LONDON: Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt labelled himself the underdog as he seeks to round off his glittering individual track career with the defense of his world 100m title this week.
“That’s what I keep reading and what my team keeps telling me, so I’ve got to prove myself again,” the 30-year-old said in a warning shot to pretenders to his crown in the blue riband event of the IAAF World Championships.
Bolt started this season in sluggish form, running two 10sec-plus times before finally hitting some form at the Monaco Diamond League.
“The last race I ran was 9.95sec, which shows I’m going in the right direction,” he said.
“It’s a championships and the two rounds always help me. I’ve been here many times. It’s go-time, so let’s go!“
He added: “Usain Bolt has retired unbeaten in an individual event, unbeatable, unstoppable — for me that would be the best headline!
“If I show up at a championships you know I’m fully confident and ready to go, and my coach, I’m ready to go.”
Bolt refused to single out who would be his closest rival for the 100m, with heats on Friday before the semifinal and final on Saturday at the same stadium in east London where he won treble gold at the 2012 Olympics.
“The seven people who are going to be in that race with me, they’re the biggest challengers,” he said.
Bolt has dominated sprinting since taking double individual gold at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, going on to win a further six Olympic golds and also picking up 11 world titles.
He also holds world records of 9.58 and 19.19sec in the 100 and 200m, both set when winning at the 2009 Berlin worlds.
Bolt admitted that he hoped his records would last.
“I want to brag to my kids when they’re 15, that I’m still the best,” he joked.
In a glitzy press conference organized by his long-term sponsors Puma and hosted by Welsh ex-hurdler Colin Jackson, Bolt picked out his then-world record breaking victory in the 200m at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 as the stand-out performance of his career.
“It’s definitely Beijing (Olympics), the 200m, because I never knew I could break the world record,” he said.
“That was my main dream growing up — I always wanted to be Olympic 200m champion. When I broke the record I didn’t know how to react.”
And he insisted that motivation was not lacking despite having devoted his life to the track since the age of 10.
“Every year you find something else to motivate you,” he said. “I love competition, I thrive on competition, and I want people to run fast to push me.
“I’m comfortable saying I’m a legend because I’ve proved myself.
“I didn’t know I would be 100m world record holder growing up, I had no idea.
“Anything’s possible, you’ve just got to put it in your head and work for it. There are no words to explain what I’ve done over the years, and I’m really proud of myself.”
Sprinting has been mired by doping over the years, and track and field’s governing body the IAAF has been on the back foot over widespread state-sponsored doping in Russia, whose athletes were barred from the Rio Olympics and will also miss London, although some have been cleared to compete as neutrals.
But Bolt insisted the sport was on the right path.
“You can’t be happy about doping, but we’re doing a better job and are catching up and if you cheat, you will get caught,” he said.
“After the scandal on Russia, it doesn’t get any worse than that. It’s on its way back up now.
“Hopefully, athletes will see what they need to do to make the sport go forward.”
‘Underdog’ Bolt ready to fire in 100m defense
‘Underdog’ Bolt ready to fire in 100m defense
Ortiz shoots 60 to lead Burmester by 2 at LIV Golf Hong Kong
- Torque GC lead the team competition after the first round
HONG KONG: Carlos Ortiz’s approach shot from 152 meters on his final hole Thursday at HSBC LIV Golf Hong Kong was headed directly toward the flag. Despite the long odds of holing out, for a brief moment, shooting 59 was a possibility.
The ball finished inside 60 centimeters, leaving Ortiz with a tap-in birdie for a 10-under 60 and a two-shot lead over Dean Burmester after the opening round at the Hong Kong Golf Club.
Not only was it Ortiz’s lowest round in his professional tournament career, it was the third time in LIV Golf history that a player has shot 60.
Just three rounds have been lower: Bryson DeChambeau’s historic 58, and the two 59s by Ortiz’s Torque GC teammates Joaquin Niemann and Sebastian Munoz.
“It was a great round … I think I hit it very close, like four or five times I just tapped it in. That doesn’t happen much, so it’s awesome when you don’t even have to get the putter out. Very pleased,” said Ortiz.
It was certainly the best round of a multitude of low scores at Fanling. Burmester’s 62 matches his score the previous round he played here, when the Southern Guards’ star finished second last season to the Fireballs GC’s captain Sergio Garcia.
Garcia, meanwhile, shot 63 while extending his streak of bogey-free holes at Hong Kong Golf Club to 63. He is tied for third with Smash GC captain Talor Gooch along with Scott Vincent, who shot the lowest round ever for a wild card player.
In all, 28 players shot 67 or better on a course that was soft due to rain leading up to the opening round. Included in that group was Anthony Kim, who shot 67 in his first start since winning LIV Golf Adelaide last month.
“As you can see by the scoring, it’s playing softer and a lot easier than it generally is,” Burmester said.
“But I know Saturday and Sunday the wind is going to come up, so I think that’ll toughen the course up. It’ll dry out and then we’ll get the true experience of Fanling.”
Ortiz was just two-under through his first nine holes and coming off a bogey at the par-four eighth. But he saved par at the ninth, then followed with three straight birdies on holes 10 to 12, including a chip-in at 11. He then eagled the par-five 13th after hitting his second shot to 155 centimeters.
“Obviously I played great coming in,” said Ortiz, seeking his second individual LIV Golf victory. Fueled by his 60, Torque also has the team lead at 21-under, two shots ahead of Smash GC.
Burmester called his round “pretty flawless” other than an error on the ninth when he chose the wrong club off the tee. Having come close last year, he can now chase his third LIV Golf title over the final 54 holes.
“I’m very proud of the way I kind of just hung together and kept pushing in birdies,” Burmester said.
“I saw a lot of guys making birdies, and I managed to do the same. Normally when that happens you feel like you’ve got to chase, and I never felt like I was doing that. I just felt like I was within myself, so it’s one of those good in-the-zone days for sure.”
Garcia always seems to be in the zone at Fanling. He has not suffered a bogey at Fanling since his ninth hole in the opening round last year, and on Thursday, he hit all 18 greens in regulation.
“I’ve always said it, that I’ve always enjoyed the courses that make you think, not the courses that you get on the tee and you know you have to hit driver as hard as you can and there’s nothing else to do,” said Garcia.
He is now seeking the 39th victory of his legendary career. “Obviously these are the kind of courses that I enjoy playing. These are the kind of courses that I feel most comfortable on.”
