Back to the gym for Bolt after Paris victory
Sprint star Usain Bolt will head home to Jamaica for two weeks
of intensive core strengthening as his comeback from a nagging
Achilles tendon injury saw him notch up another 100m victory.
Bolt, the reigning world record holder in the 100 and 200m, ran
a meet record of 9.84 seconds at Friday's Paris Diamond League,
with Asafa Powell 0.07sec back and another Jamaican, Yohan Blake,
in third on 9.95.
But the 23-year-old triple Olympic and double world sprint
champion did not look at his very best and was matched by the
fast-starting Powell through to the last 20 metres of the race.
"I'm happy to get through the race having won and suffered no
injuries," said Bolt. "I'm definitely satisfied, but I'm a little
bit weak and need some work on my core strength.
"My drive phase was weak and I had no power," he said in
reference to his key strength over the blue riband event -- the
phase from the start through to the 50-metre mark when a sprinter
uses his power to build up acceleration.
"I have to go to the gym do more abdominal and back work. I have
two weeks in Jamaica, that should be enough... to get in decent
shape and come back.
"It wasn't the best race I've run. I thought it was going to be
quicker."
Bolt added: "Over the first 40 to 50 metres, I think he (Powell)
had me.
"The last 50 metres are the best part of my race but it didn't
show today.
"If the first 50 are right, automatically the second 50 show as
the best part of the race, but it wasn't the case."
Bolt said he had not been hampered by his Achilles tendon, an
injury which saw him miss several meets, the Jamaican making his
comeback only last week in Lausanne.
"In my stride-outs, I felt nothing," he said. "But I'm still a
little bit stiff in the mornings.
"My doctor has told me that in two or three more weeks I should
be good and ready to go."
Bolt also lamented the fact that he would be missing the London
Diamond League meet in Crystal Palace on August 13-14.
With a training camp in London for the summer's European circuit
and a large Jamaican population based there, Bolt said the British
capital felt like a "second home".
But tough British tax laws now mean that it would not be
financially viable for Bolt to run there.
"I'm definitely disappointed not to be competing there," he
said. "That's where we're based.
"It's like a second home. All Jamaicans come to Crystal Palace
to watch me.
"My agent says it will cost more for me to run there than I will
get paid. It makes no sense. This is my job. I have to put food on
the table and I can't do that if I have to pay them to compete."
Asked whether the taxation regulations would mean him not
running competitively in Britain until the 2012 London Olympics,
Bolt said: "I've no idea."