Usain Bolt Coming Out Of Retirement For Tokyo 2020; Wants to Run Sub-19 and Sub-9 in Superspikes
by LetsRun.com
April 1, 2021
Were you looking forward to seeing a new 100m champion crowned at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics? Well, you might have to wait a little longer as Usain Bolt is coming out of retirement for one last hurrah at the Tokyo Games. That’s right, Bolt’s back, baby! In a press release sent out by his agent on April 1st, Bolt announced his intention to return to competition and defend his Olympic 100m and 200m titles this summer.
100 Nuggets for Bolt a Day at the Olympics
These Games were set to be Bolt’s first as a retired athlete, but he said he just missed racing too much. “It’s been nice taking a break and being lazy these past few years, but I’m hungry to compete again. I’ve been training hard here in Jamaica and I’m looking forward to tearing it up on the track this summer.” Bolt denied he was literally hungry and wants to have the opportunity to eat hundreds of McDonald’s chicken nuggets at the Olympics again.
McDonald’s ceased being an Olympic sponsor in 2018, but informed sources believe they have reached a private endorsement deal with Bolt so he will get his nuggets, and they will get their publicity.
Will we see this again in Tokyo?
Bolt indicated that a crucial factor motivating him to return was the development of Nike’s new “super sprint spikes,” officially named the Nike Zoom Air Viperfly. There were rumors earlier this winter that the shoes were shelved in part to “protect Bolt’s legacy,” but Bolt said that was offensive.
“You think Nike didn’t do everything possible to try and beat me already? One doper after another, I defeated them all.” said Bolt.
“I always dreamed of running sub-19 in the 200m. Now with these new spikes, that’s a done deal. I’ve seen the world records dropping like flies in the distance events and Puma is going to make me a shoe, but I may run barefoot to just prove a point.”
The Nike Zoom Air Viperfly.
Can Bolt even beat today’s crop of young sprinters? He is 34 years old and last raced at the 2017 London World Championships where he won bronze in the 100m and pulled up injured in the 4x100m. What makes him think he can even win, assuming his competitors are racing in super spikes as well?
“This new generation of sprinters is pretty weak to be honest,” Bolt said in an interview with the Jamaica Gleaner. “(Christian) Coleman probably would have been my biggest threat, but he couldn’t bother to show up for drug tests so he won’t even be there. Everyone keeps talking about finding the ‘next Bolt,’ but I don’t see one on the circuit currently. That’s part of why I felt like I should come back. I didn’t want some scrub to run 9.5 in the new spikes and people say they were better than me. Maybe someone will run 9.5 in Tokyo, but I’ll be knocking on the door of 8 seconds if I wear Puma’s new shoe.”
Can Bolt really turn back the clock to beat the competition as well as his own records, which at this point are over a decade old? We’re not sure, but knowing Bolt and having seen the boost shoe technology can give, we certainly aren’t betting against him.