Olympic champion Usain Bolt shuns London over tax fears
Triple Olympic champion Usain Bolt will not compete at next month’s Diamond League meeting in London because it will not be financially viable owing to Britain’s tax laws, the Jamaican said yesterday.
“I am definitely not going to run (in London),” the world 100m and 200m record holder told a news conference yesterday ahead of Friday’s Diamond League meeting in Paris where he will run the 100 metres at the Stade de France.
Asked if it was because he would lose more money than he would earn from running in London, Bolt replied: “That’s what my agent told me.”
It was feared that if Bolt competed once in Britain and only five races elsewhere, British tax authorities would demand one-sixth of everything he earns, whether in Britain or not.
Bolt, who is suffering from a nagging Achilles tendon strain, will face a stern test in Paris as he will meet former record-holder Asafa Powell, the last man to beat him in July 2008, in Stockholm, for the first time this season.
“My main goal is definitely to stay unbeaten. I definitely don’t want to lose that race,” he said.