Usain Bolt’s imminent retirement is a blow for athletics, but a new generation of Jamaican sprinters is ready to try to fill his golden shoes, Olympic champions Elaine Thompson and Omar McLeod said Friday.
Thompson, the Olympic women’s 100m and 200m champion, and 110m hurdles gold medallist McLeod will be among the marquee performers in Saturday’s Shanghai Diamond League competition, which will feature rematches of key Rio Games battles.
Bolt, the greatest sprinter in history with eight Olympic golds, 11 world titles and three world records, will retire from international competition after the world championships in August.
“It’s saddening that he’s retiring, but there is nothing we can do to change his mind,” McLeod said wistfully in Shanghai.
“But what we can do, as young emerging Jamaican athletes, is shine our own lights and try our very best to keep the flag flying high.”
Thompson added: “He’s a legend. He’s done so much for the country. We can’t be like him, but we can follow in his footsteps and motivate each other to continue to raise the flag higher.”
In Shanghai, Thompson will face off in the 100m with America’s Tori Bowie for the first time since they went one-two in Rio, where Thompson became the first woman since Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988 to win the 100m-200m double.
Jamaica’s new sprint queen has been in good form this year but feels there is still “room for improvement” as she gears up for the world championships in London.
“This is preparation for me to compete for the world championship. So I just have to stay focused,” she said.
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