Usain Bolt is a key asset as IAAF seeks bright future

Monte Carlo - Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt is a major athletics asset capable of lowering his 100-metres world record again at the Berlin world championships in August. 'Bolt is a fantastic young athlete. The people really appreciate him,' the head of the ruling athletics body IAAF, Lamine Diack, told the German Press Agency dpa on Tuesday. 'He will come to Berlin to be world champion. He will be at his best ... Maybe he run 9.65 seconds.' Bolt, 22, took the athletics world by storm when he won 100m, 200m, and 4x100m gold medals in world record times at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. He lowered the 100m mark to 9.69 seconds, even though he eased up before the finish. Diack reiterated that he was not too concerned about Bolt's celebration antics at the Beijing Olympics. His wild gesticulations there prompted some criticism from Olympic supremo Jacques Rogge. But Diack also said that Bolt must take some responsibility as a champion. Bolt made headlines on Sunday when he took part in a street race in Manchester to set a world record in the rarely-run 150m. While construction workers put the finishing touches on the Monte Carlo Formula One street Grand Prix track below, Diack said at a rooftop restaurant of a local hotel that street races in athletics were also an exception and not the future. 'It is interesting for promotion but not to replace track and field in the stadium. The main issue is the stadium,' said Diack. The next big stadium event is the Berlin worlds August 15-23, where Bolt and other stars are expected to attract big crowds in the Olympic stadium. 'The world championships in Berlin are key issue. Here we can show our sponsors what we are worth,' said Diack. Tuesday's remarks came at a sponsoring event, with South Korean electronics goods giants Samsung signing a three-year deal for the world championships in Berlin, the 2010 indoor event in Doha and the 2011 edition in Daegu, South Korea. Samsung join TDK, Toyota, Adidas, Epson, Seiko and VTB as IAAF top sponsors, with Mondo acting as official supplier. 'We have a good product ... The contract shows the value of our sports,' Diack told dpa, while IAAF vice president Helmut Digel named the IAAF among 'the five world governing (sports) bodies which are well off.' Not yet completed, according to Diack, is a new European television deal with the European Broadcasting Union. Television and sponsors provide the most important sources of income for the IAAF, which has an annual budget estimated at 60 million dollars (44 million euros). Diack also set his hopes for a promising future on the recently decided new world champion programme, in which evening sessions will be tightened to finals and some sprint semi-finals. All preliminary action will be held in the morning, and no longer the evening as well, from 2011 onwards. Diack named the changes 'no revolution' but said that 'we have to see what television (and sponsors) expects and that the athletes compete in ideal conditions. 'We want to make money in difficult conditions.'