LONDON (AP) — After overcoming a sloppy start to his London Olympics, Usain Bolt looked into a TV camera, held up his right index finger and declared: “No. 1, baby. All day, every day.”
Well, on this day, he was merely OK.
Hardly dazzling after so much anticipation, Bolt was pedestrian out of the blocks — his reaction time ranked sixth of the eight runners in his heat — then insisted all that mattered was that he made it to the semifinals by shrugging off that poor beginning to win his race in 10.09 seconds Saturday.
“I stumbled on the start,” the 25-year-old Jamaican said. “I really didn’t do a lot of executing.”
At Beijing in 2008, a showboating Bolt ruled track and field, winning golds in world-record times in the 100, 200 and 4×100 relay — something no man had ever done at an Olympics. At the 2009 world championships, he lowered his 100 mark to 9.58, which still stands.
But he’s been less than outstanding more recently. A false start knocked him out of the dash at last year’s world championships, and he lost to training partner Yohan Blake in the 100 and 200 at the Jamaican Olympic trials. Bolt blamed his poor showings at home on back and hamstring issues.
“My legs are great. My training has been great,” Bolt said today. “I’m feeling better.”
That might very well be true. Still, another rough reaction to the starter’s pistol could make things tough Sunday night, when the 100 semifinals and final are scheduled.
