LONDON: Jamaican legend Usain Bolt is determined to bid a golden farewell to his lustrous track career at the World Athletics Championships in London but Canada’s Andre de Grasse is eager to gatecrash the party.
The 22-year-old — who signed the most lucrative contract offered to a track and field athlete in 2015 for a reported £7.5million (€8.3m, $9.8m) with an extra £20m in potential bonuses — is looking to improve on his Olympic bronze in the 100 meters and silver in the 200 meters last year.
De Grasse, whose mother took on two jobs to help him pursue his sporting dreams, admits the contract offer put pressure on him, especially as it was with Bolt’s kit provider Puma.
“To replace the greatest in Usain Bolt, I knew what I was getting into,” De Grasse told Monday’s edition of the Daily Mail. “I did have a bit of hesitation. Everyone can be nervous.
“I was thinking: ‘Can I handle this and take on the pressure?’
“I knew it would provide for myself and my family.
“I can’t have fears or hold back, I want to relish it,” added De Grasse.
With Bolt opting not to run the 200m in London, De Grasse’s chance to deny the charismatic Jamaican a 12th world gold medal comes in the 100m, provided he reaches Saturday’s final.
De Grasse, who only took up athletics aged 17 after trying his hand at basketball, says he needs to beat Bolt before he can be described a rival.
“It’s not a rivalry,” he told the Daily Mail.
“He has dominated for so long. I’ve still not beaten him — but I’d love to. To have a rivalry you have to have a back and forth.
“He is on his way out and a veteran. I'm trying to prove myself.”
De Grasse, who has shown some sparkling form this season running a wind-assisted 9.69sec in the 100m at the Stockholm Diamond League meeting, has come a long way since a troubled adolescence and being laughed at when in his first effort at the shorter sprint he adopted a standing start.
“It was the sideways run-up like in basketball,” said De Grasse.
“People in the crowd were laughing. I just looked down and ran.”
He has barely looked back since then and off the track has turned his life around and gained a degree in sociology — he bears a tattoo of the word ‘Hope’ on his inner forearm.
“I don’t believe the world is fair,” he said.
“I’ve seen things all over the world whether it is Doha or in Canada or America.
“I see how people live. You drive through neighborhoods on your way to events.
“Brazil was like that. You go past these slum parts and it’s not fair. If these kids had the opportunity or met someone to give them the opportunity, things would be different.”
However, before De Grasse can turn his attention to setting the world to right, he has other ambitions on the track.
“I want to be an Olympic champion, world champion, maybe even a world record.
“I’m determined to be the best.”
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Canadian sprinter De Grasse keen to leave Bolt's shadow
Canadian sprinter De Grasse keen to leave Bolt's shadow
Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics open with dazzling ceremony
- The extravaganza reflected the most geographically widespread Olympics in history
MILAN: The Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics opened on Friday with a glittering ceremony at the San Siro stadium echoed by festivities at Games venues across the snow-capped Italian Alps.
The extravaganza reflected the most geographically widespread Olympics in history.
It culminated in the lighting of two cauldrons, one at Milan’s Arch of Peace and one in Cortina d’Ampezzo, the chic resort 400 kilometers from Milan that is hosting the women’s alpine skiing.
Alberto Tomba and Deborah Compagnoni, two Italian skiing Olympic champions of the past, lit an intricate cauldron inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s knot patterns at Milan’s Arch of Peace.
In the freezing mountain air of Cortina, the task fell to Sofia Goggia — an Italian former gold medalist who had earlier taken part in a training run for the women’s downhill event.
The ceremony in Milan showcased Italy’s rich cultural heritage, with a nod to late fashion giant Giorgio Armani.
An otherwise harmonious event was punctuated by loud boos from the crowd when US Vice President JD Vance appeared on the big screen at the San Siro stadium.
But the US team received loud applause from spectators as they began their parade.
There has been anger in Italy over the presence of agents from the US immigration enforcement agency ICE as part of security for the American delegation, even though the Italian government has said the agents will not have any operational role on its soil.
Performers at the San Siro show wore outsized heads of the three great masters of Italian opera — Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini and Gioachino Rossini while American diva Mariah Carey, in a white sequined dress with feathers, sang “Volare” in Italian and “Nothing is Impossible.”
Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli got a rapturous reception after performing “Nessun Dorma” and dozens of models honored Armani by streaming across the stage wearing red, green, and white trouser suits.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella declared the Games open after International Olympic Committee chief Kirsty Coventry told the competitors: “You remind us that we can be brave, that we can be kind, that we can get back up, no matter how hard we fall.”
