three competitions he took part in this season and Bolt will now rest, do some sponsor activities before resuming training in October, the release added.
The Jamaican had delayed the start of his season to recover from minor foot surgery and a hamstring injury.
In his only outings in an abbreviated season Bolt anchored Jamaica to 4x100m gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last month, won an exhibition race on Brazil’s Copacabana beach and claimed Saturday’s indoor race in Warsaw.
“Next year will be more serious with world championships,” Bolt had said after the first indoor race he had competed in.
He plans to defend his 100m and 200m world titles in Beijing next year and go for three more gold medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics before ending his athletics career at the 2017 London world championships. Zurich meeting director Patrick Magyar said he regretted Bolt would not be able to run there but supported his decision.
“Usain’s body has delivered tremendous performances over the last years,” Magyar said. “But, it is a body and not a machine. If an athlete of that level and his coach feel more rest is needed, we are certainly not going to question this and fully support this decision.”
