Olympics 2008 News
Usain Bolt confirms 100m start at the Olympics
Aug 3, 2008, 10:05 GMT
Beijing - Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt will go for a 100 and 200 metres sprint double at the Beijing Olympics, his agent Nicky Simms confirmed on Sunday.
'I can confirm that Usain will run both the 100m and 200m in the Olympic Games,' Simms told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa by email.
Bolt, 21, raised the 100m world record to 9.72 seconds on May 31 in New York and also boasts the fastest 200m time of the year with 19.67 seconds.
The phenomenal 100m time prompted Bolt and his coach Glen Mills to add the distance to the 200m he had long planned to run in Beijing.
Eight athletes have achieved a golden sprint double in Olympic history, the last being American Carl Lewis 1984 in Los Angeles.
But Bolt needs to defy the odds as Jamaican men have so far never claimed a 100m gold at the Olympics.
The blue-riband dash on August 16 could be a highlight of the Beijing Games as Bolt runs into former world record holder Asafa Powell, also of Jamaica, and American world champion Tyson Gay.
Not present due to a doping ban is the 2004 gold medallist Justin Gatlin of the US.
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