Usain Bolt: I considered athletics comeback for Tokyo 2020 Olympics but my coach talked me out of it
World’s fastest man Usain Bolt has revealed that he was talked out of making a comeback at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Bolt, who won the men’s 100m and 200m titles three Games in a row, bowed out from athletics after the 2017 World Championships in London.
But the Jamaican says he had second thoughts in 2019 after missing the track, only for coach Glen Mills to shoot down his comeback plans.
“When I told my coach I was going to retire he sat me down and said ‘when you retire that’s it. I’m not doing any comeback tours, nothing. So make sure you are ready to retire’,” Bolt told the BBC.
“I remember I went to him in 2019 and said ‘what do you think about coming back for the Olympics?’ And he looked at me and said ‘don’t even start’.
“So if it’s not my coach, I’m not going to do it, because I believe in him and if he says no, it’s no. I’ve got that itch, though.”
Athletics and men’s sprinting in particular has lacked a superstar figure since he retired.
Italian outsider Marcell Jacobs won the 100m at Tokyo 2020, which was held this year due to Covid-19 delays.
Bolt, now 35, insists the time has passed to scratch that itch and revisit thoughts of a return to the track.
“It’s too late,” he added. “If I was going to come back it would have been to be for this Olympics.”
Bolt, whose 100m record time of 9.58 seconds has stood for 12 years, has dabbled in other sports and music since hanging up his spikes.
In 2018 he trained with Australian football team Central Coast Mariners but left after eight weeks.
He recently released a reggae album with friend Nugent ‘NJ’ Walker, having previously released two dancehall compilations.