Usain Bolt trains twice a day to light up Glasgow

Six-times Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt says he ready to put on a good show in the sprint relay at the Commonwealth Games after recovering from minor foot surgery and a hamstring injury.

Usain Bolt: Running 100m relay. Picture: Getty

The Jamaican, who missed nine weeks of training after surgery on his left foot in March, said yesterday he is back in sub ten-second shape after training twice a day to get ready for the Games in Glasgow, which will officially open with an extravagant ceremony at Celtic Park tonight. “It’s been rough, but I’ve been through it a couple times so I know what it takes to get back so I’m just pushing on and working towards what’s necessary for this season,” Bolt said yesterday morning during a training session.

Join us at 3pm today for a live Google Hangout panel discussion as David Ferguson and Stuart Bathgate look ahead to the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony with Scots athlete Gillian Cooke and sports psychologist Viki Penpraze

His coach Glen Mills said that twice-a-day workouts were necessary to get Bolt ready to compete after he missed a lot of foundation work.

“We usually train in the morning when it is necessary, but it’s not the routine,” Mills said, noting that this year’s setback was a bit more severe than 2012 leading up to the London Olympics.

“Usain has lost quite a significant amount of training time and, in his desire to at least run a couple races in the summer, in order to get in the sufficient amount of sessions, we have to double up training morning and evening,” Mills said.

The towering sprinter, who also has eight world championship gold medals in his collection, said the surgery was necessary in this off-year.

“I went to see my doctor and he said the best thing to do was to actually get the surgery done because it would bother me over my career, so it was best to get it done now, so I just did it because I considered this my off-season. It definitely was one of those things so I got it out of the way and right now I’m just trying to get back and that’s the key right now and that’s the focus,” Bolt said.

The 27-year-old, who has pencilled in four 100m races over the next six weeks, says he did not want to miss the Commonwealth Games. I really wanted to run at the Commonwealths Games over the years – and, although I got injured, I see where I can run the 4x100, I see where I’m getting back into shape to actually compete in the 4x100,” Bolt said, adding that he did not want to take anyone’s spot in the 100m, having missed the trials.

“I’m going there for my fans and I’m going there to show that I’m getting back into shape and they can look for great things now and for the years to come,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dwain Chambers has withdrawn from England’s sprint relay squad for the Games.

Chambers will focus on the individual 100m at next month’s European Championship in Zurich after pulling out of the Commonwealth 4x100m squad, with no replacement nominated by England Athletics.