Usain Bolt: Rio 2016 will my last Olympics

Usain Bolt has confirmed this year’s Olympics will be his last, snuffing out the possibility of extending his career to the 2020 games in Tokyo.

The Jamaican sprint king had raised the prospect of prolonging his Olympic career in January after revealing that his coach Glen Mills had suggested his fitness would carry him through to Japan.

However Bolt said subsidiary in an interview that the curtain would come down on his Olympic career in this year’s games in Rio de Janeiro, where he is targeting 3 more gold medals.

“It will definitely be my last Olympics,” Bolt said. “It is going to be hard to keep the motivation to go on for 4 more years so it will definitely be my last one.”

Bolt, who already has 6 gold medals from his stunning performances in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, has repeatedly said he plans to hang up his spikes for good after the 2017 World Championships in London. He hopes to have taken his tally to nine golds by the time competition in Rio has concluded in August.

“My biggest dream at the Olympics is to win 3 gold medals again. That is my focus, that is what I want. And that is what I am aiming for because that is my goal and that is my dream,” Bolt said.

Bolt meanwhile reiterated his desire to make more record-breaking history before he retires, saying that he is determined to become the first man to go below 19 seconds for the 200 meters.

“I have said the only big thing, big time I want to run is the 200 meters,” said Bolt, who holds the world record of 19.19 seconds for the 200 meters, set in Berlin in 2009.

“I would love to try to go sub-19. That is the only thing I would really, really want because that is one of my goals. I have always talked about and always wanted it so for me, that is something I look forward to.”

Copyright 2016 AFP