LONDON, CMC – Sprint legend Usain Bolt has admitted to being under pressure to defend his men’s Olympic 100 metres title on Sunday.
Shortly after storming to victory in a new Olympic record 9.63 seconds at the London 2012 Games, Bolt said he had been worried and had discussed his strategy going forward with coach Glen Mills.
“I was really under a lot of pressure,” Bolt said during the mixed zone interview.
“He (Mills) said ‘don’t worry I knew where you went wrong and we know what we have to do so as long as you fix the back problem you will be ok’.”
Bolt said he had worked really hard to correct the back problems he had experienced and which had hampered him during the Jamaica Olympic Trials in June.
Then, he was twice beaten by training partner Yohan Blake, raising doubts about his ability to defend his Olympic sprint titles.
Bolt also said even on arrival at the Olympic Stadium for the start of the 100ms race he was still a bit concerned but said after the penultimate round his confidence improved.
“I was slightly worried because I wasn’t racing but after I ran the semi-finals I felt smooth, I felt great, so it was no worry after that. I was confident I that I would have done it,” he said.
Bolt also spoke highly of his training partner Blake who finished second in a personal best 9.75.
“He is great. He executed well,” said Bolt, while adding that the young sprinter would continue to improve as he continued competing with more big names.
With his victory, Bolt joined American Carl Lewis as the other contemporary sprinter to win back-to-back titles.