In a first, 2,900 athletes paraded in the venues closest to where they will compete in the February 6-22 Games, in a bid to minimize travel.
Remarkable Vonn
Earlier Friday, Lindsey Vonn, the biggest star at the Milan-Cortina Olympics, passed a crucial test of her injured knee.
The American skier successfully completed her first training run for the women’s downhill event, despite competing with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.
It kept alive the 41-year-old’s hopes of medal glory in Italy.
Vonn won her only Olympic gold at the Vancouver Games, 16 years ago, but also has two bronze medals.
A top-three placing in Sunday’s final would cap a remarkable comeback from retirement that has been elevated to extraordinary by the injury she suffered in a pre-Olympics race.
Wearing a knee brace, Vonn completed the run at Cortina without apparent difficulty.
Before skiing she posted on Instagram: “Nothing makes me happier! No one would have believed I would be here... but I made it!!... I’m not going to waste this chance.”
Asked by reporters after the race if everything was “all good,” Vonn responded simply “yeah.”
Competitive action in the figure skating began, with defending champions the United States taking an early lead in the team event thanks to world champion ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates.
The men’s downhill race, one of the prestige events, kicks off the first full day of action on Saturday.
China’s freestyle skier Eileen Gu, one of the faces of the 2022 Games in Beijing, launches her bid for triple gold as the women’s slopestyle gets underway at Livigno Snow Park.
The extravaganza reflected the most geographically widespread Olympics in history.
It culminated in the lighting of two cauldrons, one at Milan’s Arch of Peace and one in Cortina d’Ampezzo, the chic resort 400 kilometers from Milan that is hosting the women’s alpine skiing.
Alberto Tomba and Deborah Compagnoni, two Italian skiing Olympic champions of the past, lit an intricate cauldron inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s knot patterns at Milan’s Arch of Peace.
In the freezing mountain air of Cortina, the task fell to Sofia Goggia — an Italian former gold medalist who had earlier taken part in a training run for the women’s downhill event.
The ceremony in Milan showcased Italy’s rich cultural heritage, with a nod to late fashion giant Giorgio Armani.
An otherwise harmonious event was punctuated by loud boos from the crowd when US Vice President JD Vance appeared on the big screen at the San Siro stadium.
But the US team received loud applause from spectators as they began their parade.
There has been anger in Italy over the presence of agents from the US immigration enforcement agency ICE as part of security for the American delegation, even though the Italian government has said the agents will not have any operational role on its soil.
Performers at the San Siro show wore outsized heads of the three great masters of Italian opera — Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini and Gioachino Rossini while American diva Mariah Carey, in a white sequined dress with feathers, sang “Volare” in Italian and “Nothing is Impossible.”
Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli got a rapturous reception after performing “Nessun Dorma” and dozens of models honored Armani by streaming across the stage wearing red, green, and white trouser suits.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella declared the Games open after International Olympic Committee chief Kirsty Coventry told the competitors: “You remind us that we can be brave, that we can be kind, that we can get back up, no matter how hard we fall.”
In a first, 2,900 athletes paraded in the venues closest to where they will compete in the February 6-22 Games, in a bid to minimize travel.
Remarkable Vonn
Earlier Friday, Lindsey Vonn, the biggest star at the Milan-Cortina Olympics, passed a crucial test of her injured knee.
The American skier successfully completed her first training run for the women’s downhill event, despite competing with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.
It kept alive the 41-year-old’s hopes of medal glory in Italy.
Vonn won her only Olympic gold at the Vancouver Games, 16 years ago, but also has two bronze medals.
A top-three placing in Sunday’s final would cap a remarkable comeback from retirement that has been elevated to extraordinary by the injury she suffered in a pre-Olympics race.
Wearing a knee brace, Vonn completed the run at Cortina without apparent difficulty.
Before skiing she posted on Instagram: “Nothing makes me happier! No one would have believed I would be here... but I made it!!... I’m not going to waste this chance.”
Asked by reporters after the race if everything was “all good,” Vonn responded simply “yeah.”
Competitive action in the figure skating began, with defending champions the United States taking an early lead in the team event thanks to world champion ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates.
The men’s downhill race, one of the prestige events, kicks off the first full day of action on Saturday.
China’s freestyle skier Eileen Gu, one of the faces of the 2022 Games in Beijing, launches her bid for triple gold as the women’s slopestyle gets underway at Livigno Snow Park.
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