Usain Bolt's teammate blames event organisers for his unfortunate injury
What's the story?
Usain Bolt may have managed only a bronze medal in the final solo race of his incredible career but all eyes were on the Jamaican contingent for the 4x100 m relay at the World Athletics Championships. With Bolt part of an impressive Jamaican unit, the crowd looked on in anticipation with the hope that this would be the moment where we would see yet another gold around the charismatic runner's neck. But alas, that was not the case.
Bolt's blown hamstring shocked the world and made headlines for all the wrong reasons, but in the aftermath of the injury, the Jamaican team believes it was no fault of his own.
“They were holding us too long in the call room,” Bolt's teammate Yohan Blake told The Guardian. “Usain was really cold. In fact Usain said to me, ‘Yohan, I think this is crazy. Forty minutes and two medal presentations before our run.’" It proved all too costly in the end.
In case you didn't know...
Usain Bolt broke record after record en route to becoming one of the most celebrated athletes ever to grace the world stage but could only manage a bronze medal in his final individual race that was held at the World Championships. The showman will hang up his boots at the end of this event.
The heart of the matter
The cold call room incident seems awfully bizarre when you consider the amount of warm-up it takes for a sprinter to get the muscles ready for such an important event. When Bolt received the baton at the final leg of the relay race, Jamaica stood third but the experience and sprinting speed of Usain could have been enough to guide them to at least a podium finish.
But barely seconds into his sprint, the 30-year-old pulled up in visible agony clutching his hamstring area. As the shocked crowd looked on, Bolt had missed his opportunity to get another big medal for his country and end his glittering career on a high.
Members of the team have since revealed that despite being warmed up and upbeat for the race, the entire contingent was forced to wait in a freezing call room while the rest of the categories were finished. This most likely led to the cramp formation in Bolt's muscles.
What's next?
Bolt might be dejected but the fighter in him is bound to return in some form or the other and entertainment the audience sometime again. And we certainly cannot wait for that moment.
Author's take
It is highly unfortunate that such a big day was ruined by a seemingly negligible piece of organising but the it shows how tough it is being a sportsperson today along with the external stresses that one needs to encounter on the worldwide stage.