OSTRAVA, Czech Republic (AP) — Coming off a narrow victory in his anticipated return to the track last week, Usain Bolt is now fully focused on retaining his World Championships and Olympic titles that he says would make him a legend.
Bolt is scheduled to run the 100-metre race at the 50th edition of the Golden Spike meet today as he prepares himself for the August 27 to September 4 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea.
"It's very important to me, these two coming years are going to make me a legend," the three-time Olympic champion said yesterday. "I'll be working hard, I'll be trying to get back into form the rest of the season. I'm really focused and I'm ready to work hard."
The Jamaican will compete for the fifth time at the Ostrava meet, which is part of the new IAAF World Challenge series, and for a second time in the 100-metre event. He won in a wind-assisted 9.77 seconds in 2009.
"Competion-wise, I am feeling better and confident after my last race. I'm ready to run as fast as possible," Bolt said.
The colourful king of sprint said he aimed at posting a quicker time than the 9.91 seconds he managed at the Golden Gala meet in Rome, when he barely beat former record-holder Asafa Powell.
"I'll definitely want to go faster this race. Now, I'm really much much more relaxed, much much more focused," Bolt said.
Bolt had not competed since he was beaten by Tyson Gay in Stockholm last August, snapping the Jamaican's two-year unbeaten streak. He then ended his season because of back and Achilles' tendon problems.
"It was just a really bad race," Bolt said. "I'd never been nervous for about four years, It was something new for me. I got through it and that's the most important for me. Now, I'm ready to move on."
At the Golden Spike, Bolt will face fellow Jamaican Steve Mullings, who holds this year's best time of 9.89.
"Steve Mullings has been improving over the years," Bolt said. "He's a very talented athlete and I'm really looking to it. It should be a great race."
Bolt has broken the 100-metre record three times, the last time in 9.58 at the 2009 Worlds in Berlin. He also holds the 200m world record and won the 300 at last year's event in 30.97 seconds. However, rainy conditions prevented him from challenging the mark of 30.85 set in 2000 by Michael Johnson in Pretoria, South Africa.
Bolt is committed to several European meets this summer, including events in Oslo, Monaco and Paris, before defending his 100 and 200 world titles in Daegu.
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