Athletics: Rivals show Usain Bolt too much respect, says Olympic hopeful Kim Collins

Published on Friday 27 January 2012 00:52

KIM Collins has told his Olympic 2012 sprint rivals to stop standing back and admiring London hot favourite Usain Bolt.

The 35-year-old athlete from St Kitts and Nevis, who won bronze in the 100 metres in the World Championships in Daegu when Bolt false-started, is in Glasgow for the AVIVA International Match at the Kelvin Hall tomorrow.

Collins will captain a Commonwealth Select team in the match against Great Britain, the United States, Germany and Russia. It is his seventh visit to Scotland for the fixture.

And the outspoken Collins feels there is far too much respect paid to Jamaican icon Bolt by those who line up against him on the starting blocks.

“You cannot be an athlete and be a fan,” Collins told the scottishathletics website. “Too many athletes do not seem to appreciate that fact. To me it is almost as if when they take to the track they expect Bolt to win. They do not go out there seriously thinking they are going to challenge him. They have somehow lost the idea of competition.”

“There are people who can beat him this year in London. You have to try. It is not enough just to ‘be there’.

“Track and field is not a contact sport. Nobody can knock you off your stride. If you run your very best then nobody can physically stop you and it does not matter who you are up against. If you are thinking all the time about the opposition then you are beaten before you start.”

Collins has seven World Championship medals, both indoors and outdoors, to his name and is looking foward to appreaing in front of a sell-out Glasgow crowd tomorrow. He said: “I love the AVIVA event and that is why I am back in Glasgow for the seventh time.

“I like the concept of teams taking on each other and the public here show the athletes a lot of support – even if they cheer more for the British. Luckily, it is an indoor event so the Scottish weather has no effect!”

Kilbarchan’s Claire Gibson got her GB call-up when Jenny Meadows pulled out of the 800 metres and tomorrow will be the culmination of 20 years of hard work, she said.

“Clearly, perseverance is the key to my career,” joked the sports therapist on a visit to Sacred Heart Primary School in Glasgow with Collins and the AVIVA International Trophy.

“I started at the age of nine when I joined Kilbarchan because my mum and dad, Dawn and George, were keen athletes and here I am 20 years later wearing a Great Britain tracksuit.

“I went to league meetings constantly watching my mum Dawn and my dad George. It was a big part of my youth.”

On her GB debut, Gibson said: ““My call-up came right out of the blue. I was actually in Spain doing warm weather training when I was advised that Jenny Meadows could not make it. It was a few days before it was officially announced.

“I would have been running hills on Saturday morning and another run later so I might well just have caught the event on the television. We had tickets, though, and now my parents will be there to watch me.

“There aren’t many chances to run for Britain in an event like this outside a major championships so I will savour every moment. I will try and channel my nerves about it into a positive.”

Gibson is more of a 1500m specialist and will run that distance in the British Indoor trials in Sheffield next month for the World Indoors in March.

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