Bolt skips Japan camp, heads straight to Beijing
DEFENDING triple champion Usain Bolt looks set to miss Jamaica’s pre-World Championship training camp in Japan and will instead catch up with the team on Tuesday in Beijing, China, the Jamaica Observer was told by a high-ranking member of the management team.
Bolt, the defending 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay champion from Moscow, has been training in Monaco, where it is said that he is in tremendous form as he fine-tunes his preparations for another assault at the World Championships.
Meanwhile, a week after Jamaica opened their pre-training camp in Tottori, Japan, the 15 MVP athletes arrived after initially encountering visa issues.
The 10-day camp, which started on August 8, saw the MVP runners, including Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Elaine Thompson, Kaliese Spencer and Nesta Carter, arriving yesterday to participate.
They initially had a camp in Italy but ran into visa difficulties over the last few days. Club president Bruce James told the Sunday Observer that everything has gone smoothly.
“All the MVP team members, who are on the 2015 Jamaican World Championship team, are safely in Japan,” said James.
Meanwhile, former 100m world record holder Asafa Powell and Veronica Campbell-Brown have been named Jamaica’s team captains.
Powell, who will be 33 in November, will be attending his fifth World Championships where he won bronze in the 100m in 2007 and 2009 and relay gold in 2009. Powell will be participating in the 100m and the relays.
Campbell-Brown, 33, one of Jamaica’s most decorated athletes, will be attending her fifth World Championships. She won the 100m gold in 2007 and was the 200m champion in 2011 for a total of nine World Championship medals.
— Howard Walker