Bolt, Powell have no preference on relay legs
LONDON, England — Neither Usain Bolt nor Asafa Powell cares which leg of the 4X100m relays each is asked to run by the coaching staff of the Jamaican team here at the 30th Olympiad in London.
In a press conference put on by the Jamaica Olympic Association and kit sponsors Puma in London, both men, who have anchored the team to world records, say they will run wherever they are asked.
While Jamaica’s women’s 4x100m relay team has been dogged by alleged internal conflicts and dropped batons, the men’s team has been consistently breaking the world record by running 37.10 seconds in Beijing four years ago then lowering it to the present 37.04 seconds last year in Daegu, South Korea, in the IAAF World Championships.
Bolt, Powell, Nesta Carter and Michael Frater have been consistent members of the teams, while Yohan Blake was included last year and Steve Mullings was part of the team in Berlin in 2009.
Bolt said he has run the third leg before as “that is where they say is my best leg, but I will run anywhere as it is a team effort”, he said.
Powell said there is no preferred leg for him. “It really doesn’t matter, I just want to be on the team,” he said, while adding that the Jamaicans would be “running against the clock” and predicted that a sub 37.00 seconds clocking is possible, “but we have to get the stick around.”
Bolt even said he would run the 4x400m if it would help, but cautioned that it would depend on how tired he was after running the 200m.
Bolt will run both the 100m and 200m races here and is expected to anchor the 4x100m in the finals.