Bolt out of Jamaican trials, suffers hamstring injury

Two-time 100-meter Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt withdrew from the Jamaican Olympic Trials on Friday after suffering a Grade 1 hamstring tear.

Bolt won his 100-meter semifinal heat with a time of 10.04 seconds. He complained of a tight hamstring after his preliminary race on Thursday, and the pain resurfaced after his semifinal run.

Bolt offered details of his status in a tweet.

Jamaican newspaper The Gleaner reports that Bolt also complained about athletes being brought onto the track too early, causing him to run “cold.”

Despite missing the trials, Bolt could still compete in Rio. The Jamaica Athletic Administrative Association selection policy allows for medical exemptions, so long as athletes can prove the injury prevented them from competing at the trials.

Read also: Del Bosque quits as Spain coach

Bolt, dubbed “the world’s fastest man,” is hoping to head to Rio with the opportunity to earn gold in all three of his events — the 100 and 200 meters and 400 relay — for the third consecutive Olympics.

In the 2008 Beijing Games, Bolt set world records in the three events. The following year at the World Championships in Berlin, Bolt set the current 100 world record of 9.58.

In the 2012 London Games, he set the 100 Olympic record of 9.63 and broke the world record in the 400 relay with a time of 36.84.

Now 29 years old, Bolt has shown no signs of slowing down. On June 11, he ran 9.88 in the 100 at Kingston’s National Stadium, where the Jamacian Olympic trials are currently taking place. Jimmy Vicaut of France is the only other runner with a faster time this season, running a wind-assisted 9.86 in early June.

RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now