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'Lightning' Bolt eyes more gold after Games

With three Olympics gold medals and three new world records, Usain "Lightning" Bolt says he deserves a break to enjoy his success and quash suspicions he and other Jamaican sprinters used performance-enhancing drugs

Primastuti Handayani (The Jakarta Post)
Beijing
Sun, August 24, 2008

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'Lightning' Bolt eyes more gold after Games

With three Olympics gold medals and three new world records, Usain "Lightning" Bolt says he deserves a break to enjoy his success and quash suspicions he and other Jamaican sprinters used performance-enhancing drugs.

"I was tested four times. We had urine tests and blood tests. We've been tested many times. We're good and clean. We have worked hard to reach our achievements," Bolt said at a press conference with his sponsor Puma on Saturday.

"Winning three gold medals will change my life but it won't change me," said the 1.96-meter-tall sprinter, whose Jamaican dance and lightning style became his trademark.

Bolt set the Beijing Olympics alight with his dazzling, record-breaking runs. The Bird's Nest stadium witnessed his victories in the 100-meter sprint in 9.69 seconds, the 200-meter sprint in 19.30 seconds and the 4x100-meter relay in 37.10 seconds.

The 22-year-old is now eying more gold medals at the World Championships in Berlin.

"I'm very tired now. But I will have my next meets (in the Golden Leagues Athletics) in Zurich, Lausanne and Berlin," he said.

Puma CEO Jochen Zeitz praised the sensational performances by Bolt and other Jamaican sprinters -- including women's 100-meter winner Shelly-Ann Fraser and women's 200-meter gold medalist Veronica Campbell-Brown -- saying it was an emotional moment for everyone.

"Jamaica has done it in style. They enjoy their race. Bringing that to the world makes it different," he said.

Jamaica won 10 medals -- six of them gold -- in track-and-field events in Beijing. Since its first Olympics appearance, in London in 1948, Jamaica has grabbed 41 medals from these events.

The only non-track-and-field medal it won was a bronze in cycling in 1980.

Bolt, who loves playing cricket, said the secret of his success was merely to enjoy himself.

"You have to enjoy what you do. Being an athlete is like working. It doesn't make sense to do things if you can't enjoy them," he said.

He admitted the 200-meter sprint was his favorite -- in which he toppled the 12-year-old record set by Michael Johnson of the United States.

Bolt refused to say he was a phenomenon like American swimmer Michael Phelps, who won eight gold medals at these Games.

"I'm not a phenomenon. I'm probably just a great athlete," said Bolt, who received a scale model of his dream car -- a BMW M3 -- from Puma.

"You can't compare me with Phelps. We are two different persons. I run, he swims. I did what made me come here, to win the gold medals."

Bolt also said he wouldn't follow in the footsteps of Carl Lewis and Jesse Owens by winning four gold medals in a single Games -- including in the men's long jump.

"I enjoy running very much now. I will focus on the two events: the 100- and 200-meters."

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