Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, seen here in a file photo from the world championships in Berlin last month, has informed organizers of the Pre-Championships Meeting in Daegu that he is ending his season early.
/ Korea Times File |
By Yoon Chul
Staff Reporter
World's fastest man Usain Bolt will not be running at the Pre-Championships Meeting to be held later this month in Daegu, organizers said Wednesday.
The announcement comes after the meet committee said last month that they had reached an agreement with the sprinter.
"Bolt's agency informed us that he can't compete here due to his tight schedule," an official from Bolt's sponsor Puma said.
The Daegu World Athletic Championship committee also received the message from Bolt's agency, Tuesday.
"They confirmed by e-mail this morning that Bolt can't participate in the pre-championship," the committee official told The Korea Times, Wednesday.
"We tried to persuade him to run, but he had already made up his mind. The agency wanted him to run but he was very firm on that," added the official.
The 23-year-old sprinter has competed at two meets since he won the 100 meters, 200 meters, and 400-meter relay and set two new world records at the World Athletic Championships held from Aug. 15 to 23 in Berlin.
The Jamaican ran in the IAAF Golden League, Weltklasse Zurich event in Switzerland in late August, and competed in the Golden League, Memorial Van Damme meet in Brussels, Belgium on Sept. 5.
Bolt had initially planned to end his season at a meet in Shanghai on Sept. 20 but the Daegu committee reportedly offered him an appearance fee of more than $500,000 to try to bring the sport's biggest star to Korea.
The sprinter complained of fatigue after winning another gold medal in the 200 meters in Brussels, where he ran it in 19.57 seconds.
"I am so tired that I couldn't run the last 25-30 meters, I really want to go back to my home."
The Bolt camp also announced he would not be running in China either and will instead finish his season at the World Athletics Final, which starts Saturday in Greece, before returning home to Jamaica.
The Daegu committee had hoped that Bolt would provide a boost to the event, and had planned to use him to promote the meet, as track and field's most well known athlete. They also thought he could raise the profile of the sport here ahead of the world championships which will be held in Daegu next year.
Organizers will now move to a plan B.
"We are trying to invite Asafa Powell of Jamaica and Tyson Gay of the United States, but Gay could be a little hard because he has a thigh injury," the committee official said.
The list of participants at the Daegu meet will be announced after the World Athletic Final ends.
yc@koreatimes.co.kr
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