Usain Bolt considers switch to long jump for Rio Olympics

Published on 23/08/2012 11:12

USAIN Bolt, the world’s fastest man, has claimed he wants to try his hand at the long jump before the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Bolt, the 100m, 200m and 4x100m sprint relay winner in London, moved to end speculation that he may retire before Rio, but then claimed he might be competing in some different events in four years’ time.

“It’s just about making different goals, there’s a lot of things I can do in the sport,” Bolt said.

“My coach wants me to do 400 metres, I want to try long jump.

“I could always try to aim for the records again, so there’s different things but after the season we’ll decide what we want to do and work on that next season.”

If Bolt were to switch to long jump, he would be following the example of American sprinter Carl Lewis, winner of back-to-back Olympic 100m titles in 1984 and 1988, who was also a four-time gold winner in the long jump in a run spanning from 1984 to 1996.

Bolt’s long-jump idea comes only a week after he claimed he and fellow Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake could play in Australia’s Big Bash Twenty20 cricket league with Shane Warne.

But whatever he is competing in, Bolt was keen to end speculation that he may retire before the Rio Games as he wants to add to his six Olympic golds.

“Yes, definitely I will be there (in Rio), as long as I’m fit and I’m ready,” he said.

“It’ll be a little bit harder but I’m looking forward to it.”