Commonwealth games organisers are desperate to hold down global sprint star, Usain Bolt, into agreeing to compete at this summer’s major championships with the promise of an opportunity to break records.
With the absence of Jess-Ennis Hill due to her recent pregnancy announcement, along with double Olympic Champion Mo Farah’s marathon commitments, the games are currently lacking a formidable poster boy to help promote the championship.
Organisers are hoping that Bolt, the sport’s most marketable sportsman, will be persuaded by the fact that Commonwealth records, and medals, are well within his capabilities. This will add to his aim to surpass the status of his sporting heroes such as Muhammad Ali before retirement, leaving all athletics achievements unturned.
With crowds anticipated to reach up to 40,000 in Glasgow along with the millions of viewers at home all expecting a spectacle, organisers are starting to feel the heat.
In an interview with BBC Radio Five Live, dating back to September, Bolt ensured fans that the Commonwealth Games is on his “to do list,” after having never won a medal at this particular event.
With this said, Bolt also admitted, “I never go against my coach,” and therefore may decide not to participate based on how his season pans out.
Coach Glen Mills also withdrew Bolt from the 2010 Commonwealth Games, instead building up to the 2012 Olympics, but could the same plan also be forged again, in the build up to Rio 2016?
In an interview with the Daily Mail Kim Collins, the veteran sprint legend, seemed sure Bolt would attend the games to complete his major championships medal haul.
‘This is a major championship. A major person will go to a major championship. And I actually thought he did say he was coming.”
“It’s not how many fast times you have run or what world records you have held. You sit at home with your trophy case, looking at medals saying: “This is what I’ve done”. It’s very different for us.”
Each Commonwealth nation, will ultimately confirm their teams much sooner to the games, but Olympic heroes such as Woman Boxer Nicola Adams, Scottish swimmer Michael Jamieson, and gymnast Louis Smith, have all confirmed their intentions to compete. With the absence of many current prophets, maybe Scotland will be given the honour of unveiling the next generation, of sporting talent.
As to whether a lightning bolt will strike the city of Glasgow this summer, only time will tell.
