"I'm Bolt, the lightning Bolt"

Interview with the 100m and 200m Olympic gold-medallist: "At this time last year I was dreaming about Beijing, and my dream really did come true. I'm a lucky man"

22-year-old Usain Bolt as he crosses the 200m finish line at the Beijing Games. Ap

MILAN, 31 December 2008 - Usain Bolt, you also came top in the Gazzetta referendum: how do you feel now on the brink of 2009?

"I'm at my best and I want to stay at my best. At this time last year I had a dream. I was dreaming about gold in the 200m in Beijing. And the truth was actually better than the dream. I couldn't have imagined it, and it's still hard to believe. I'm a lucky man".

It was doubtful for a few months if you were going to do both the 100m and 200m, then you exploded in the 100m at the World Championships and that changed everything. How were feeling the night before the 200m that changed history?

"I have to admit I was tired after the semifinals. I got back to the athlete's village and before I went to sleep I said to my roommate Maurice Smith: "If I want to break the world 200m record, then this is the best place to do it because it's a fast track. That's why I'm going to get into the final and give it everything. I'll put my heart and soul into that race." Then my dream came true. People said that they saw me give it my all for the first time. It's true."

"Before you became the world's fastest man, you used to play cricket?

"I started playing cricket as a child when I was 8. I wasn't bad, but in my last year of primary school our teacher who was also the cricket coach, told me that I should try athletics. I told him, OK then. I tried it and I liked it, so I kept it up. Simple."

The real change was when you changed your coach after becoming the 200m world junior champiom in Kingston, why was that?

"I felt that things weren't working with the coach I had had up till then. I had already met Glen Mills and I'd heard how many champions he'd trained, so I thought: he's the right man for me." He relaxes you, and is kind. I like people you can talk to easily."

Mills doesn't seem very accomodating. He's quite strict: he stopped you listening to music while you were warming up for races.

That's true but he's right. He explained his theory to me: when you're on the track and you listen to music, it doesn't help you concentrate on what you're about to do. That's why Glen says: you have to be totally focused, with no distractions. You can't concentrate on what you have to do if your mind is on hip-hop. And he's right."

Everyone wonders what your body language means, the things you do that other runners don't do. Like before the start you seem almost absent.

"No, I'm present. Very present. It's all part of the preparation. I'm setting the stage. I try to get people into the right frame of mind, because I know the spectators like to be involved and they like it when I do that. So I just try to make them laugh and feel good. After the race, I try to talk to the world through my body language. Everyone does that in Jamaica. We were born to dance, it's in our genes. I took some steps and I put them into my warm-up. It's nothing out of the ordinary, in Jamaica everybody dances. I did some steps from The Sweep after the 100m, and after the 200m I did a few steps from the Gally Creepa."

The man who wrote those dances, Ice, was murdered in Kingston a few days ago...

"It was terrible, I feel bad about it, but life goes on. But this crime wave is going too far and we have to stop it."

Jamaica is now the fastest country in the world.

"We've proved that we are the fastest sprinters in the world. Our coaches have worked wonders. More and more runners are staying at home now instead of trying their luck in the US. Jamaica is just a little country, but we have a huge heart. We like to work hard to achieve the goals we set ourselves. We like to win, because we're very competitive. We train hard. I saw Asafa be sick after a really hard training session. That's happened to me too."

What differences are there in how you sprint compared to Asafa Powell?

"I'm more relaxed, because I try to enjoy everything I do. If you don't enjoy your job, you should get out of it right away. I don't feel any pressure when I race, I don't get worked up about it. I always think positive.

What role has your family played in your success?

"A big role, because they've always supported me during the good times, and especially during the bad times. Beijing brought about another miracle too: it convinced my father to get on a plane and he is terrified of flying.

Let's talk about the future, what do you hope to achieve? 9"50 in the 100m, sub-19" in the 200m and sub 43" in the 400m?

"It's always difficult to make predictions. I'm not obsessed with records, I prefer to win medals. My coach has been talking about a 9.58 as a possibility. And I believe him. Then he also said that he thinks I'm capable of running 19" in the 200m. Glen knows what he's talking about and I believe him. And the 400m? You know that I'm not crazy about the 400m, it's a really hard race, but my coach says my time will come at this distance too. And I have to believe him. There's always room for improvement, because in every race he finds something negative that needs to be corrected.

When will you start doing 400m again, as early as 2009?

"You want to rush things, but the time will come at the World Championships».

In August?

"What year are you talking about...".

When will you be back on the track?

"We haven't decided yet. Mills is planning my training, and he'll tell me what I have to do. No, I won't be competing in any indoor events, they are too long..."

What do think will happen?

"Tyson Gay will try to settle the score, Asafa will try to run faster than ever. I won't have it easy, but that makes it even more fun".

(diGianni Merlo)